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MXGP Italy Race Report

By Stephen St. Pierre

Photos Courtesy of MXGP

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As we near the halfway point of the FIM Motocross World Championships, the script keeps being written each weekend and all race fans have to do is sit back and enjoy the action. Last weekend’s Round 8, the MXGP of Trentino, on the hilly hard packed track in Pietramurata, Italy, served up some great viewing as all the lead characters turned in tremendous performances and left the audience only wanting more.

Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli was clearly the crowd favourite at home in Italy and “TC222” didn’t disappoint as the 8-time World Champion took the Fox Holeshot in Moto 1 and turned in a 1-2 performance to take the overall win, his second in a row after a yearlong absence from the top of the podium. On a circuit that he admits, “It’s not one of my better tracks,” Cairoli narrowed the points gap in the championship race and has to start having the young guns looking in their rear view mirrors and wondering if they can stop TC222.

Monster Energy Yamaha’s Romain Febvre served notice this weekend that he is not going to relinquish the title without a fight. Riding without the red plate on his Yamaha for the first time since he took over the points lead at Round 2, Febvre went down in turn 1 of the first moto and found himself in last place. On a track that is difficult to pass on, the Frenchman worked his way through the pack, crashed again, and fought hard to finish the moto in sixth. In Moto 2, Febvre bounced back. He didn’t get the best start but charged hard and took advantage of a mistake by the race leader, Cairoli, to win the final race of the day. His 6-1 finishes gave him second overall on the day, and although he wished the day could have been better, he said, “I’m happy to be on the podium in second place.”

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Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gasjer continues to be the most exciting rider on the track. After winning the qualifying race on Saturday, hard crashes in each moto left ”Tiga,” the 19-year-old Slovenian, battered and bruised, and a pair of fourth place finishes gave him the last spot on the podium. His second moto crash came after he pulled the Fox Holeshot and was running first with a comfortable lead. Gasjer managed to keep the red plate and leads the championship by 4 points over Febvre, and is the only rider in MXGP to have finished on the podium at every round. Tiga has managed to bounce back from all his get offs this season but one has to wonder if his luck will continue.

Team Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Max Nagl rounded out the top five. Strijbos was riding well and managed his best result of the year finishing 3-6 for fourth overall and was only bumped off the podium on the last lap of the final moto when Gajser passed another rider for one more point. As for Max Nagl, it wasn’t quite the same experience of last year when won the grand prix, although he was very impressive in race one where he chased Cairoli and finished a close second. In race two, the German got himself into trouble on the opening lap and was only able to get back to eighth.

MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 47 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 40 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 36 p.; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 35 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 35 p.; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 32 p.; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 32 p.; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 21 p.; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, KTM), 20 p.; 10. Ben Townley (NZL, SUZ), 20 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 335 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 331 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 310 p.; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 273 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 264 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 247 p.; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 204 p.; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 189 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 153 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 146 p.

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Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings’ bid for a perfect season came to an end in the first moto when after an epic battle that ended at the checkered flag, the Bullet had to settle for second place behind race winner Dylan Ferrandis. The two riders brought the Italian fans to their feet with a bar banging battle that went down to the last corner. Herlings did actually briefly take the lead for two turns, but Ferrandis responded with an aggressive move that was right on the line of becoming dirty. Jeffrey returned to his winning ways in Moto 2 after grabbing the lead in the second corner and then cruising to a 30+ second victory, his fifty-fifth overall win in the MX2 class.

One can only wonder how the season could have played out if Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Dylan Ferrandis had not separated his shoulder at Round 2 in Thailand. Ferrandis has showed incredible speed since his return to the MX2 starting line two weeks ago in Latvia. The Frenchman won the qualifying race on Saturday, took the Fox Holeshot in Moto 1, led every lap, and held off the charge of MX2 point’s leader Jeffrey Herlings. In Moto 2, Dylan suffered from a poor start after getting a bad jump out of the gate and came back from outside the top 10 to finish third, after a last lap failed pass attempt on Pauls Jonass.

Red Bull KTM’s Pauls Jonass managed to keep it on two wheels this weekend and with a pair of third place finishes wound up on the podium for the third time this season. Jonass has been riding incredibly well this year but has struggled to keep his KTM upright. This weekend he had his first steady day with minimal mistakes since the MXGP of Europe, which took place in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, back in March. “I didn’t go out in warm-up this morning because I wasn’t feeling well,” he said. “I wasn’t even sure I was going to race but I did and I am really happy to be on the podium on a track like this. It’s not my favourite but it was okay today.”

TM Racing’s Italian Samuele Bernardini had the hometown fans cheering for him this weekend and used that energy to finish 6-6 for a fourth overall. Bernardini got off to a great start in the first moto and ran in second place for the first five laps, managing to hold off Herlings to the delight of the hometown crowd. While Bernardini does fade during the races, he clearly has the speed and skill to be something great as he showed this weekend by setting the TAG Heuer Fastest Lap in the MX2 class.

Suzuki World MX2’s Jeremy Seewer has had a lot of good finishes this year but unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. The Swiss rider broke his podium streak this weekend when he finished fourth in race one after a poor start and then crashed in race two and only recovered for twelfth. His 4-12 finishes left him in fifth overall for the MX2 round of Trentino.

MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 47 points; 2. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 45 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 42 p.; 4. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 30 p.; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 27 p.; 6. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 25 p.; 7. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 25 p.; 8. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 24 p.; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 21 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 21 p.

MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 397 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 297 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 260 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 211 p.; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 210 p.; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 202 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 183 p.; 8. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 182 p.; 9. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 179 p.; 10. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 162 p.

Round 9 The MXGP of Spain will take place on May 29th. All races can been seen live on MXGP-TV.com

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