MXGP Round 17 Moto 1 Dylan Wright Recap

MXGP Round 17 Moto 1 Dylan Wright Recap

By Billy Rainford

Here’s a brief recap of what happened in MXGP moto 1 at Round 7 at Mantova MX in Mantova, Italy.

#109 Dylan Wright had qualified 15th after being nipped on the last lap of the timed session by a couple riders. The inside 2 gates were open and Dylan had 15th pick.

When the gate dropped, there was a bit of carnage in turn 1 when #16 Benoit Paturel went down and took co-title contender #243 Tim Gajser off the track. It looked bad for the Slovenian but he came around to complete lap 1 up in 3rd spot, somehow. Dylan was 10th on the first lap but then lost a couple spots to around 15th, early.

#3 Romain Febvre was out front and stayed there.

#84 Jeffrey Herlings was mired back in the pack and had a ton of work to do, if he wanted to stay in contention for this close, 3-way title battle.

At the halfway point, Dylan was 13th and in a fierce battle with #189 Brian Bogers and #19 Thomas Kjer Olsen for 11th. Dylan was obviously faster than these two but was struggling to find a way around them.

With 10 minutes to go, #3 Romain Febvre was still out front with Gajser 2nd, #222 Antonio Cairoli 3rd, #70 Ruben Fernandez 4th with Herlings knocking on his rear fender.

Behind them it was Boiserame, Seewer, Coldenhoff, Prado, Lupino, Bogers, Olsen, and Wright all fighting an 8-way battle for 6th place. It was intense!

When they came around on the next lap, Dylan had lost a ton of ground on pack after having some obvious troubles. As he got back up to speed, he tipped over in the bowl corner right in front of where I was standing. He got going again quickly but had lost valuable positions.

With around 5 minutes to go, Dylan had caught up to #32 Brent Van Doninck and had his speed covered and made the move.

At the flag, Febvre held. on for the win but had Herlings on his rear wheel as they fought through lap traffic, which is where Herlings made the pass on Gajser to take 2nd. Cairoli was close behind in 3rd after Gajser would get docked 5 places for his first turn move and slip to 8th place.

Dylan Wright crossed the line in 13th place, right on Bogers and Coldenhoff.

Although Dylan is likely upset at the way that one turned out, he should be proud of how hard he rode and how quick his pace was. He didn’t give up and has the speed to battle up at the top 5 level in this field on this track.

On to the second moto…