Red Bull Rookie Cup:Kornfeil takes win and Cup: Race 1, Marino wins 10 man epic; Race 2, five-man fight to the end

Press Release

Race 1

Florian Marino won a sensational 10-man battle to the line to claim his first Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup victory. The 16-year-old Frenchman fought off Briton Danny Kent and Italian Alejandro Pardo, both 15, with the first 10 all crossing the line within 2.3 seconds.

Seventeen-year-old Norwegian Sturla Fagerhaug finished fifth and now has a three-point advantage over arch rival Jakub Kornfeil, the 16-year-old Czech who was eight.

Marino: "With about three laps to go I was sixth and I thought about where I could pass people and where they could pass me. So I was happy not to be leading and planned to pass everyone on the downhill half of the track. I did it; but breaking into that last right hander at the bottom I was so so late on the brakes, I thought, 'I'm going to crash, 'I'm going to crash.' but I didn't, I was in front, then on the gas and back up the hill to the finish."

He gives full credit to Rider Coach Gustl Auinger for his first Rookies win after finishing fourth 3 times. "After Donington my head was not good and I said to Gustl, 'what do I have to do to win?' He told me that I have to think like a winner and concentrate on that and not the other riders behind. So I fixed on that this weekend."

Kent also enjoyed his ride to second and just wished the finish-line was in a different place. "I was closing on him and if the line had been a bit further down the track I could have won it. Never mind, I'll try again tomorrow. It was a great race though. Early on I had a look back and saw that we were about 10 guys. I thought then that if we had a big crash and the race got red flagged I needed to be in the front so any time someone passed me I just passed them straight back."

Such a sensational race produced many great tales including the incredible ride to 3rd put in by Alejandro Pardo. He gave himself a lot of work to do. "I made a terrible start, the KTM is so different to my own bike and I just can't seem to get used to it. After the first few laps I saw that the lead group was 2 or 3 seconds ahead but I soon realized that the gap wasn't getting bigger and I just said to myself, 'you can do it'. I just tried the maximum and caught them. I never thought that I would be able to get on the podium but when I caught the group I just passed everyone where I could and made it, incredible."

His brilliant effort pushed Jake Gagne into fourth, a shame for the 15-year-old Californian who had led the race for a good share of the distance even though he is new to the circuit. He looked like he might win it but in the end was unlucky. "I didn't know it was the last lap. I looked at the lap counter and saw it was 6 laps to go, those 6 laps just went past quicker than I expected. On that last lap Marino came past then Danny surprised me as he went through and I got off line. That spoilt my drive up the hill a bit and that is how Pardo got by."

Going onto that last lap it was Cup leader Fagerhaug who was in front of Marino, Gagne and Kent but it was never going to be a boring last lap as Fagerhaug explained. "Going into the first corner on the last lap Jake and Danny passed me and I tried to go back around Danny but couldn't and lost their slipstream going away up the hill. The guys behind had my slipstream and another three of them went past. I knew that I was still ahead of Jakub on that last lap and though I wanted to win I was thinking a bit about the championship and didn't want to make a mistake."

Coming to the end of his third Cup season the Norwegian had put in a great performance even though he was not that quick off the line. "From the start I just concentrated on getting into a good rhythm and I was happy with the way that went. I was leading for a lot of the race but slipstreaming is so important here and the other guys just seemed to be able to come past on the straight and it wasn't possible to break away."

The impossibility of establishing any kind of lasting advantage was even more frustrating for his Cup rival Kornfeil. "The start was good but after that I wasn't so happy with the race. We were in a big group and I just couldn't break through to the front. In the first half of the race I had quite a lot of rear wheel slides so I couldn't push but then it started to get better. Tomorrow I've just got to push harder, be stronger, it has got to come from me."

Race 2

Jakub Kornfeil got the best on an intense 5-man battle to take his third race victory of the season and the 2009 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup by 2 points. The Czech had to fight all the way with arch rival Sturla Fagerhaug but when the Norwegian came together with 15-year-old Japanese Daijiro Hiura with three corners to go his chance of battling with Kornfeil across the line disappeared.

The 13-lap race closed out the Cardion AB Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Brno. Fagerhaug picked up second place both in the race and the Cup and Californian 15 year old Jake Gagne an excellent third in the race and 6th in the Cup. Hiura crossed the line 4th to hold on to his 3rd in the points table.

While the rest talked about what might have been Kornfeil enjoyed his win. "I knew that Sturla was behind me all the way, I looked back and saw it was four riders not 10 like yesterday so I was happy about that. I just rode as hard as I could and even at the last corner I expected Sturla to come past but I guess he wasn't as close as I thought and I crossed the line on my own."

"It was a hard weekend, there were so many interviews and things to do leading up to yesterdays race that I was feeling the pressure and I found yesterday's race very tough. Today it seemed easier, less interviews, less friends pushing me and so less pressure. I could ride my race today and I am just so happy to take the Rookies Cup, so happy."

An obviously terribly disappointed Fagerhaug summed it all up. "It was a great race and congratulations to Jakub, he rode very well. I was hit in the third to last corner so I didn't have the chance to pass him at the line. I thought I was going to be able to win before that happened. I have to blame myself though I had such a big lead in the points half way through and made some mistakes. It's been a great year though and I still have a couple of GP wild-card rides to look forward too."

Gagne had done his share of leading during the race but admitted that the Cup battle played a part in his thinking on the final lap. "It was a great race, a lot of fun and I sure wanted to win it if I could but they were all going fast and there wasn't the chance on the last lap. I knew those guys were battling for the Cup and I wasn't going to do something stupid."

The new lap record went to Hiura but he was 4th across the line. "I enjoyed the race but I'm disappointed not to be on the podium. It all happened on the last lap and I was so fixed on passing the riders in front I was a bit too aggressive and that wasn't good. I have to congratulate Jakub on his great race today. He was ready to win it and so determined. When I passed him he would pass me straight back at the next corner he had the win in his heart."

A fine ride to fifth by 16-year-old South African Mathew Scholtz, who had thoughts of a higher place finish. "I was on the back of the group, at times I was having to work hard to stay there but sometimes it was easier and I was looking after my tires planning to make a move on the last lap. What spoilt was the tight chicane at the bottom of the final climb on the second to last lap. I lost the front and that really messed up my drive up the hill so I started the last lap just too far behind them to do anything about it."

Saturday's 16-year-old winner Florian Marino was disappointed with his seventh place behind fellow Frenchman Nelson Major. I got a good start but after that I just couldn't find the rhythm and the guys got away from me. I just wasn't riding as well as yesterday, I could feel that my throttle control just wasn't quite right and I wasn't getting the drive off the corners."

Nico Thöni and Alejandro Pardo had a nasty crash on lap one and while the 14-year-old Austrian immediately walked away, Pardo, who had been a brilliant third on Saturday took some time before he too emerged uninjured. Hayden Gillim's bike was damaged in the incident and though he continued he was later forced to retire with broken seat. Alex Kristiansson fell unhurt and Taylor Mackenzie stopped with technical problems.