Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Jeremy Seewer and Ben Watson finished inside the top-10 at a challenging Grand Prix in Kegums, Latvia. Seewer finished seventh overall while Watson was 10th. At the same time, Glenn Coldenhoff ended up 12th after an unlucky end to the day.
Situated approximately 50 kilometers South-East of the Latvian capital, Riga, the Zelta-Zirgs circuit hosted an intense seventh round of the FIM Motocross World Championship. The vast and flowing track layout proved difficult to navigate, with the loose and sandy top-soil hiding many square edged bumps, which some riders found mentally challenging due to the level of risk being slightly higher than usual.
Glenn Coldenhoff was able to get off to a great start in the opening race of the day. The Dutchman maximized the power of his YZ450FM to exit the first turn inside the top-three before being relegated to fourth by Jeffrey Herlings. After that, the ‘259’ did his best to withstand the pressure from Antonio Cairoli, Romain Febvre and Pauls Jonass but felt his energy levels were not optimal, and he ended up finishing seventh.
Two positions further back, Seewer finished ninth after struggling to get comfortable on the rough and bumpy surface. At the same time, Watson felt he suffered from some mental fatigue and only managed to finish 13th.
In the one-hour break between races, the trio did their best to regroup for the final race of the weekend. Coldenhoff and Seewer got off to great starts, both placing their YZ450FMs inside the top-10. Determined to bounce back stronger, Coldenhoff was geared up to finish inside the top-five but was forced to withdraw from the race due to an unusual technical problem. Meanwhile, Seewer made some changes to his bike set-up, but it didn’t improve his feeling on the tricky Zelta Zirgs circuit. The Swiss rider still pushed hard to finish seventh, even after an unlucky crash caused by the bike of a fallen rider laying on a blind spot on the track.
Confronted by a mixture of things such as the intensity of the MXGP class, four back-to-back races, an average qualifying position, and a very challenging circuit, Watson tried to make the most of an ‘off day’. The 24-year-old Brit put in a spirited ride for 10th in the final race and 10th overall.
After four consecutive weekends of Grand Prix racing, the team is looking forward to a hard-earned three-week break in the calendar where they hope to regroup for the next cluster of MXGP rounds. The eighth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place on September 5th in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
Jeremy Seewer
7th MXGP of Latvia, 26-points
6th MXGP World Championship Standings, 206-points
“Kegums is usually a track that I ride well, but I struggled today with the bike set-up. I never really found my flow. My time in qualifying wasn’t the best and that cost me on the start. The first race was one to forget, I felt like I was just participating and not racing. I felt better in the second race, but I hit Calvin (Vlaanderen) bike and crashed. So that was just really unlucky. Fortunately, now we know what to work on and we have some time off now to regroup and iron out some rough spots to be ready for the next races to come.”
Ben Watson
10th MXGP of Latvia, 19-points
10th MXGP World Championship Standings, 130-points
“I’m not too happy with how today went. Qualifying was the same story. I don’t take enough risk and you see it on my lap time. At this level it’s impossible to get a good time without risk. I felt I struggled quite a bit mentally and emotionally today, so I found it really hard to push to the level that I needed to be at. I felt a bit better by the end of the day, and I have to be happy that I’ve come away healthy, and we can now focus on the next race.”
Glenn Coldenhoff
12th MXGP of Latvia, 14-points
8th MXGP World Championship Standings, 174-points
“Everything started well today. I felt good this morning with a good time in qualifying. I took a very good start in the first moto and I was battling up front, but at halfway I didn’t feel very well so I let the pace go a little bit, slowed down a bit, which wasn’t the best but still managed to get seventh, which was okay for the first race. In the second race I was in fifth for 12 minutes before I had a mechanical issue, so that race was a DNF which we are not happy about, but we have time now to work on a few things. We spend the time we have wisely and will work hard to get better.”
