CALVIN VLAANDEREN BECOMES THIRD 2022 WINNER WITH FIRST MXGP TRIUMPH IN SARDEGNA

 Round eight of the 2022 MXGP World Championship threw up unexpected winners, and contrast between the two Grand Prix classes.

Jorge Prado entered the MXGP of Sardegna on the back foot. He missed the last Grand Prix in Maggiora on the weekend previous to Sardegna due to a dislocated shoulder. Even for Riola, Prado’s participation was only confirmed on the Thursday before the race by the factory GasGas team. But, nonetheless, Prado assumed his usual spot at the end of the weekend, as he stood on the podium for the sixth time in the first eight races of 2022. 

Calvin Vlaanderen, 2022 MXGP of Sardegna. - Yamaha Racing.

But, the riders alongside Prado on the rostrum at the end of Sunday’s racing were entirely unexpected. 

Calvin Vlaanderen had never finished on the podium in the MXGP class before the MXGP of Sardegna. His last GP victory was in Indonesia 2018 when he rode for Honda in MX2. But, he dominated the first moto with a display of superior sand riding and fitness. 

Vlaanderen took advantage of a fitness-compromised Prado late-on in race one, and did not stop there. Tim Gajser had led the first race quite comfortably until the last four laps. Despite pressure from Prado early on, he withstood it, and seemed to have the win in hand before Vlaanderen’s late charge began. When he arrived on Gajser’s rear wheel, the Slovenian offered no resistance to Vlaanderen, who went through and took a relatively straightforward first MXGP moto win in the end, lapping seconds faster than the rest of the field in the closing stages.