Jeremy Seewer Earns Third Place In German MX2

Jeremy Seewer’s fine form, persistence and flighty speed was again on display and rewarded by third position today at Talkessel, Teutschenthal for the Grand Prix of Germany and the seventh round of the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship.

The factory RM-Z250 rider weathered some difficult race circumstances in the two MX2 motos to grab third and second places for his sixth consecutive podium finish and came close to securing his first race win.

Talkessel was rough and line-ridden with increased technical demands compared to the fast and slippery hard-pack witnessed at the 2015 edition of the same event. Demanding a lot of focus and commitment through some deep and limiting ruts, the site close to the city of Halle was a special racing surface for what was the second of three consecutive Grands Prix.

Twenty-one-year-old Seewer, a ‘veteran’ of Talkessel layout thanks to many appearances in the ADAC MX Masters series (German Championship), was fast from the outset as sunshine and a strong breeze swept the open circuit throughout the three days that the teams and riders convened at Teutschenthal. He set the fastest lap-times in Free and Timed Practice and rode to second place to Jeffrey Herlings in the Qualification Heat on Saturdayafternoon.

The first moto began terribly for Seewer with an error on the first lap that left him deep in the pack before he could remount and restart. The Swiss set a mean pace from that point and recouped positions all the way to fourth where he pushed Pauls Jonass hard for a top-three finish. With two laps to go Seewer made his move and captured third for what was an excellent display of damage limitation. In the second race he slotted into the top-five with Herlings behind him and began to catch Benoit Paturel until he managed to overtake the Frenchman. When leader Max Anstie crashed he was able to demote Dylan Ferrandis and then set the pace at the front of the moto. With Herlings for close company Seewer pushed hard and defied the Dutchman for three circulations and until midway through the penultimate lap when Herlings again prevailed.

Already a clear second in the MX2 FIM world championship standings, Seewer gained valuable experience at the front of the field in Germany and also inflated the cushion over third place to 52 points; an entire Grand Prix.

“Jeremy had a fantastic race and he made a very big step today and fought really hard for his place,” said General Manager Stefan Everts. “He had the lead for a couple of laps under pressure from Herlings which wasn’t easy and he fought so much; it was an important thing for him to do.”

Less than ideal starts and a second moto mistake were costly for Bas Vaessen in the third round of 10 in the EMX250 European Championship and where the young Dutchman was hoping for his second podium finish in a row. He throttled back from almost outside the top 20 to 10th place in the first moto on Saturday afternoon and the second race on Sunday was a similar story as he climbed from a first lap slop of 14th to reach a creditable sixth. That same ranking applied to his overall classification for the weekend and he sits fifth in the EMX250 championship.

Both Vaessen and Seewer will fire up their RM-Z250s next weekend for the Grand Prix of Trentino in Italy and with more hard-pack and sunshine expected at the picturesque site in the Dolomite mountains.

Jeremy Seewer:

“It was a really good weekend for me overall and started with practice. I was feeling good today but made a mistake on the first lap of the first moto that cost me a lot of places. I was happy to manage to come back to fourth because it is not so easy to pass here. I made a good start in the second moto but then Pauls [Jonass] crashed in front of me, which cost me two spots. They had put quite a lot of water on the track so I had to be careful. I took the opportunity when I had it to get in the lead and defend it as well as possible. It is amazing to be up front; it is what we are working for.”

Bas Vaessen:

“I had a bad start yesterday and had too much wheelspin. I had some problems passing the guys because there were a lot of lines but only really one that was good. It was a tough race. Today I had a pretty good start but made a mistake and then had to come back again. I’ve made huge improvements this year and also with the bike. I’m smarter in the race this season and have more confidence. I just need to work on changing the speed into results.”

MX2 Moto1: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:21.787; 2. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:14.877; 3. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:21.575; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), +0:26.760; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:30.964; 6. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:34.711; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:38.264; 8. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:44.503; 9. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +0:49.671; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:54.844.

MX2 Moto2: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:26.873; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), +0:02.365; 3. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:19.820; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:21.421; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:38.093; 6. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:39.619; 7. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:41.667; 8. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +0:53.490; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:59.281; 10. Roberts Justs (LAT, KTM), +1:02.044.

MX2 Overall result: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 42 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 40 p.; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 36 p.; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 32 p.; 6. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 27 p.; 7. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 25 p.; 8. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 25 p.; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 23 p.; 10. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 23 p.

MX2 World Championship Standings (after 7 of 18 rounds): 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 350 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 270 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 218 p.; 4. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 186 p.; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 186 p.; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 183 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 162 p.; 8. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 157 p.; 9. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 149 p.; 10. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 129 p.

EMX250 European Championship overall results: 1. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, KAW), 50 points; 2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 42 p.; 3. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 37 p.; 4. Kevin Wouts (BEL, KTM), 34 p.; 5. Anton Gole (SWE, HUS), 29 p.; 6. Bas Vaessen (NED, Suzuki World MX2), 26 p.; 7. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 25 p.; 8. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 25 p.; 9. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KAW), 20 p.; 10. Nick Kouwenberg (NED, HON), 18 p.

EMX250 European Championship (after 3 of 10 rounds): 1. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 132 points; 2. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, KAW), 120 p.; 3. Kevin Wouts (BEL, KTM), 98 p.; 4. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 95 p.; 5. Bas Vaessen (NED, Suzuki World MX2), 89 p.; 6. Nick Kouwenberg (NED, HON), 72 p.; 7. Miro Sihvonen (FIN, KTM), 63 p.; 8. Even Heibye (NOR, KTM), 60 p.; 9. Anton Gole (SWE, HUS), 59 p.; 10. Nicolas Dercourt (FRA, KAW), 52 p.