Jago Geerts continues to surprise. In only the second GP after his surgery, the Belgian put his YZ250FM on the third place in Afyonkarahisar, Türkiye. His tenth podium already this year. Rick Elzinga finished seventh in Türkiye.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team travelled to Türkiye for round 17 of the FIM World Championship, without Thibault Benistant. The Frenchman is still recovering from his bad crash during the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic. If everything goes according the plan, Titi will make his comeback in Maggiora, Italy, in two weeks time.

More technical and slower
On Saturday, at the end of the qualifying race (Geerts 4th, Elzinga 13th), the rain poured down from the sky. In no time, the Afyon Motor Sports Centre was flooded, which even forced the cancellation of the MXGP qualifying race.
On Sunday, the riders had to face a completely different track – quite well dried up in the meantime: more deep ruts, more technical and a lot slower. Jago Geerts felt good with these new conditions. The Belgian was fourth in the first turn and quickly moved to the second place, just behind a surprisingly strong Gifting. Geerts was joined by Längenfelder, who kept following him closely. Halfway the moto Jago had to let go the German. Later, Geerts successfully deflected the attacks of a hard pushing Everts and passed Gifting for P2.
Rick Elzinga lost traction on the gate (13th) and started an amazing catch-up race. Halfway the moto the Dutchman was riding in sixth position. Nice, although in the last part of the race he lost one more place.

Not such a good start for the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 duo in the second moto: Geerts was squeezed back to 8th at the first turn, Elzinga was 11th. After a good first lap, Jago had already moved up to place four. The Belgian increased the pressure on Van De Moosdijk, but he did not succeed to push the Dutchman from the third place.
Elzinga used the same strategy as in the first moto and managed to move up to place eight. The Dutchman is now tenth in the Championship classification, his teammate Geerts stays third. In two weeks’ time there will be the penultimate Grand Prix of the 2023 season, on the legendary track in Maggiora.

#93 JAGO GEERTS
3rd overall, 3rd in championship

“On the podium again, I’m very happy with that. Don’t forget, that I had surgery five weeks ago. My shoulder feels a lot better, but is not completely recovered yet. And also physically, I’m not on top yet. After the second moto I was completely exhausted. But I kept fighting to finish on the GP-box. And I did. I’m really happy about that. I couldn’t expect more here.”

#44 RICK ELZINGA
7th overall, 10th in championship
“I bounced back from a difficult day yesterday, but starting from an outside gate today was quite hard. The track was a bit one-lined, but I made a couple of good passes and fought my way from 11th to 7th in the first race. In the end, I was a bit tight and my shoulder was tired. I rode much better in race 2, although the result was not as good. But, my technique was quite good; I just struggled to pass.”

Qualifying race

1 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas)

2 Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) +0:00.389

3 Roan Van De Moosdijk (Ned/Hus) +0:18.587

4 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) +0:23.542

5 Lucas Coenen (Bel/Hus) +0:24.428

13 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) +0:47.190

Race 1

1 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas)

2 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) +0:03.146

3 Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) +0:06.343

4 Roan Van De Moosdijk (Ned/Hus) +0:08.728

5 Isak Gifting (Swe/Gas) +0:18.844

7 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) +0:34.483

Race 2

1 Kevin Horgmo (Nor/Kaw)

2 Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) +0:02.636

3 Roan Van De Moosdijk (Ned/Hus) +0:04.630

4 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) +0:06.996

5 Andrea Adamo (Ita/KTM) +0:17.074

8 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) +0:43.632

Overall

1 Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) 42

2 Kevin Horgmo (Nor/Kaw) 40

3 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) 40

4 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas) 40

5 Roan Van De Moosdijk (Ned/Hus) 38

7 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) 27

Championship classification (17/19)

1 Andrea Adamo (Ita/KTM) 732

2 Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) 684

3 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) 650

4 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas) 645

5 Lucas Coenen (Bel/Hus) 520

9 THIBAULT BENINSTANT (Fra/Yam) 462

10 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) 352

Images by @fullspectrum.media