Rui Goncalves returned to winning ways in Latvia to move up to third in the MX2 championship, although long-time leader Marvin Musquin maintained his grip on the title chase thanks to scoring the same number of points as the Portuguese.
The two men dominated the event at Kegums, the first ever GP to be held in Latvia, by both winning a heat and finishing as runner-up in a second. Musquin took the first by just over five seconds from his KTM factory team mate after Goncalves made a poor start from pole and initially dropped to fifth. German wonder kid Ken Roczen again showed his enormous potential with third in moto 1, only 0.2secs behind the KTM ahead.
The second moto would be dominated by Goncalves however. He rode well throughout to take victory by 14 seconds and seal the round win on aggregate by nine. Musquin was equally untroubled in second as he moved 49 points clear of Gautier Paullin at the top of the championship, although the Frenchman did at least take the final step on the overall podium thanks to his third and fifth place finishes.
Roczen finished fourth overall with Davide Guarneri fifth, the Italian’s consistent approach allowing Goncalves to leap frog him in third in the standings.
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MX2 Race 1 top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 39:56.178; ; 2. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:05.504; 3. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:05.765; 4. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:12.918; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.400; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:17.077; 7. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), +0:35.406; 8. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), +0:35.870; 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), +0:36.058; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Yamaha), +0:59.012;
MX2 Race 2 top ten: 1. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 40:32.203; ; 2. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), +0:14.133; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.789; 4. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), +0:46.401; 5. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:50.211; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:51.150; 7. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), +1:27.441; 8. Marcus Schiffer (GER, KTM), +1:33.664; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Yamaha), +1:36.924; 10. Jose Antonio Butron Oliva (ESP, Suzuki), +1:37.871;
MX2 Overall top ten: 1. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 47 points; 2. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 47 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 36 p.; 4. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 36 p.; 5. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), 32 p.; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), 27 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Yamaha), 23 p.; 9. Marcus Schiffer (GER, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 18 p.;
MX2 Championship top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 371 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 322 p.; 3. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 301 p.; 4. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), 296 p.; 5. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 264 p.; 6. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 200 p.; 7. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Yamaha), 197 p.; 8. Xavier Boog (FRA, Suzuki), 197 p.; 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), 165 p.; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 157 p.;
MX2 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 420 points; 2. Kawasaki, 385 p.; 3. Yamaha, 344 p.; 4. Suzuki, 306 p.; 5. Honda, 257 p.; 6. TM, 9 p.;
Tom Hornsby
International
