KTM’s Pauls Jonas put the memories of the crash the ended his 2016 season out of his mind at the Loket circuit in the Czech Republic as he took the overall win and extended his lead in the MX2 world championship over Jeremy Seewer by 47 points.
Jonas took second in the first race which was held in very slippery conditions due to a downpour not long before the race started. His team-mate Jorge Prado snatched the holeshot but was quickly passed by American Thomas Covington who romped away to an easy win. Jonass tailed Prado for half the race but managed to get by and took second place with the Spaniard right behind him. Latvian Jonass took a relatively easy win in the second moto after demoting holeshot man, Briton Conrad Mewse and his team-mate Jorge Prado, to clinch the overall win.
Jonass, who took his sixth win of the year, said: “Last year I had a big crash which ended my season here. Today I’m happy to get a win. Seems like it’s been a while since I got the overall win!
“At the end of the race I just controlled it. The track was really nice and I enjoyed racing here.”
Suzuki Jeremy Seewer ended up second overall after two trouble-hit races. In the first he was forced to come through the pack from a mediocre start and took fifth place. Second time out Seewer was chasing down the leaders but clashed with Prado and went down, collecting Benoit Paturel with him. The Swiss ace remounted and put on a strong ride back to take second place and second overall.
Seewer said: “I started with an OK start but got pushed out in the wet in the first moto. I ran out of tear-offs and managed to finish fifth. In moto two I got a good start and came back strong. But it’s frustrating to see Jorge letting Pauls past which is frustrating. He tried to mess me up and I crashed because of it. I accept it – it’s racing. It’s not over yet and I won’t give up.
After winning the first moto, Covington had a disastrous second ride and ended up fighting back from last place after he slipped off. He rode hard through the field and could only take 10th place, but it was just good enough to get him onto the podium.
Covington said: “I had some bad luck on the first few laps, got tangled up with some other guys.”
Conrad Mewse took 10th overall with 10th and 12th place rides, while Ben Watson had a disappointing day and only scored in the second moto, taking 17th. His bike expired in moto one and he crashed on the start in race two.
