Sitting at an Outback restaurant at the Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires I couldn’t be further away from the tranquillity of Patagonia. After a really enjoyable week or drinking beer, eating good food and watching the opening round of the MXGP and MX2 championships, I feel pretty happy.

We had so many story-lines from the victory of HRC factory rookie Ruben Fernandez, somewhat of a surprise, but a pleasant one as this very likeable young man grew his fan base in Argentina. One of the most popular riders due to him being able to talk to the locals.

We also had Jago Geerts showing his power and winning nicely, despite having some medical issues leading into Argentina. The rides by Jorge Prado winning two motos and Jeffrey Herlings making his long awaited comeback. Unfortunately we also saw a bunch of big crashes and while Mitch Evans didn’t hurt himself in Argentina, it wasn’t nice seeing him leaving the track early and not returning.

Despite some negatives, I would like to give you my sensational six things from the event.

1. Number one has to be the crowd. While the racing is the main attraction, the fans in Argentina are possibly the best in the World and that includes great motocross countries like England, France and Italy. The lines of traffic getting into the event was a long one and even leaving the circuit hours after the event was run, the thousands and thousand of fans remained patient in long traffic jams. Their celebration with Fernandez was beautiful to see, a great final touch to what was a fun week for the majority of the paddock people.

2. Whenever somebody takes his first Grand Prix victory, you have to enjoy the moment. Ruben Fernandez wasn’t expected to win in Argentina, despite many of us, including myself tipping him for a possible win, but still, with World champion Jeffrey Herlings, Romain Febvre and Jorge Prado in the line-up, it was hard to bet on the HRC rider taking a victory. On a fast dangerous track the Spaniard looked very confident and what translated into a Grand Prix win.

3. The organization also deserves a lot of respect. From the magnificent Greg Atkins built track, to the warm greetings at the press conferences and celebration in the village of Villa La Angostura, just a group of very nice people and a race run to perfection. We were fortunately greeted with good weather on the Friday and Saturday and despite pouring rain at times on Sunday, we couldn’t complain about the weather conditions. It probably helped make the track even more exciting.

4. Jago Geerts is the favourite to win this years MX2 World championship and I mentioned it many times in 2022, we need a Belgian World champion and for now, number 93 is the guy to do that. His 1-1-1 performance was everything you expect after his hard battles with Tom Vialle, but Geerts did come into the weekend with some health concerns. Nerves have sometimes been a problem for Geerts, so for him to win first up is a great motivator for him to build on this points lead and maybe cruise at the back-end of the season, rather than have somebody on his tail putting pressure on.

5. Of course, I have to mention Jeffrey Herlings. Not the comeback of the century, or decade, but his performance was special for all to see. He looked totally out of it on Saturday and early Sunday, but came back with typical Herlings tenacity and proved once again, he will be the man to beat. He might not have those dominant seasons anymore, but he is still fast enough to win the championship. It will be interesting to see how he and Prado deal with each other in the coming months.

6. Jorge Prado was also impressive. Winning the first two races of the weekend and looking very happy, you just get the feeling he has taken it to another level and will that level take him to a MXGP championship, only time will tell. At just 22 years of age, you know his time will come, be that in 2023 or some time further down the track.