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Motocross

Cairoli and Herlings unbeatable in Italy, Ferris third in 2nd moto

Author: Aaryn Minerds

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The fourth Grand Prix of the FIM Motocross World Championship took place today at Arco di Trento in front of 23000 people with the crowd on hand pleased to see their home rider Antonio Cairoli on top of the podium in the MX1 class.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Antonio Cairoli did not have a great day yesterday during qualifying, turned things around on race day, focusing on his starts, as he knew they were going to be the key to win his home Grand Prix.

The Italian took the holeshot in both heats, winning the Get Athena holeshot award after the first race, before controlling both races all the way through to the chequered flag.

The win now sees Cairoli with the same number of GP victories as GP great Joel Smets, leaving him second in the record books behind legend of the sport Stefan Everts with 101 GP wins.

‰ÛÏI didn‰Ûªt expect to do that well here because its not my favorite track and yesterday I was struggling a bit with the hard pack." Cairoli stated. "I know I had to make two good starts because everyone here has a good speed.

"I got the two holeshots and I could push to the last lap. There was more tension in the first race because I had Paulin and Desalle right behind me but in the second I pushed for the first 20-25 minutes.

"I knew I had Ken behind me and he was controlling the riders behind him so we had a pretty nice race together," he concluded.
Ken De Dycker finished 2nd for the round after qualifying on pole - Credit R.Archer
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Ken De Dycker did not have a good start in the first race but still managed to work his way up to fourth place by the end of the moto. In the second race he slotted in to second place behind his team mate from the the beginning and held position to the until the end to finish second overall for the Grand Prix.

‰ÛÏI had a good win yesterday for pole but I didn‰Ûªt get a good start in the first moto." De Dycker explained. "I had the speed but I wanted to save something for the second race.

"But overall a good second moto and a good GP. I think we‰Ûªre having lots of success because we train hard and everyone knows that the KTM bikes have been on top now for I think five years. But behind the scenes it‰Ûªs also the fun things we do together ‰ÛÒ that‰Ûªs what motivated everyone.‰Û
Kawasaki's Paulin rounded out the podium - Credit Kawasaki Racing
Third overall went to Kawasaki Racing Team‰Ûªs Gautier Paulin after finishing second and fourth in today‰Ûªs races. In the first race Paulin was fifth in the first corner, but he quickly moved up to third and after five laps. The French rider tried to close the gap with race leader Cairoli, but he made several mistakes and he finally had to settle second.

‰ÛÏI had a good feeling on this track, but the second start was not what I am used to and there was a pile-up at turn one and I had to ride over another bike!" Paul explained. "It was difficult to come back through the field after that, even though I posted fast laps throughout the forty minutes.

"There were many stones on this track, and when you‰Ûªre following another rider you got hit many times on your body!

"It‰Ûªs great to be back on the podium in third overall, but it could have been better. We got to Bulgaria next week and I won there last year," he added.
Desalle kept himself in the championship race with a 4th place finish - Credit Suzuki Racing
Rockstar Energy Suzuki World‰Ûªs Clement Desalle had a very good first race, finishing third behind Paulin after having started down in the sixth place. The Belgian rider tried to overtake Paulin during the whole race, but in the end he had to settle down with the third position.

In the second moto Desalle crashed in the second corner with Tommy Searle and David Philippaerts and he had to restart his race from the last position, but charged hard to finish eighth, giving him fourth overall on the day.

"The first moto was not too bad but I was disappointed because I was stuck too long behind Gautier Paulin and I could not pass him." Desalle commented. "My start was better in the second moto.

"I was third but in the second corner I touched Searle and it was like my bike was glued to his. I don't know what happened," he added.

"I restarted last and on the second lap I crashed again. I came back to eighth but it was a bad day. My work didn't pay anything back."
Kevin Strijbos made it two Suzuki's in the top five - Credit Suzuki Racing
Desalle's team mate, Kevin Strijbos finished fifth overall just two points behind Desalle. In both motos Strijbos did not have a great start, however, the Rockstar Energy Suzuki World rider managed to work forward in both races to finish sixth and fifth respectively.

I think I can make the podium soon." Strijbos stated. "The pace is there, I just need a few small things to click into place."

Tommy Searle launched out of the gate well in both races, but could not sustain the pace in the opening moto dropping to fifth place by race end. Moto 2 seen the British rider at the back of the field after an early race crash.

Remounting he charged his way to sixth by the finish for six overall on the day, finishing one position ahead of Honda World MX racer Max Nagl in seventh.

Ice1 racing's Xavier Boog finished eighth overall and with Jeremy Van Horebeek and Jonathan Barragan completed the top ten.

Home riders David Philippaerts and Davide Guarneri finished fourteenth and fifteenth respectively. Both riders were touched by bad luck this weekend; while Philippaerts crashed at the start of the second race, Guarneri had to pull out from the second race due to a mechanical problem.

MX2
Herlings continues to dominate the MX2 class, still undefeated in 8 races for the year - Credit R.Archer
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jeffrey Herlings kept his unbeaten run in 2013 in tact, but did not have it easy as he had to fight once again from the back of the pack to win both races and win the fourth Grand Prix of the year.

In the first race he did not get a good jump out of the gate but he was confident with himself as he knew he had the speed to ride for the lead. In fact, by the middle of the race he caught his teammate Tixier who was riding at the front, and when there were five laps to go Herlings managed to take the lead.

In the second race Herlings hit the gate at the start, so he had to give all his best once again to move all the way up to the lead from the very last position.

‰ÛÏThe riding was really good." Herling commented at the end of the day. "There‰Ûªs just one thing to work on and that‰Ûªs the start but in Bulgaria that will be less important because you have a 180 degree turn so hopefully we can work on that and maybe have some new set up for the bike.

"You know even if its hard pack or sand it doesn‰Ûªt really matter anymore. I‰Ûªm the fastest on all the tracks up to now so I hope to have this consistency, not to make mistakes and not give up the dream of being undefeated.‰Û
Tixier's second place gave KTM a 1-2 in both classes and again claimed 5 of the 6 podium spots for the day - Credit R.Archer
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing‰Ûªs Jordi Tixier obtained the Get Athena Holeshot Award after getting the holeshot of the first race. The French rider was dominating the race comfortably until he was overtaken by his teammate Herlings with just a few laps remaining.

In the second race Tixier did not get the start he was after and found it difficult to recover positions. In the end Tixier finished fourth for the moto and second overall for the Grand Prix.

‰ÛÏI got a good start in race one and it was so much easier for me to stay in front," said Tixier. "But I had a bad start in the second race and was back at tenth.

"It was really difficult to pass on the first laps and I had to really attack to get into fourth place. I tried to close the gap but it wasn‰Ûªt possible so I decided to stay in fourth for second overall in the GP," he added.

KTM Silver Action‰Ûªs JosÌ© ButrÌ_n claimed his second podium of the season after finishing sixth and second in the two motos. In the first heat the Spanish rider had a great start and after riding second in in the first lap, he rode third most of the race. However, he had a mechanical problem, which made him dropped down to the sixth position by the end of the race.

In the second race ButrÌ_n succeeded in taking the holeshot and led the first sixth laps until Herlings overtook him. At that point Australian Dean Ferris was behind the Spanish rider and he was making a lot on pressure on him, but ButrÌ_n gave all his best to finish second and achieve the third overall position of the Gran Prix.

Monster Energy Yamaha‰Ûªs Christophe Charlier missed the podium today by just one point finishing fourth for the GP, one position ahead of KTM mounted Glenn Coldenhoff.
Ferris bounced back for a third place finish in moto 2 after crashing out of the first race - Credit Yamaha Racing (File)
Monster Energy Yamaha backed Aussie talent Dean Ferris, did not have the best of luck in the opening moto. After qualifying third fastest during Saturday's qualifying race, Ferris was involved in an early race crash in moto one, forcing him out of the race.

Moto two was much better for the Australian, with a great start seeing him race in second position early in the race, before being passed by Herlings on his way to the front. Ferris then maintained third for the remainder of the moto, claiming another podium finish.

His third place finish in moto two was enough to see him finish in eighth place for the round and currently sits in the same position in the championship standings.

‰ÛÏIt was a shame about the first race because there might have been a chance of sticking the bike on the box but I‰Ûªm happy about how strong I am after the injury and it‰Ûªs good to be back and scoring points like that." Ferris explained.

"It is less than four weeks since I had surgery, so I‰Ûªm pumped. We changed the bike a bit for the second moto and that‰Ûªs the most comfortable I‰Ûªve felt all year and I could flow on what wasn‰Ûªt an easy track.

"We made a couple of clicks on the suspension and used a different tyre; it worked," he added.

"There were a couple of spots where I could have possibly passed Butron for second but then also a few places that let me down and he was a bit quicker. I paced myself at the start because I didn‰Ûªt know how fit I‰Ûªd be." Ferris continued.

"I haven‰Ûªt practised on the bike during the week since I left Australia because of the flyaways and then the injury. I thought I‰Ûªd try to pounce on him [Butron] at the end and that he might tire but he stayed strong. I did everything I could.

"Hopefully from now on I can start the ball rolling again and start to get some podiums for the team," he concluded.

Round five of the 2013 World MX Championships will take place on the 21st of April in Bulgaria
MX1 Podium - Credit: R.Archer
MX1 Race 1 results:
1. Antonio Cairoli 40:31.783
2. Gautier Paulin +0:03.045
3. Clement Desalle +0:04.537
4. Ken De Dycker +0:41.728
5. Tommy Searle +0:46.724
6. Kevin Strijbos +0:50.663
7. Jeremy Van Horebeek +0:56.209
8. Xavier Boog +0:57.255
9. Shaun Simpson +1:00.618
10. Davide Guarneri

MX1 Race 2 results:
1. Antonio Cairoli 41:03.682
2. Ken De Dycker +0:06.931
3. Maximilian Nagl +0:11.561
4. Gautier Paulin +0:17.281
5. Kevin Strijbos +0:18.686
6. Tommy Searle +0:31.259
7. Xavier Boog +0:32.388
8. Clement Desalle +0:33.570
9. Jonathan Barragan +0:41.915
10. Jeremy Van Horebeek +0:45.159

MX1 Overall round results:
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 50 pts
2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 40 pts
3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 40 pts
4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 33 pts
5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 31 pts
6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 31 pts
7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), 30 pts
8. Xavier Boog (FRA, KTM), 27 pts
9. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 25 pts
10. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, KTM), 20 pts

MX1 Championship standings after round 4:
1. Antonio Cairoli 192 pts
2. Ken De Dycker 155 pts
3. Clement Desalle 149 pts
4. Gautier Paulin 148 pts
5. Kevin Strijbos 120 pts
6. Tommy Searle 118 pts
7 Rui Gon̤alves 89 pts
8. Evgeny Bobryshev 87 pts
9. Xavier Boog 83 pts
10. Maximilian Nagl 75 pts
MX2 Podium - Credit: R.Archer
MX2 Race 1 results:
1. Jeffrey Herlings 41'00.398
2. Jordi Tixier +0'04.125
3. Christophe Charlier +0'06.682
4. Jake Nicholls +0'21.103
5. Glenn Coldenhoff +0'40.822
6. Jose Antonio Butron +0'47.318
7. Max Anstie +0'55.638
8. Dylan Ferrandis +0'58.686
9. Petar Petrov +1'02.578
10. Mel Pocock +1'04.552
DNF. Dean Ferris

MX2 Race 2 results:
1. Jeffrey Herlings +40'36.884
2. Jose Antonio Butron +0'31.262
3. Dean Ferris +0'37.339
4. Jordi Tixier +0'43.477
5. Christophe Charlier +0'47.672
6. Glenn Coldenhoff +0'51.542
7. Alessandro Lupino +0'52.025
8. Dylan Ferrandis +1'22.992
9. Max Anstie +1'29.288
10. Jeremy Seewer +1'36.186

MX2 Overall round results:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 Pts
2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 40 Pts
3. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 37 Pts
4. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 36 Pts
5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 31 Pts
6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), 26 Pts
7. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 26 Pts
8. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 20 Pts
9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), 20 Pts
10. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), 19 Pts

MX2 Championship standings after round 4:
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 200 Pts
2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 141 Pts
3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 128 Pts
4. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 111 Pts
5. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 107 Pts
6. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), 98 Pts
7. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 98 Pts
8. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 89 Pts
9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 82 Pts
10. Mel Pocock (GBR, Yamaha), 77 Pts

For Full Round and Championship Results CLICK HERE

Top Image: Cairoli unbeatable at home
Credit: R.Archer

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