Lommel's sandy bumps, holes, ruts and waves were illuminated by bright sunshine for the fourteenth round of eighteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship at Lommel and Yamaha were ably represented by Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube's Julien Lieber who used his YZ250F to run to fourth position overall.
The most feared racing track on the MXGP calendar lay in store for the Grand Prix elite and Lommel was in it roughest and most demanding state for years. Temperatures in the mid-twenties did not make the latest stop on the world championship trail any easier.
In the first moto Julien Lieber kept pace with Petar Petrov in fourth position but the Belgian - competing at his home fixture for the first time in two years - was protecting a back problem that eventually forced him to ride with a lot of clutch action and mechanically strained his race bike to the point where he lost two places on the final lap and dropped to sixth. Teammate valentin Guillod was already reeling from a crash and DNF in the Qualification Heat that saw him enter the start gate second-to-last. The Swiss was one of many to struggle on the sand and he lost a potential tenth position in the first race with another fall that bumped him to twelfth. Kemea Yamaha Yamalube's Brent Van Doninck started badly and had to come from almost last spot to chase and overtake his team Benoit Paturel with the blue Kemea machines crossing the finish line in ninth and tenth respectively.
The second moto again saw Lieber in decent form and satisfying the loud support of fans through the fences. He defied his back discomfort while holding a clear third position until the final stages of the thirty-minute and two lap distance when a dismount through the waves section almost spelt disaster. '33' was able to restart and thankfully keep his ranking. Guillod's moto did not last a lap. The Grand Prix winner could not avoid the fallen Van Doninck and ripped a hole in his radiator through the collision. Forced to the pitlane for his second DNF of the weekend Guillod also saw a dent to his championship aspirations. Van Doninck was also a retiree. Paturel rode to ninth.
From being joint-second before Lommel Valentin Guillod is now fourth in the MX2 table and 25 points away from leader Pauls Jonass. Lieber is eighth and Paturel also in the top ten.
Maxime Renaux and Yamaha's hopes of adding more glory to a fantastic 125cc track record in 2015 were dashed when the Junior World and French Champion fractured his left collarbone while training before the weekend. The teenager had to withdraw after the first practice session at Lommel with too much pain and discomfort and can now hope to return in shape for the final outing at Assen in four weeks if he doesn't require an operation.
The EMX250 European Championship was also entering the closing stages and Kemea Yamaha Yamalube's Damon Graulus was flying back from a bad start in the first moto until he crashed out of fifth position. In the second race he again fell in a similar zone of the track. Unfortunately the consequences for the championship means that the Belgian is third and by trailing Nick Kouwenberg by 41 points with just 50 left to win. Alvin Ostlund walked the podium in Lommel with third place overall.
Brad Anderson took his YZ250 to a second Grand Prix win in succession for the EMX300 European Championship.
The Grand Prix of Lombardia in the hard and shallow-packed sand of Mantova in northern Italy will represent round fifteen of MXGP on August 23rd.
