For Seewer it was his second overall of his career, and one made even sweeter by doing it in front of a lot of his fans, as well as a large contingent of Suzuki Germany, including President Tomoyo Sekiguchi.
It was also a great achievement for Lawrence to join his team mate on the podium at round eight of the series, as he took a massive stride forward in his fledgling MX2 career. The young Australian moved forward through the field in both motos and was delighted to land his first ever podium spot. Bas Vaessen also performed well on the tricky Teutschenthal track, in what was another positive ride as he comes back from his broken collarbone.
“I had such a good feeling all day” said Seewer, “I had good starts on my RM-Z250 which allowed me to fight for the win, and that’s what I did in the first moto. I had good speed and made no mistakes which allowed me to catch-up and pass Pauls Jonass despite him having quite a good lead at the beginning. In the second race I had a battle early-on in with Jorge Prado Garcia and he made it difficult and I even lost a few positions after a mistake. I fought back though and got up to fourth and that was good enough to win the GP. Hunter, being second, makes it even more amazing for the whole team and it gives everyone such a boost. It’s a long season but to have moments like this is great for everyone.”
Lawrence was equally delighted with his performance, at a track that he really enjoys riding. “It’s such an awesome feeling to go one and two for Suzuki and a great way to round off the weekend. In the first moto I was fourth and then second moto I was third so my best moto finishes; and of course my first podium. I’m so happy and I can’t wait to ride next weekend now. We finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together and it’s just a nice refresher for everyone in the Suzuki World team who all work so hard. When I crossed the line I had no idea what the points situation was and I was actually a little disappointed because I felt I could have even finished higher, but when Jeremy crossed the line and Harry Everts came up to us and told us, it was really cool, a really special moment.”
While Vaessen wasn’t quite able to finish inside the top-10, he still rode really well at a track that definitely isn’t his favourite: “In the first race I had a really good start on my RM-Z250 to come from 25th gate-pick to get upside the top-15 or so. I passed a couple of guys and was running in 10th for a long time, but Julien Lieber passed me on the last lap which was a shame. I was still happy with how I was riding though. In the second race there was a crash off the start and a lot of carnage on the first lap so I had to work my way through which was difficult to do on this track, as he was hard to pass on. The results were OK, but I felt that I could have got a little bit more out of the weekend.”
For General Manager Stefan Everts, it was a great weekend, especially because there were so many Suzuki Germany people in attendance. He had this to say about the racing: “First moto, Jeremy won after a tough battle to come through the field but eventually he caught up to Jonass and passed him to win the moto, which was an important step mentally to accomplish. In the second moto, after coming through, he lost the connection with the top guys when he was trying to pass Jonass again but finished fourth and got the overall. Also for Hunter, he was battling really hard for a podium spot, eventually coming home fourth. He did the same again in the second moto, this time one-spot better and he was just riding like we all knew he could.
“Having Jeremy win the overall and Hunter finishing second was a dream weekend; to get first-and-second for Suzuki is something worth celebrating. It certainly wasn’t an easy victory and both riders worked extremely hard for the results, so both did absolutely fantastic. Also Bas did well to go 11-13 on this kind of track, as he is coming back from his injury so they were not bad results. All three riders did really well.
“We had a lot of guests coming here with Suzuki Germany. They do so much for this team, almost everything, so it was great they got to witness this. We had a lot of customers here, a little Suzuki Village almost, so it was very nice to get the first and second places, and have Suzuki on the top of the podium,” Everts added.
The team now head back to their headquarters in Belgium, ready to do it all over again next weekend when the ninth round of the 2017 MXGP World Championships takes place in Ernee, France.
MX2 Moto 1:
1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 33:54.226;
2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:02.337;
3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:03.596;
4. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, Suzuki World MX2), +0:04.452;
5. Brian Hsu (GER, Husqvarna), +0:22.865;
6. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:26.631;
7. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:27.754;
8. Henry Jacobi (GER, Husqvarna), +0:28.026;
9. Darian Sanayei (USA, Kawasaki), +0:31.982;
10. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), +0:41.403;
MX2 Moto 2:
1. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), 34:26.321;
2. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:02.124;
3. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, Suzuki World MX2), +0:03.834;
4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), +0:07.585;
5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:26.607;
6. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), +0:29.456;
7. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:30.650;
8. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:30.732;
9. Darian Sanayei (USA, Kawasaki), +0:45.179;
10. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), +0:48.821;
MX2 Overall:
1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 43 points;
2. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, Suzuki World MX2), 38 p.;
3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 38 p.;
4. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 32 p.;
5. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 29 p.;
6. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 28 p.;
7. Michele Cervellin (ITA, HON), 28 p.;
8. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 26 p.;
9. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 24 p.;
10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 22 p
MX2 Points Standings:
1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 325 points
2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki World MX2), 288 p
3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 264 p
4. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 249 p
5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 220 p
6. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 184 p
7. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 175 p
8. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 174 p
9. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 142 p.;
10. Michele Cervellin (ITA, HON), 139 p
11. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, Suzuki World MX2), 137
