An encouraging day at the 11th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Teutschenthal, Germany, sees Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Jeremy Seewer and Glenn Coldenhoff tie on points for fifth overall. Ben Watson finished the German Grand Prix 11th, narrowly missing the top-10 by a mere 2-points.
The speed and competitiveness of the premier class riders is exceptionally high, making passing incredibly difficult, particularly when the lap-times of the riders are close. Coldenhoff started inside the top-10 and quickly passed Brian Bogers to steal seventh position, where he eventually finished.
Showing positive signs of progress in terms of his health, Seewer put in a valiant ride from 16th place to finish hot on the heels of his teammate, Coldenhoff, in eighth.
Meanwhile, Watson finished 13th after going off the track while battling with fellow rookie Thomas Olsen.
A determined start to the second and final race of the weekend saw the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory trio power their YZ450FMs to much better starts. Seewer was inside the top-three on the exit of turn-one but was quickly shuffled back to sixth after making a small mistake that was caused by another rider cutting his line on the opening lap.
Coldenhoff tweaked his suspension settings ahead of race two and instantly felt better out on the rough and rutty Talkessel circuit. The Dutchman capitalized on Seewer’s error to steal third position but lost it to the red plate holder Jeffrey Herlings on lap-7.
With two laps to go, Coldenhoff ran into the back of a fallen rider and lost one more position to Pauls Jonass. Fortunately, the Dutchman didn’t crash in the incident and was able to battle with Seewer for the final place inside the top-five. While the duel between the teammates was epic, it was Seewer that nabbed the fifth position on the final lap.
After getting his first-ever MXGP class overall win at the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations one week ago, Watson came into the German Grand Prix confident and keen to keep his momentum high. The tall Brit showed good speed in the final race of the day. He got off to a good start and put in some consistently fast laps to finish eighth.
All three riders have retained their positions in the MXGP Championship Standings. Seewer is sixth, Coldenhoff is eighth and Watson rounds out the top-10.
The next round of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place in La Capelle Marival, France, on October 10th.
Jeremy Seewer
5th MXGP of Germany, 29-points
6th MXGP World Championship Standings, 309-points
“It’s definitely going forward, which is positive. It’s going well physically. I feel good and I was able to make some improvements today. I know I am not in the top five where I know I should be in Timed Practice, but it’s going forward. I hope in a few GP’s I will be more upfront and battling for the podium.”
Glenn Coldenhoff
6th MXGP of Germany, 29-points
8th MXGP World Championship Standings, 263-points
“In the end, it was a positive day. We did some testing last week and we have made some improvements which I am very happy about. In practice, I still struggled a little bit, but I think we still found a good setup. I had two good starts, which is a really positive point. In the second race, I showed good intensity and felt really good with the bike. It’s a shame about the last 10 minutes of the race, somebody crashed in front of me and Pauls Jonass passed me and then Jeremy (Seewer) on the last lap, which was not the best, but I am okay with it. We made good progress and it’s our first solid result which I am happy about and I am looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Ben Watson
11th MXGP of Germany, 21-points
10th MXGP World Championship Standings, 192-points
“A pretty positive day. I didn’t feel like I was ‘wow,’ but I was solid and consistent and definitely making progress. I know I need to change ASAP when it comes to qualifying because where I need to start, I am too far out on the gate, making it difficult to get a good start. I kind of finished where I gated, it was a little bit ‘follow the leader’ in both races, but still a solid result and I am pleased with that.”
