The task of learning a brand-new circuit on one day resembled a moving target for the riders and mechanics with no prior data to refer to in terms of what kind of bike set-up works, and what doesn't. The team and riders only had 40 minutes on track before the lining up for the races and in that same session, the riders had to post a fast lap to qualify for gate-pick. Paulin ended up ninth on the timesheet while Seewer was classified 11th.
As always, a good start is essential to a decent result. Paulin got a good jump on his YZ450FM and made up the top-five on the opening lap of Race 1. The Frenchman was shuffled back by a few of the title protagonists. Although he did not feel entirely comfortable on the rough and rutty circuit, he managed to hold off the nine-time FIM Motocross World Champion Antonio Cairoli to finish sixth.
Seewer rallied up into eighth after starting outside of the top-10 but suffered a violent crash going into a rutted turn with 7-minutes left on the clock. Fortunately, the ‘91’ was unhurt in the incident and managed to bravely ride back to 10th.
Ahead of the second and final race, both riders made significant changes to the gearing and suspension on their YZ450FMs. Seewer chased Jorge Prado around turn-one but was bumped back to fourth by the end of the lap. Paulin emerged from the turn outside of the top-15.
Many of the world's fastest MXGP riders struggled to navigate the chopped up Spanish clay track with many ruts margining into one ‘race line’. Seewer didn’t find his comfort zone but was happy to tough out a fifth-place finish, while Paulin recovered from a bad start to finish 10th.
Seewer remains third in the MXGP Championship Standings, while Paulin is currently seventh.
The next three rounds of the series will take place next week, on Sunday 18th, Wednesday 21st and Sunday 25th of October, in Lommel, Belgium.
