Jago Geerts has – just like last year – won the Grand Prix in the mythical Maggiora. His seventh Grand Prix win this year already! The Belgian also moves up to the second place in the World Championship classification. Thibault Benistant finished fifth, Rick Elzinga eleventh.

Maggiora Park, in Northern Italy. An iconic name in motocross. Before this weekend the old school track had been the battlefield for several Grand Prix (10x), Trophies of Nations (2x) and Motocross of Nations (3x).
On Friday and Saturday morning, the weather however threw a spanner in the works. It was raining cats and dogs, and the track was transformed in a gigantic mud puddle. In the qualifying race, Jago Geerts handled things well in the mud and settled his YZ250FM in second position. Rick Elzinga – who had the best lap time in the time practice – finished sixth. Thibault Benistant, who made his comeback after two months of injuries, came back strongly after a crash early in the race and finished tenth.

Scrubs
The conditions were completely different on Sunday. The track was a lot better – after hard work during the night and thanks to the morning sun. Benistant (2nd) and Geerts (3rd) got out of the starting gate like a rocket, Elzinga followed in seventh position. Thibault could not enjoy his good start for long. After a short ‘excursion’ next to the track and a crash, Titi dropped back to P11. Geerts came now in second position. And the Belgian kept it till the end. Elzinga held on well in 6th position but in the end he lost two places. One to Benistant who found the good rhythm in the last part of the race. The way he passed de Wolf and Elzinga – with a scrub – was impressive. Titi finally finished seventh.

No budge
Again, Geerts had to leave the holeshot to Längenfelder in the second moto, but he immediately attacked. In the first lap, Jago passed the German by the inside. The Belgian kept a tight pace, but could not make a gap with Längenfelder. On the contrary, the German kept pushing till the finish. Geerts did not budge and won his seventh GP of the season. A personal record, after six GP wins in 2020 and 2022. In total Geerts now already has 26 GP victories.
Benistant battled the entire moto with Adamo, Everts and de Wolf for the third place. Finally he finished fifth. After a dramatic start (crash in first turn), Elzinga managed to move up from P30 till P14.
Geerts also did well in the World Championship classification. Jago moves over Liam Everts to the second place. He counts – with only one Grand Prix left, next week in Matterley Basin – four points more than Everts and Längenfelder. Benistant and Elzinga stay on P9 and P10 in the World Championship.

#93 JAGO GEERTS
1st overall, 2nd in championship
“I can be really satisfied about my weekend. This is my first win after my second injury. So it has been a while, since the victory in my home GP in Lommel. This weekend I improved each session. A solid qualifying race, also a good first moto. Although Längenfelder was a bit faster. But in the second moto I managed to impose my will. I already attacked Längenfelder in the first lap. Successfully. He kept chasing me, till the very last metres. But I stayed calm and rode my own race. Enough to win the GP. I’m now second for the Championship. Although, there are three of us very close together. That will be a nice battle in the last GP.”

#198 THIBAULT BENISTANT
5th overall, 9th in championship
“I really enjoyed the whole weekend. I was so happy to finally race again after two months of absence. I’m especially happy about my three starts this weekend. They were pretty good. In the qualifying race and the first moto I crashed in the first lap. I must stop making those mistakes and be more focussed. I paid extra attention on this the second moto. That was my best race of the weekend. The pace is good, physically I’m in a good shape and my starts are decent. I still have to work on some details so that the whole picture is correct.”

#44 RICK ELZINGA
11th overall, 10th in championship
“I was ill all week long. I still had problems with my sinuses and I also had a headache and sore throat when I arrived in Maggiora. Saturday went rather good in the mud, with even the best lap time during time practice. In the first moto I was in P6 after a strong first lap. I managed to keep this position till about halfway the moto, but then I got without energy and lost two places. In the start of the second moto a lot of things happened in front of me and I also crashed. I had to start a catch up race and managed to move from the last place to P14. I’m satisfied with my riding but not with my result.”

Qualifying race

1 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas)

2 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) +0:02.515

3 Lucas Coenen (Bel/Hus) +0:19.546

4 Andrea Adamo (Ita/KTM) +0:30.226

5 Kevin Horgmo (Nor/Kaw) +0:44.494

6 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) +0:49.256

10 THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) +1:11.063

Race 1

1 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas)

2 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) +0:06.611

3 Andrea Adamo (Ita/KTM) +0:12.500

4 Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) +0:14.193

5 Lucas Coenen (Bel/Hus) +0:14.994

7 THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) +0:19.805

8 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) +0:24.197

Race 2

1 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam)

2 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas) +0:02.578

3 Andrea Adamo (Ita/KTM) +0:35.057

4 Kay de Wolf (Ned/Hus) +0:36.125

5 THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) +0:36.580

14 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) +1:24.275

Overall

1 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) 47

2 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas) 47

3 Andrea Adamo (Ita/KTM) 40

4 Kay de Wolf (Ned/Hus) 30

5 THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) 30

11 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) 20

Championship classification (18/19)

1 Andrea Adamo (Ita/KTM) 779

2 JAGO GEERTS (Bel/Yam) 706

3 Liam Everts (Bel/KTM) 702

4 Simon Längenfelder (Ger/Gas) 702

5 Lucas Coenen (Bel/Hus) 558

9 THIBAULT BENISTANT (Fra/Yam) 493

10 RICK ELZINGA (Ned/Yam) 377