Antonio Cairoli had a good weekend in Valkenswaard. Cairoli took the first race victory for the MX1, and followed that up with a second place finish in race two. Cairoli walks away the winner of the event, and moves into second place ahead of Clement DeSalle in the overall standings.
The Dutch GP saw three new riders on the podium with Cairoli being followed by Max Nagl and David Philippaerts. In just two events, 6 riders have stood on the podium, showcasing the amount of talent in this year’s FIM Motocross World Championship series.
Steven Frossard, who currently leads the series by 5 points ahead of Nagl, took fourth today with a 2-5 finish. Frossard was followed by Rui Goncalves.
“I am a bit disappointed with the final result because I felt I rode good,” Goncalves said. “The first moto was tough coming from a not so good start but in the second I got the holeshot and was leading for many laps. When Philippaerts put a pass on me it knocked me out of my rhythm for a few laps and I lost some positions. I came back strong but it was this point in the race that was really important and cost me. 5th overall is good but I of course want to do better.”
Desalle was the fastest Suzuki on the track, scoring a 6th place finish and earning enough points to keep him in third place.
The Kawasaki team had a tough weekend at Valkenswaard and couldn’t manage to get a rider into the top 10. Jonathan Barragan was the top placing Kawasaki rider, scoring 18 points and dropping to 7th place in the standings.
“I simply never find a good rhythm this weekend; that was not good for my confidence and made it difficult to be really focused on my riding,” said Barragan. “In the first race I crashed in the second corner and faced a tough ride to come back from last place to thirteenth. But my speed was good, better than in the second race; I was tired after that tough first race and couldn’t do better than tenth. For sure it’s not what I was expecting but it’s important to score points in both races even when you're having a bad day. I’m looking forward to the next GP in the USA; I went training there during the winter; it’s a nice track and I like it.”
Ben Townley, who made his return to the MX1 circuit this weekend, finished in 19th after two tough races.
MX1 Standings
- Steven Frossard -Yamaha - 85 pts
- Maximilian Nagl - KTM - 80 pts
- Clement Desalle - Suzuki - 78 pts
- Antonio Cairoli - KTM - 72 pts
- David Phillippaerts - Yamaha - 63 pts
- Rui Gonçalves - Honda - 62 pts
- Jonathan Barragan - Kawasaki - 53 pts
- Evgeny Bobryshev - Honda - 52 pts
- Davide Guarneri - Kawasaki - 45 pts
- Steve Ramon - Suzuki - 42 pts
