Reigning MX1 World Champion Tony Cairoli launched his season with flair on Sunday with a clear victory in the opening round of the Italian National Championship in Riola Sardo.
The Sardinia race attracted around 10,000 enthusiastic MX fans and was run in near perfect conditions. Early morning rain settled the sand track and the sun came out in the afternoon.
Cairoli finished ahead of Red Bull KTM team mate, Ken De Dycker, with Honda mounted Evgeny Bobrychev in third.
The strong one-two position of KTM‰Ûªs two MX1 candidates was an indication that both riders are in top form, especially on the sand track at Sardinia, a new venue experience for many of the racers but where the Red Bull KTM team has been training in the off season.
It was also confirmation that the new factory bikes, Cairoli's favorite KTM 350 SX-F and De Dycker's KTM 450 SX-F are ready to race in 2013
Cairoli was out of the gates fast in both the MX1 race and the Elite category that combined the top riders from MX1 and MX2 and laid the foundation of his race by snatching both holeshots.
The Italian had a good fight with De Dycker in the MX1 race but later described Elite class as a ‰Û÷lonely race‰Ûª. He put on a powerful display of riding to cross the line with a substantial winning margin to thrill the large crowd of enthusiastic Italian fans who had come to support him.
‰ÛÏIt was a sandy track and that‰Ûªs quite unusual for Italy but it was very good for my training,‰Û
