The favorites in the "small" MX2 World Championship class
Of course, the top category of the motocross world championship, the MXGP, is the focus of interest, but the "small" world championship class MX2 is at least as exciting. This is reserved for riders up to the age of 23, who are allowed to use two-stroke motorcycles with a displacement of up to 125 cc or four-strokes with up to 250 cc. In practice, however, everyone rides with the larger displacement. In the MXGP, four-strokes with up to 450 cc are permitted and there is no age limit. In terms of MX2, we also want to find out the supposed favorites at the MXGP of Switzerland on August 24 and 25 during the short break before the next event hat-trick.
Kay de Wolf is currently well on the way to the 2024 MX2 World Championship title. Like Jorge Prado in the MXGP, the Dutchman from the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team had a great start to the season and won the first three Grand Prix. Although he has only won two of the eleven subsequent rounds of the season so far, he has almost always been at the front of the field, collecting a total of 683 points. This gives him a 55-point lead over his closest rival.
That is his team-mate Lucas Coenen. With four wins this season, the Belgian has one fewer than Kay de Wolf, but with 60 points to be awarded per race weekend, he too can still have legitimate hopes of winning the title.
This also applies to the German Simon Längenfelder from the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing team's neighboring marquee. He was in second place in the standings for a long time, but has now slipped to third place in the intermediate standings with 606 points, twelve points behind Lucas Coenen. One of his shortcomings is that although he has been busy collecting points, he has so far failed to make the big time this season.
Liam Everts from the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team is fourth in the standings. The son of ten-time and record world champion Stefan Everts and grandson of four-time champion Harry Everts had to sit out the first race of the season in Argentina due to injury and worked his way up the standings, including with two GP victories. With his current 556 points, the Belgian still has a lot of work ahead of him to get to the top.
He is currently followed by the Dane Mikkel Haarup from the MONSTER ENERGY TRIUMPH RACING team with 465 points.
Last year's world champion, Andrea Adamo from Italy, started this year with the aim of defending his title. However, given his current 457 points and sixth place in the standings, this is unlikely to come to fruition. Even though he has yet to win a GP this season, he is always good for top places. However, he recently had to take a break due to injury.
Behind another Dutchman, Rick Elzinga (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory, 429 points), Lucas Coenen's twin brother Sasha is in eighth place in the standings. Andrea Adamo's team-mate has already claimed two GP victories, but his overall performance is a little too erratic. This is one of the reasons why he currently stands on 391 points.
Spain's Oriol Oliver (WZ RACING TEAM, 255 points) and Italy's Ferruccio Zanchi (Team HRC, 254) complete the current top 10 in the standings
There have been no Swiss riders in MX2 so far this year, but it could well be that one or two of them would like to get that Grand Prix feeling at their home race.
We will see which of the top MX2 riders will collect the most world championship points at this year's MXGP of Switzerland in the qualifying race on Saturday, August 24, and the Grand Prix races one day later on Sunday, August 25, in Frauenfeld.
