News 9 Aug 2010

World MX: Cairoli and Musquin take Czech Republic GP

Italian Antonio Cairoli has been dominant in 2010 on KTM's 350 SX-F.

Italian Antonio Cairoli has been dominant in 2010 on KTM's 350 SX-F.

The Bonver Grand Prix of Czech Republic turned up to be another hard fought round of the FIM Motocross World Championship handing victories to Tony Cairoli in the MX1 class and Marvin Musquin in the MX2 class, both leading their respective championship and holding a chance to wrap up the title in the next round in Brazil.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Cairoli extended his winning streak to three consecutive wins, making it six in total this year. The Italian was snatched the first moto win by a fast Tanel Leok but made up for that in the second heat, leading the whole moto and extending his record of laps at the lead to 222.

Cairoli is now heading towards his second MX1 World Title as he leads the MX1 series with an 84 point advantage with three rounds to go.

Taking second overall in the scenario of his maiden GP win last year, Clement Desalle of Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1 could not make up points on Cairoli this weekend. Desalle struggled at the start of moto one and was then forced to recover to an eventual third place.

The Belgian took a much better start in the final moto but could not close the gap with a fast Cairoli and ended runner up to the Italian.

LS Motors Honda’s Tanel Leok was on route to win his second grand prix of 2010 after he beat Cairoli in moto one to win in front of the KTM racer. A crash in the final moto hampered Leok’s classification but the Estonian found his way through the pack and recovered to an eventual fifth, making it to the overall podium by six points.

Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Steve Ramon was fourth overall, securing the position with a strong outing in the final moto. After ending a bitter sixth in race one, Ramon made up in the final moto by working his way up to an eventual third.

Completing the top five was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1’s Max Nagl who clinched a fifth and a fourth place in the heats.

David Philippaerts instead struggled and missed the top five. The Italian finished sixth overall after crashing in the final moto – which followed his fourth place of heat one.

Eugene Bobryshev was seventh ahead of Rui Gonçalves, Kevin Strijbos and Kiwi Josh Coppins completing the top ten.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2’s Musquin finally broke his streak of bad luck in Loket – where he broke his foot in 2008 and his engine in 2009 – by winning the Bonver Grand Prix of Czech Republic after a tight battle with rival Ken Roczen.

By the time he recovered to second in race one Roczen was too fast to be caught but in the second moto the duo battled harder for the win. Musquin was first, then Roczen moved past but the German crashed and handed the position back to Musquin, crossing the finish line and going straight on top of the podium.

The 78 point advantage on Roczen remained unchanged as the duo finished level in points this weekend but the forthcoming Brazilian GP can be Musquin’s first occasion to clinch the Title – the French actually won his maiden championship last year in Brazil.

Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s Roczen was all set on winning another grand prix after breaking the ice in Lommel with his first season’s win. The German dominated the opening moto but a crash in the second moto while trying to open up a gap on Musquin made him change his mind and reset his goals to a safer second place.

Ending second overall, Roczen collected as many points as Musquin and is now looking forward to winning the Brazilian round.

Celebrating his second podium of a difficult 2010 season, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross’ Gautier Paulin was the third man on the Czech podium. Recovering from a bad start in moto one, Paulin took an eventual sixth but earned the podium with a solid third place in the final moto.

The French is now close to the top 10 of the championship despite having missed the first four rounds.

Kawasaki CLS’ Jeremy Van Horebeek missed the rostrum by just one point and finished fourth overall. The Belgian was fourth in the first moto after trying to earn the third spot by putting pressure on youngster Jeffrey Herlings. In moto two Van Horebeek was fifth.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2’s Shaun Simpson took fifth overall but aimed at more, especially after a solid start to the first heat. Towards the end of the moto instead Simpson dropped down from second to fifth and again in the second moto he ended sixth after a start in the top three.

Arnaud Tonus was sixth ahead of poleman Steven Frossard, the latter being hampered by an early crash in the first moto. Joel Roelants, Zach Osborne and Harri Kullas completed the top ten while Herlings was 11th.

The Dutch teenager was involved in a crash in the final moto which dislocated his right shoulder.

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