Motocross

Toni Cairoli and Jorge Prado dominate at MXGP of the Netherlands

Posted:

Monday, April 1st, 2019

9:22 AM

Toni Cairoli and Jorge Prado dominate at MXGP of the Netherlands

Tony Cairoli (222) has now won five from the six motos so far in 2019, as well as all three Grands Prix in Argentina, UK and Holland. He elevated his career tally to 88 wins and holds a championship lead of 22 points over Tim Gajser.

Round three of the 2019 Motocross World Championship series was a memorable one for Red Bull KTM as Tony Cairoli and Jorge Prado completed a brilliant and dominant weekend at Valkenswaard for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands with Qualification Heat wins, holeshots and moto victories.

The Netherlands was the perfect setting for the action today with challenging race conditions and better than expected weather added to by an enthusiastic crowd. As the day progress the dark Dutch sand shifted lap after lap creating the ultimate test for even the world‰Ûªs best MXGP and MX2 riders while also providing at times chaotic but mostly action-packed racing.

MXGP

As Race 1 started Antonio Cairoli scored the Fox Holeshot but by the end of the first lap it was Max Anstie in the lead! Running the pace early Anstie‰Ûªs pass on Cairoli was textbook.

Team HRC‰Ûªs Tim Gajser was third with Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP‰Ûªs Gautier Paulin and Italian rider Ivo Monticelli. Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team‰Ûªs Clement Desalle was back in 8th after the first official lap but passed his teammate Julien Lieber one lap later. Continuing his way forward the Belgian made it by Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP‰Ûªs Jeremy Seewer before catching Monticelli.

On the fifth lap a mistake sent Gajser flying and out of 3rd promoting Paulin to the spot. Three laps after the mistake from Gajser, who rejoined the race in 12th behind HRC teammate Brian Bogers, Anstie then fell while leading and was slow to get back going after snagging his gear on the bike.

The fall of Anstie not only gave Paulin another spot but handed the lead back to the always strong Sicilian Antonio Cairoli. Next to fall victim to a mistake was Anstie‰Ûªs teammate and Cairoli‰Ûªs compatriot Monticelli. Taking over the Monticelli‰Ûªs position was Arminas Jasikonis. Jasikonis started his charge from 10th on lap 1 and progressed all the way up to 4th by lap 12.

At the conclusion of the first race Cairoli took the win by over Desalle by 4.2 seconds with Paulin and Jasikonis less than 3 seconds further back while Honda SR Motoblouz‰Ûªs Jeremy Van Horebeektook 5th. Gajser recovered to 7th by the finish while Anstie finished 16th ahead of his two Standing Construct KTM teammates Glenn Coldenhoff and Ivo Monticelli in 17th and 18th.

Clement Desalle swept to a stunning second place for the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team in the Dutch round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Valkenswaard.

MXGP Race 2 gave Cairoli his 2nd Fox Holeshot of the weekend and 4th of the season but this time he held the lead for all of the 17 laps. Gajser has his Works Honda in second with the privateer effort of Van Horebeek just behind.

Jasikonis was off to another midfield start and came across the finish lap in 9th after the first complete lap. RFX KTM Racing‰Ûªs Shaun Simpson had a remarkable start inside the top 5 battling with Desalle for 4th during the first 10 laps. Paulin was on a move up the leaderboard along with Jasikonis for several laps before losing control of his Yamaha and sampling the sand.

Similar to Race 1 Jasikonis continued to progress forward taking 4th away from Desalle with only two laps remaining. At the finish it was a second race win for Cairoli with Gajser 2nd, Van Horebeek 3rd, Jasikonis 4th, and Desalle 5th.

In the overall classification Cairoli‰Ûªs double win earned him 50 points while Desalle‰Ûªs 2-5 scores earned 38 points for 2nd overall and Gajser‰Ûªs 7-2 tallied 36 points for 3rd overall and his 3rd podium of the 3 races so far this season.

‰ÛÏA very nice weekend. I didn‰Ûªt really feel great all week," Cairoli explained. "On hard-pack I was OK but this small shoulder problem in the sand made things difficult. Anyway, looking at the bigger picture we took two wins and you cannot get more than fifty points so it was a great weekend. Also no crashes, which was important on this track where we saw a lot of people going down. It will be a busy week now with my home GP but I hope to see a lot of public at Arco and KTM again on top of the podium.‰Û

Tim Gajser showed his much-improved sand riding skills at Valkenswaard, going seven-two for third overall in what was his third podium overall in a row.

With three rounds down Desalle is satisfied with his early season position.

‰ÛÏI'm happy going into Trentino next week. Having the first three GP wins this year it's nice. Of course, it's not easy, Tim is very fast at the moment and it's nice to have such a high rhythm in the race for us, for the fans, and for everybody.‰Û

Jorge Prado initial aim for the weekend was to ‰Û÷attempt‰Ûª the Grand Prix after missing the previous round with a shoulder injury, instead he cam out and won!.

Defending MX2 World Champion Jorge Prado returned from his one-week hiatus. Adding to his impressive collection of Fox Holeshot black plates Prado took the Race 1 lead immediately.

Thomas Kjer Olsen‰Ûªs was into second early while his newfound antagonist Henry Jacobi from F&H Racing Kawasaki ran third. Davy Pootjes was 5th for the first 7 laps of the race before Monster Energy Kemea Yamaha Official MX2‰Ûªs Ben Watson flew past at the end of the roller section.

Watson also passed youngster Tom Vialle but a lap later the Brit crashed making his hard work all for nothing as he lost 3 spots as a result. Team HRC‰Ûªs Calvin Vlaanderen came from 9th on lap 1 to 4th by the end of lap 12 where he settled in behind Jacobi. Watson meanwhile regrouped from his fall and took 5th away from Pootjes for the second time with two laps to go.

At the finish Prado scored the win 7 and a half seconds ahead of Olsen who had 6 seconds on Jacobi and another 16 seconds on Vlaanderen in 4th.

Thomas Kjer-Olsen has claimed an overall runner-up result to extend his lead in the provisional MX2 World Championship points standings.

In Race 2 Prado‰Ûªs perfection was continued with another Fox Holeshot over Olsen, Jacobi, Vialle, and Monster Energy Kemea Yamaha Official MX2‰Ûªs Jago Geerts. Prado‰Ûªs new teammate, Tom Vialle, crashed out of 4th position during lap 3 and remounted down in 11th.

Vlaanderen moved into the top 5 due to Vialle‰Ûªs crash but more noticeably Geerts took the Frenchman‰Ûªs prior position and ran with it. A native of the neighboring Belgium, Geerts applied pressure to Jacobi for a consistent 7 laps and finally made the move to take over 3rd and 2 laps later Vlaanderen did the same displacing Jacobi another position backwards.

With just two laps to go Jacobi would lose another position to Watson with current EMX250 points leader, Alberto Forato, applying pressure from an impressive ride in 7th. The most important pass of the race for Geerts was also the final one. On the last lap, the last section, and last jump Geerts launched his YZ250F past Olsen to take second and also earn the final spot on the podium.

From an Australian perspective both Jed Beaton and Mitch Evans carded a top ten finish. Beaton finished 12th overall via a 10-15 results while Evans was not far behind in 15th with a DNF-10 result. Evans now remains 10th in the championship while Beaton is in 13th.

With Prado taking the win it was a perfect KTM sweep of the weekend in both MXGP and MX2 while Olsen took second overall and maintained the red plate ahead of next weekend‰Ûªs MXGP of Trentino.

"I had a good feeling both days, It's still not where I want because we still need to work but I'm going in the right direction," Prado declared. "Trentino should be a great weekend hopefully. I have good memories from there and I have good races there every year. Hopefully we can make another good one next week.‰Û

Belgian Jago Geerts rounded out the MX2 podium with third place and now occupies 4th in the championship standings. Photo: Youthstream

MX1 Results

MXGP Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:34.806
2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:04.242
3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:05.137
4. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Husqvarna), +0:06.759
5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Honda), +0:12.427
6. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:13.786
7. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:14.058
8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:20.989
9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:35.999
10. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:39.272

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:13.363
2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:01.461
3. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Honda), +0:32.822
4. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Husqvarna), +0:42.905
5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:48.123
6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:51.333
7. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:52.345
8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:54.021
9. Max Anstie (GBR, KTM), +1:00.795
10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +1:01.515

MXGP Overall Top Ten:
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 50 points
2. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 38 50 points
3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 36 50 points
4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, HON), 36 50 points
5. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 36 50 points
6. Julien Lieber (BEL, KAW), 29 50 points
7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 28 50 points
8. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 28 50 points
9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 25 50 points
10. Max Anstie (GBR, KTM), 17 50 points

MXGP ChampionshipTop Ten:
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 147 points
2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 125 50 points
3. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 103 50 points
4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, YAM), 102 50 points
5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, HON), 102 50 points
6. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, HUS), 92 50 points
7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 78 50 points
8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 64 50 points
9. Julien Lieber (BEL, KAW), 62 50 points
10. Max Anstie (GBR, KTM), 56 50 points

MX2 Results

MX2 Race 1 Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 34:30.560
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:07.459
3. Henry Jacobi (GER, Kawasaki), +0:16.197
4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Honda), +0:32.080
5. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:41.347
6. Davy Pootjes (NED, Husqvarna), +0:46.249
7. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:46.877
8. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), +0:54.324
9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:58.521
10. Jed Beaton (AUS, Husqvarna), +1:09.100

MX2 Race 2 Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 34:35.326
2. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:05.031
3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:05.188
4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Honda), +0:13.061
5. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:16.499
6. Henry Jacobi (GER, Kawasaki), +0:27.070
7. Alberto Forato (ITA, Husqvarna), +0:37.591
8. Bas Vaessen (NED, KTM), +0:48.631
9. Adam Sterry (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:06.469
10. Mitchell Evans (AUS, Honda), +1:09.989

MX2 Overall Top Ten:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 50 points
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 42 50 points
3. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 36 50 points
4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, HON), 36 50 points
5. Henry Jacobi (GER, KAW), 35 50 points
6. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 32 50 points
7. Alberto Forato (ITA, HUS), 23 50 points
8. Adam Sterry (GBR, KAW), 22 50 points
9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 21 50 points
10. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 21 50 points

MX2 ChampionshipTop Ten:
1. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 136 points
2. Henry Jacobi (GER, KAW), 113 50 points
3. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, HON), 107 50 points
4. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 100 50 points
5. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 95 50 points
6. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 86 50 points
7. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 81 50 points
8. Davy Pootjes (NED, HUS), 65 50 points
9. Adam Sterry (GBR, KAW), 63 50 points
10. Mitchell Evans (AUS, HON), 60 50 points