The recipe for long, deep ruts and great racing was revealed today with the traditional circuit of Teutschenthal shaping up gnarlier than ever for the qualifying races at the seventh round of the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Antonio Cairoli lit the candles to go pole for the first time since last years MXGP of Great Britain. Interestingly, the 2015 MXGP of Great Britain is also the last time TC222 stood on top of the box.
Meanwhile Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jeffrey Herlings battled the flu on the way to his seventh consecutive qualifying race win.
The fans were in for a treat in Germany when two of the ‰Û÷old-schoolers‰Ûª, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Antonio Cairoli and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jeremy Van Horebeek led the two leading the series this year, Honda Gariboldi‰Ûªs Tim Gajser and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing‰Ûªs Romain Febvre, around turn one.
The track was ripped mega deep through the week and saturated with water, which turned Teutschenthal‰Ûªs ‰Û÷Talkessel‰Ûª circuit into Rut City. Precision was of the essence in the technical conditions, which is what Cairoli is renowned for, although Gajser and Febvre have also proved in a short space of time that they can ride that way too.
Speaking of Gajser and Febvre, the battle between them is what has everyone hooked and once again, it was on full blast after the duo dropped Van Horebeek on the second lap. Both youngsters embrace the ‰Û÷win at all costs‰Ûª mentality, and there is definitely no love lost between the two, which always makes for epic racing.
With five minutes to go, Gajser flicked his map to animal mode, and set his sights firmly on Cairoli. As the Slovenian mixed up his lines in effort to get around the eight-time world champ, he broke traction, slid and clipped a rut, which chucked him off. Febvre inherited second and put a sniper dot right smack in the middle of Cairoli‰Ûªs back.
With two laps to go, Febvre had his finger firmly on the trigger as he tried to muster the strength to pull it. Every time he tried, he‰Ûªd bobble and eventually he had to settle for second while Tony Cairoli finally got the monkey off his back with his first race win of the season.
Gajser remounted and held on for third ahead of Van Horebeek and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing‰Ûªs Christophe Charlier who took his second ever top five, with his first being at the MXGP of Lombardia, Italy, last year.
Team HRC‰Ûªs Evgeny Bobryshev is riding with a slightly stiff shoulder and finished sixth ahead of the home soil hero Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing‰Ûªs Max Nagl.
Kiwi Ben Townley finished the qualifying race in 17th
