By Dave Willet
World champ Tim Gajser may be at the point where he’ll turn the run of bad luck he’s had this around this weekend at Loket. The Slovenian is made of stern stuff and has a huge heart and will to win, and he’s finally getting over the rash of injuries and spills he’s had this year. He sometimes get a rough deal or is over-looked because of the KTM powerhouse riders, but he is a super talent that shouldn’t be written off.
Tim is a genuine, fun and nice guy who has experienced the sudden fall that Romain Fevbre had last year. But he’s still only 20, something people tend to forget as he’s being banging in the results for years now. For someone so young, who came up through the era of dominance of Jeffrey Herlings in the MX2 class and Tony Cairoli in the MXGP class, it’s time to mention his incredible achievements.
It’s easy to forget that he started racing GPs in 2012 but was quite quickly dropped by KTM in 2013 as they obviously thought they had the future of motocross sewn up, as they already had Herlings, Jordi Tixier, Pauls Jonas, Davy Pootjes, Jorge Prado and lots more already signed up.
He was snapped up by Honda for its Gariboldi MX2 satellite team, and his first GP win was only in 2015, at the MXGP of Trentino, when he beat Herlings. He went on to win five MX2 GPs and took the title that year as Herlings got hurt. But you got to give him credit as he didn’t want to stay down and collect another 250 title last year, he just wanted to take on the best and win to prove he’s the best. And he did it in fine style, dominating from the opening GP at Qatar. In his short MXGP, he’s won nine GPs overall.
That’s the sign of a true talent that’s not afraid to step up to face the best in the world head on. He may have had a tough 2017 season, but he’s not a quitter. Everyone may be talking about the great Cairoli versus Herlings battle this season, but if Tim is fit then it won’t be a KTM-only battle. If he’s fully back up to speed, the future looks like it may be filled with lots of epic battles with Gasjer, Herlings, Cairoli, Febvre and lots more. Gasjer will be back soon. Write him off at your peril.
