Com o regresso do MXGP previsto para dia 9 de Agosto na Letónia, serão realizadas duas provas internacionais na Holanda que prometem juntar muitos “mundialistas”.
A primeira destas duas rondas terá lugar já no dia 26 de Julho em Arnhem, mais precisamente no circuito Motorsportpark Gelderland Midden.
Muitas das principais equipas do Mundial de Motocross já confirmaram que vão levar os seus pilotos. É o caso da Red Bull KTM, da Rockstar Husqvarna, da Standing Construct Gas Gas, da Monster Energy Yamaha e da JM Honda.
Assim, em pista irão juntar-se pela primeira vez desde Março nomes como Jeffrey Herlings, Tom Vialle, René Hofer, Arminas Jasikonis, Thomas Kjer Olsen, Jed Beaton, Glenn Coldenhoff, Arnaud Tonus, Jeremy Seewer, Gautier Paulin, Jago Geerts, Julien Lieber e Benoit Paturel.
HRC riders Tim Gajser and Mitchell Evans will not be racing, and it isn’t expected that Antonio Cairoli or Jorge Prado will be involved either, but still a great lineup of riders. Romain Febvre hasn’t made a decision yet on his pre-season races.
Unfortunately no public will be allowed, but motocrossplanet.nl will be making a highlights package of the event for everyone to see and MXlarge will also be involved making sure that the coverage is GP like.
It was interesting to visit the Arnhem practice facility this morning and see how many riders are out and about. Last Monday it was Jeffrey Herlings leading a big list of GP riders and today the list was impressive, with factory riders Romain Febvre, Arnaud Tonus, Glenn Coldenhoff, Arminas Jasikonis, Jed Beaton, Ben Watson, Thomas Olsen, plus EMX 125 red plat owner Liam Everts, and many more GP competitors. Even the “King” Stefan Everts was there watching his son preparing for the return of the EMX championship in Latvia.
“Liam will do both EMX 250 and EMX 125 races, in Latvia, Lommel and other circuits,” Everts said. “The EMX 125 is a long championship with rounds in Turkey, Faenza, Spain, and Lommel. He will race the EMX250 championship in Latvia.”
The Arnhem circuit is a 20-minute scooter ride from my home, and being that the weather in Holland today is amazing, around 27 degrees and sunshine, it was a nice experience heading to the track and chatting with riders, team managers, mechanics and the track owner.
It is a popular place for the GP riders to prepare and big things are expected from the circuit in the future.
Owner Dik Wikselaar was there and he will have some great news for Dutch motocross in the coming days. I have mentioned it before, but the Arnhem circuit is situated in the middle of a national park, circled by massive pine trees and a really beautiful landscape.
The track itself is sand and depending on who you ask, it can be described as rough, or a little hard. A rather tight circuit, and already big changes are being made to make the circuit capable of running big events.
Just a few kilometres from the city of Arnhem, a really nice little city with great bars and restaurants, it would make the perfect place to run a Grand Prix in the future, be it near future or in 2021.
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(Foto: Ray Archer/KTM)
