Seewer got his day off to a sensational start, narrowly missing pole by 0.128 of a second. The Swiss rider put in a blistering 1’40.298 lap to qualify in second position behind the championship leader Jeffrey Herlings. Glenn Coldenhoff posted a 1’41.138 for eighth, fractionally quicker than Ben Watson’s 1’41.718, which put the ‘919’ in 12th.
In the opening race of the day, Seewer rocketed to an incredible holeshot. The ‘91’ immediately stretched out a comfortable lead, and even though he had a massive high side at the bottom of a steep descent in the middle of the race, he still managed to regroup for his first race win of 2021 – and 11th of his career.
Another flying start in race two saw the Swiss rider bounce back from a frantic first lap where he was shuffled back to fifth position. But, by lap six, the YZ450FM star was back on form and charging after the race leader. After stalling his engine mid-moto, the Yamaha ace refired the bike in good time and made another astonishing recovery to finish second place, 5-seconds off of the defending World Champion Tim Gajser.
Coldenhoff chased his teammate around turn-one in the opening race, but with plenty of bar-banging happening between the main title protagonists, the Dutchman was shuffled back to sixth. Watson put in a strong ride after a mediocre start where he managed to battle his way back to ninth.
In the second and final race, Watson opted for a different tyre, changing to a ‘scoop’ which is typically a sand or mud tyre, in hopes of gaining an advantage off the gate. With the dirt on the start straight being a lot deeper and softer than the rest of the track, the Briton’s gamble paid off. He flew to a top-notch start and completed the opening lap in seventh, hot on the heels of Coldenhoff.
After challenging some of the most experienced riders in the premier class for the full 20-lap race duration, Watson finished seventh after an impressive pass on his teammate, Coldenhoff, with two laps to go. Coldenhoff crossed the line in eighth. .
As a result, Coldenhoff and Watson were classified seventh and eighth overall at the MXGP of Garda.
Going into the penultimate round of the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship, Seewer is fifth in the standings, while Coldenhoff and Watson are seventh and 11th, respectively.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team now heads 128 kilometers south of Pietramurata, where they will contest the final two rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Mantova, Italy, on Sunday 7th and Wednesday 10th November.
