In a contentious 11th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Teutschenthal, Germany, Maxime Renaux was given a retrospective victory.
After a two-place penalty was imposed on countryman Tom Vialle for jumping while a yellow flag was flying, the Frenchman celebrated his ninth podium appearance and was later awarded the Grand Prix win by race direction.
Renaux currently has an 84-point advantage over teammate Jago Geerts, who finished fourth overall and two points off the podium.
Thibault Benistant, the third member of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 team, had a memorable Grand Prix, finishing 12th after crashing in both races.
Renaux and his teammates got off to a solid start in the first race, with the red plate bearer in fourth place and Benistant and Geerts close behind. As the laps clicked off, Renaux increased his pace and before the end of lap four, the Frenchman had made a pass for third.
In the early stages, Geerts used a more conservative approach. The Belgian passed local hero Simon Langenfelder for fourth place in front of a wild crowd, but he ended fifth after Jed Beaton nudged him back a position.
Meanwhile, Renaux settled into a formidable rhythm and edged closer to the leaders but eventually ran out of time to make a pass stick. He finished third.
Benistant’s #198 crashed out of fourth place on the second lap, and he fought his way back to 16th after rejoining the race in last place.
All three riders led the field out of turn one in the final race of the day, showing the YZ250FM’s undeniable power. Renaux was the best-placed Yamaha rider in front of Benistant and Geerts, almost a blueprint copy of race one.
Benistant spectacularly fell out of third place as he caught his footpeg at the top of a jump face as Renaux chased the defending champion Vialle. Geerts took over the final place in the top three, finishing 16 seconds behind Renaux. Renaux and Geerts crossed the finish line in second and third place, respectively, although both riders gained a position after Vialle was penalized for a yellow-flag infringement. Renaux took first place, with Geerts moving up to second.
Meanwhile, Benistant provided a thrilling battle of wits to the animated crowd as he used some creative lines to pass riders on his way back to ninth place.
Maxime Renaux: “Today was a good day. Two solid races and two solid results. The goal now is to stay steady and not take any big risks, although I did try to push for the win in the second race. Now, I can take the red plate to my home round in France. I really look forward to that to have the French public there and cheering. I have never experienced that before so I am looking forward to it.”
Jago Geerts: “I am pretty happy with the result. I was riding well but I made some small mistakes and finished fifth. I was happy with my speed but I lost my rhythm a little bit at the end. In the second heat, I was a little bit better. I know I need to keep working to find more speed so that I can battle with Tom (Vialle) and Maxime (Renaux).”
Thibault Benistant: “Today was not a really good day for me. I took two really good starts but I had some big crashes because I was attacking too much. This is something I am working on, I want to be more aggressive in the first laps, but I was pushing too much and then I crashed and had to start from last. So it was quite a difficult weekend for me.”
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