Well, no High Point for me last weekend, my high point of the weekend, actually, was heading to Italy for the MXGP at the historic Maggiora track. It was cool to visit the series again. I’ve been to a bunch of GPs, but this was my first one since Mantova, Italy, in 2016! Yes, I’ve been away for a while folks.
I have some thoughts on the MXGP series as a whole, as well as the racing. I know it’s late in the week already (jet lag is real) and we already know what happened and who did what in Italy, but this race was actually a tipping point in the series. And I was there to witness it!
In true OBS fashion, here’s what I liked and didn’t like about the MXGP of Italy at Maggiora!
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Tim Gajser, the Honda speedster on the 2025 bike which includes a lot of changes from 2024, went 1-2 for the overall and probably should’ve went 1-1 if it wasn’t for a late moto washout in moto two. Tim also won the muddy qualifying race on Saturday for ten more points. He was nearly flawless and looked to be in complete control while rivals Jorge Prado and Jeffery Herlings looked ragged, made mistakes, or even crashed out. Gajser’s got over a moto lead in the points as of now and looks to have smoothed things out.
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In past years it can be argued the MXGP class had more depth than the AMA Pro Motocross Championship 450MX class, but not this year. There are seven top ten-ish riders out with injury right now (Maxime Renaux, Alberto Forato, Ben Watson, Romain Febvre, Jago Geerts, Ruben Fernandez, and Pauls Jonass) and yeah, that hurts the field. The top three were checked out in the first moto and would’ve been in the second moto too if Prado didn’t crash. Hey, some years you’re the hammer, some years you’re the nail.
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The track! Historic venue, site of the ’86 and ’17 MXoNs, and super hilly. The TV broadcast doesn’t really do it justice. This was epic, and despite the bad weather Friday and Saturday night, the track crew did a good job in working with what they had.
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The track! There really wasn’t much passing. Like, at all. Some riders told me it’s too narrow and look, as much as these older tracks have great history, we’re on 450cc, 65 HP, four-strokes now and these tracks have the same layout as when they raced in 1986. Things are different now for sure and tracks that were great back in the day might not work so well without changes.
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MX2! The MX2 class has been bonkers this year with lots of up and down results. The top two riders in the points, Kay de Wolf and Lucas Coenen, were both down in the first turn in moto one and watching them work up through the pack was interesting. Up front it was Stefan’s kid, Liam Everts, who took the moto win. Action everywhere! Next moto it was Sacha Coenen who led start to finish, his brother trailing him (I left America with brothers going 1-2 and travelled 13 hours on an airplane to see the same thing, ICYWW) and all Everts had to do was pass EMX rider Valerio Lata for the overall and he couldn’t do it (passing on the track was not ideal). The class is nutty and you’re not quite sure what you’re going to see, but the future is bright for the MXGP class.
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MX2! I don’t like the age-23-and-under-old rule of MX2, it’s an artificial limiter of the class that has a bike that everyone sells. It hurts riders who are smaller, it never quite gives you an idea of who’s the guy in MX2, and it’s a prop to help the MXGP class which, because of the structure of MXGP, is tough to fill up. And then you have the EMX classes for riders supposedly just under the MX2 level, which is a great idea and something the USA is adopting (via the SX Futures and Scouting Moto Combines). But when an EMX rider can get a third overall (okay yes, it was his home country for Valerio Lata, but still he was right up front), how fast is MX2, you know? You just don’t know, you know?
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Herlings! The five-time world champion, Jeffrey Herlings, is not the same guy as he once was. Like the Suzuki-era James Stewart at one point, he’s had a lot of injuries and a lot of missed races to make him, well, mortal now. He can still bust out the speed here and there (he won the last MXGP), but he’s now just a frontrunner, not THE frontrunner. I’m sure he’s tired of getting hurt and trying to make all the races, and the series is better for it.
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Busy pits! There’s a lot of racing in an MXGP weekend. Like, a lot. There’s WMX, EMX 250, EMX125, there’s an 80 class, there’s some sort of Yamaha class, and I’m probably missing something. They don’t all race every weekend but this weekend it was EMX 250 and WMX and it just seemed like the racing never stopped. The pits were busy, you never quite knew what was going on, and it’s just a lot.
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AMENITIES! The MXGP series has it going on with structures everywhere to help the teams, sponsors, and fans that want that VIP experience. There was even a full restaurant open for both days. There were also pit lane structures, starting line structures, and almost every big team has these great hospitality trucks. Heck, Honda HRC has a great hospitality truck and then they have a super VIP one that looks like something out of a wellness center. Great food, coffee, and snacks at an MXGP!
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BUBBLE TRUCKS! The big factory teams have these trucks that basically shut out the fans from seeing the cool shit. They’re much easier for the teams to work out of for sure, and if I was a mechanic I would definitely like them. They’re super awesome inside but from the outside, all you see are mechanics’ shoes. Soooo, cooler for teams, worse for fans. Don’t like it. Now having said that, thanks to the teams in the bubbles that gave me cappuccinos all weekend!
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USA RACING! Sooo, yeah, I know some fans of MXGP don’t like to hear this, but it seems that there’s going to be more riders heading to the land of XXL drinks real soon. The Coenen brothers might be here next year, and de Wolf has made no secret of his desire to head to the USA. We already know about the Lawrence brothers and Tom Vialle moving here, and Prado is next. Better for Pro Motocross here in America, for sure, but yeah, MXGP is fighting an uphill battle to keep the kids from dreaming about Anaheim SX.
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START PRACTICE? The MXGP weekend is long enough and jampacked enough as it is, but for 2024 they added something called start practice on Friday afternoon. Why can’t they go off the grate Saturday before or after practice? Why do the guys need to be there an extra day? Why create more work for teams to prep the bikes afterward? Why is there start practice on Friday? I’m so confused.
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LUONGO. At one point, David Luongo’s dad, Guiseppe, didn’t allow me a pass for the Glen Helen USGP for things I wrote and said about the MXGP series. But that was a long time ago and David, his son, seems way more openminded about things, and the USA side of things. MX Sports (of course you know Racer X is a sister company of MX Sports, right?) and Feld Motor Sports have also thawed out in accepting that MXGP is not a threat to come to the USA. So, relations are at an all-time high right now as everyone is working together to grow the sport. I spoke with David twice this past weekend and he seems like a good guy. He also came to the Indy Supercross earlier this year and even came on stage at our live show for the fans! He gets it. At least it seems that way to me. Do I agree with everything he does with the series? Nope, I do not, but that’s life. There’ve been some rider issues the last few years but he seems to handle that diplomatically also. I think MXGP is in good hands with David Luongo.
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Saturday qualifying points for races. The racers and teams didn’t like to have an extra race for no reason. It’s more time on the bikes, more potential to get hurt, the most dangerous part of the race is the first turn, and there’s another one added, etc. This was a race just for gate picks. So, to make it more important to entertain fans, Infront Moto Racing added points to the Saturday races! So there’s ten points up for grabs for a 20-minute race on Saturday. The teams were hoping to ditch the races altogether and instead, MXGP made them MORE important. I don’t like it. And really, doesn’t it take the shine off the first moto of the day on Sunday when you kind of know who’s going to do what? No sir, I don’t like it.
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Chambers and Towers. Jack Chambers and Gavin Towers are a couple of USA kids who’ve been racing in Europe because they couldn’t quite get the support they needed in the USA. Towers is brand-new to all of this and I talked to him and Chambers a bit about their experiences. Look, it’s not easy and I’m sure they’re wondering WTF has happened to them, but I applaud them for their guts in heading over there to a strange land to try and do what Moore, Schmit, Parker, and others have tried to do.
Thanks for reading OBS yet again, this time from Europe! Email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about this or anything else. Week off and it’s back to the ‘Wick!
