Located on the central-western coast of Sardinia, about 100 kilometers north of Cagliari, Riola Sardo has been the epicenter of the Motocross World Championship for over a decade, hosting training and winter preparations for the majority of the world championship’s teams and riders. 1,750 meters long, the winding Sardinian track winds through sand dunes, alternating between large jumps and technical and challenging sections that make the track particularly treacherous, with a surface that changes with every lap, presenting ever-changing difficulties.
Calvin Vlaanderen showed character, lining up last at the starting gate after retiring from Saturday’s qualifying race. At the start of Race One, he was outside the top 20, but he tenaciously fought his way up to a final fifteenth place. The Dutchman got off to a better start in the second race, moving close to the top 10. Eighth with seven laps to go, the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team rider moved to 10th under the checkered flag, finishing 12th overall, just one point shy of the day’s top 10. Andrea Bonacorsi got off to a good start in the first race, climbing from 12th to 10th in the opening laps, but was hampered by an electrical problem while fighting for ninth place and forced to retire. In race two, the Bergamo native got off to a good start on his Desmo450 MX and was seventh after three laps, proving he could match the pace of the frontrunners. A drop in pace, due to the prolonged layoff caused by the injury sustained in Argentina, caused him to gradually slide down the standings, ultimately finishing in twenty-third place. Jeremy Seewer had a difficult weekend in Sardinia, failing to score points in both races.
Calvin Vlaanderen: “I just really struggled the whole weekend to get comfortable and to allow myself to push on the track. I just couldn’t find the comfort to push but it matured with my riding, my speed is just not there. We changed the shock for the second race and I felt like we made some good improvement. So that was positive, and we keep going we don’t give up and we’ll be in Arco fresh and ready to go.”
Andrea Bonacorsi: “I have to first of all thank the whole team and all the staff, because they put a lot of effort and even if I came back in the hardest race of the year, both for me and for the bike, we have seen positive things and we’ve seen that I can be in front and fight; we have to stay positive, we have Arco and then a month without races, so I’m sure that we’ll be able to catch up a lot and then we’ll show what we really are made of from there.”
Jeremy Seewer: “It was a difficult weekend, on one of the most challenging tracks for us; we must continue to work hard to improve.”
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