Hsu wins and Lieber post 2014 best result

A breezy home round of the FIM Motocross World Championship saw Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Brian Hsu toasting his second victory of the year on the RM125 with a double race victory in the EMX125 European Championship as Julien Lieber scored his season-best result with seventh position overall in the MX2s 11th-stop in 17 events.

Also in MX2, Jeremy Seewer rode to 10th overall; thanks to 12th and 11th positions in the two 30-minute and two-lap motos.

Bright skies, dust, ruts and slick terrain coloured the Talkessel hard-pack for this eagerly-awaited Grand Prix and part of a stellar mid-season spell that has also seen other ‘strongholds’ of the sport visited in the UK, France and Italy. A decent crowd ignored the distraction of the FIFA World Cup to travel to support the Rockstar crew that also form such a vital and regular part of the competitive national championship in Germany.

Lieber was able to take some confidence from an attacking and relentless display in both motos. The Belgian has frequently struggled to assert his potential in the top-10 of two sprints on the same day but there was no mistaking his vivacity on this occasion. The ‘#33’ was seventh across the results sheets; in the two races and also the overall ranking. The classification represented his second-best of 2014 and his points tally of 28 was also one mark off his total at the Spanish GP where he bagged 29 and was eighth at Talavera.

A few crucial mistakes and a tasty battle with Bulgarian Petar Petrov – that ended-up with the Suzuki rider having to recover his RM-Z250 from the fence – clouded Seewer’s day. The Swiss was 12th in the first moto after falling foul of the duel with Petrov for a top-10 slot and could only improve this position by one-slot in the second moto; this in spite of a small crash.

Build-up to the Grand Prix did not go well for Brian Hsu, who crashed and hurt his shoulder while preparing for the fifth meeting of seven in the EMX125 championship. The teenager gritted his teeth on the RM125 and took a superb victory in the first race on Saturday; his second of the season. On Sunday he was again flying and extended his moto successes to three for 2014 for a valuable gain on missing championship leader Davy Pootjes. The results on home turf mean that Hsu guards second position in the series with only a seven-point gap to the Dutchman and the red plate.

After scratching off 11 of the 17 rounds in the FIM Motocross World Championship Seewer sits 10th in the standings with 211 points. Lieber is four positions behind while Glen Coldenhoff still retains 13th despite his lengthy absence with injury.

While Grand Prix stops for a week prior to the north European stint that takes in trips to Sweden and Finland, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe will head to Aichwald for the third round of the ADAC MX Masters series where Seewer and Lieber will again do battle against the 450s in the German championship.

Brian Hsu:

“I hope Davy is OK for the next race because it was boring without him! The track was good and my lap-times were solid. I had some good starts and that was key. I have a lot of fans in Germany so it was nice to race here…even if this isn’t really a home track for me because I had never raced here before!”

Julien Lieber:

“Sure, I’m happy. Yesterday was not good. I didn't find a setting on the bike I liked and I was struggling, so we made some changes and they worked. My starts were not the best but I pushed and came back hard. My feeling on the bike is getting better and we found some useful suspension settings in the last weeks. Sweden is next. It is a nice track but I really don't like it because it is so slippery! The goal has to be to continue pushing for results like this.”

Jeremy Seewer:

“My feeling was good on the track but I could see already from Saturday that it was one of the easiest ones of the year because a lot of riders had the same speed so it was hard to make time and overtake. Today in the first race my start was not so bad but then I came up behind Petrov and it felt like I tried the whole race to pass him. He was really aggressive and kept looking at me and then just block-passed me into the fence by the pits; it was over then in terms of getting a top-10 result. I started well in the second race but I made a mistake by myself this time. I had tried to push in the beginning because I wanted to make ground. I’m really not happy with my results. I know the speed is there and if the starts come also then I can easily be in the top 10.”

MX2 Moto1:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:05.455; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:21.320; 3. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.651; 4. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:23.844; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:44.408; 6. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), +0:47.939; 7. Julien Lieber (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), +0:49.403; 8. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:51.097; 9. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +0:56.270; 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +0:57.018; 12. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), +1:02.358;

MX2 Moto2:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:28.150; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:41.321; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:51.532; 4. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), +0:52.224; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:56.392; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:58.995; 7. Julien Lieber (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), +1:00.355; 8. Max Anstie (GBR, Yamaha), +1:00.840; 9. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +1:02.281; 11. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), +1:18.471;

MX2 Overall Result:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 44 p.; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), 33 p.; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, HUS), 31 p.; 6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 29 p.; 7. Julien Lieber (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 28 p.; 8. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 25 p.; 9. Christophe Charlier (FRA, YAM), 22 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 19 p.;

MX2 World Championship Standings (after 11 of 17 rounds):

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 494 points; 2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, KAW), 389 p.; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 369 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, HUS), 358 p.; 5. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 343 p.; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 313 p.; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), 256 p.; 8. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 256 p.; 9. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 238 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 211 p.; 13. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 176 p.; 14. Julien Lieber (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 164 p.;

EMX125 Championship Standings (after 5 of 7 rounds):

1. Davy Pootjes (NED, KTM), 185 points; 2. Brian Hsu (GER, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe), 178 p.; 3. Alvin Ostlund (SWE, YAM), 158 p.; 4. David Herbreteau (FRA, YAM), 136 p.; 5. Tomass Sileika (LAT, KTM), 131 p.;


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