RENAUX BREAKS YAMI’S MX2 WORLD DROUGHT

When Maxime Renaux was sidelined from racing for most of 2017 with nerve damage and a paralysed arm – the result of another rider landing on him – the prospect of winning an MX2 World Championship couldn’t have been farther from the young Frenchman’s mind. But in an incredible show of grit and consistency this season, the 21-year-old Frenchman has upstaged his more fancied rivals in this year’s hotly contested MX2 FIM World Motocross Championship and wrapped up the 2021 title with two rounds to spare! He did it in style too by taking his fifth Overall win of the season in the third of Trentino’s triple-header rounds on the weekend, amassing an unassailable 110-point lead in the MX2-class standings.

Admittedly, the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 rider had some help along the way this season with injures to reigning champ, Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle, and teammate Jago Geerts’ season getting off to a slow start. But there is no doubt that Renaux deserved his first maiden MX2 crown. He notched up eight moto wins, visited the podium 12 times and delivered five Overall GP victories for Yamaha, who haven’t had an MX2 champion since Tony Cairoli lifted the gold plate for them in 2007 (it’s only been six years if you count Yamaha’s win the in the premier MX1 class with Romain Febvre in 2015). Renaux’s title makes him the 17^th Frenchman to win a world title since the FIM Motocross World Championship began in 1957.

“It means so much for me,” said Renaux as tears streamed down his face after dominating the weekend’s GP at the picturesque Trentino track. “I’ve been working so hard for it. I’ve been so deep and so low, so coming back like that it’s such an emotion. Winning the championship with a race win and a GP win, it’s such a dream day.”