Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli is the champion of the weekend, the Italian came into Sunday’s race with the pole position and used it to his advantage in Race 1, where he took the Fox Holeshot and won after leading every lap.
When the gate dropped in Race 2 though, everything changed, the italian came across the Fox Holeshot line just behind Gajser but he made a mistake and got stuck in the second corner.
The error put him in near 20th. After the first lap Cairoli crossed the line in 15th position having already passed several riders. With his first race victory and Gajser out front Cairoli needed to place 2nd in race 2 to claim the GP win.
Cairoli found motivation in the form of the Italian fans cheering and he started his amazing comeback, gaining positions lap after lap he would eventually catch the #4 of Arnaud Tonus in 6th position, who forced Cairoli to get creative with his passing.
Cairoli finally found a way through and passed Tonus on lap 13, he would use this same spot on the track lap after lap passing Gautier Paulin, Clement Desalle, Jeffrey Herlings, and most significantly Evgeny Borbryshev for second on the next to last lap!
Cairoli wore his heart on his sleeve and with his miraculous ride he claimed the 79th overall of his career in front of his home crowd in dramatic and historic fashion! In the press conference Cairoli said, “I just kept pushing and pushing trying to make passes and it worked, I’m really happy! I had some sketchy moments but if you want to win you have to take some risks. It’s a very special race, one of my best GPs ever!”
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser had a good weekend after briefly leading in Race 1 he eventually finished third. For Gajser this is one of his closest GPs to his home country of Slovenia with many fans and national media making the trip he wanted to provide them with a win. He did so in race 2 grabbing the holeshot and leading all 19 laps, and though he would have liked to take the overall, he gladly maintains the red plate. Gajser in the press conference stated, “I’m quite happy with the weekend. The Slovenian crowd was amazing, thank you to them for making the trip.”
Wilvo Yamaha MXGP’s Arnaud Tonus made history of his own scoring his first MXGP podium finish. Tonus rode incredible over the weekend, he nearly grabbed the FOX Holeshot in race 1 only missing out only to Antonio Cairoli and he was in third the first 10 of 19 laps before passing the championship leader Tim Gajser. Tonus finished the race in second and thanks to Cairoli’s pass on Bobryshev in Race 2 his 7th place resulted in him finishing third overall. In the press conference Tonus said, “It feels a bit weird to be on the podium, the first moto was great for me and it was a big step in the right direction. Overall I’m really happy for my team, they have been working really hard so I’m very pleased to be up here.”
A good start in race 2 propelled Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings to his best performance this season finishing 4th. Combined with his 14th in race one Herlings moved to 8th overall.
Watch the highlight HERE
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 33:35.084;
2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:02.278;
3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:06.158;
4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:07.369;
5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:09.722;
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:11.423;
7. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:40.550;
8. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.972;
9. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:44.773;
10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:47.504.
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 33:36.300;
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:04.165;
3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:06.147;
4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:06.881;
5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:08.830;
6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:10.714;
7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:12.642;
8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:15.933;
9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:23.945;
10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:31.173.
MXGP Overall Top Ten:
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 47 points;
2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 45 p.;
3. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 36 p.;
4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 34 p.;
5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 33 p.;
6. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 32 p.;
7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 28 p.;
8. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 25 p.;
9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 22 p.;
10. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, SUZ), 19 p.
MXGP Championship Top Ten:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 201 points;
2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 183 p.;
3. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 151 p.;
4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 145 p.;
5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 145 p.;
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 144 p.;
7. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 106 p.;
8. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 101 p.;
9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 95 p.;
10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 90 p.
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 34:10.629;
2. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), +0:01.498;
3. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), +0:02.887;
4. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +0:11.055;
5. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:33.985;
6. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:37.855;
7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), +0:39.695;
8. Brian Hsu (GER, Husqvarna), +0:41.316;
9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:45.901;
10. Conrad Mewse (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:50.089.
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 33:41.859;
2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:02.010;
3. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +0:03.078;
4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:03.503;
5. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), +0:13.092;
6. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:23.083;
7. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:43.966;
8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:46.843;
9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:49.002;
10. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +0:49.844.
MX2 Overall Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 47 points;
2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 47 p.;
3. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 36 p.;
4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 31 p.;
5. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 30 p.;
6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 30 p.;
7. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 29 p.;
8. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 21 p.;
9. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 16 p.;
10. Conrad Mewse (GBR, HUS), 16 p.
MX2 Championship Top Ten:
1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 192 points;
2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 183 p.;
3. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 175 p.;
4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 158 p.;
5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 147 p.;
6. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 123 p.;
7. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 117 p.;
8. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 113 p.;
9. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 110 p.;
10. Michele Cervellin (ITA, HON), 99 p.
