All indications were that Matterley Basin was not going to be Cairoli’s day he got bumped at the start of the race then after several laps he made a mistake, went off the track and almost picked up some of the notorious green fencing that lines the course.
He then came back from 11th to be third at the flag. Cairoli was around seventh at the start of the second race but again made another mistake , crashed and found himself back at 15th. Then the race was red flagged after a nasty crash between Billy Mackenzie and Tanel Leok and according to FIM rules, was completely re-started after a 30-minute break. This time Tony got away cleanly, grabbed the holeshot and charged into the lead. From that point on he was not challenged for the top spot as he took full advantage of his second chance to pick up the most points possible.
The rough and rutted conditions also made it a hard day’s ride for teammate Max Nagl who has been carrying a back injury. But the German rider still managed to finish overall fourth with a 5-5 result and is now in fourth place overall in the season’s standings and is still in with a chance to finish on the podium at the season’s end.
Cairoli now has the possibility of securing the title for KTM in the next round in Gaildorf, Germany in the second last GP of the season. KTM also has an attractive 62-point lead in the MX1 Manufacturers’ standings.
Tony Cairoli: “This was a good weekend for me and I managed to win the GP. It was quite a different track because it is wide and there were a lot of lines. Everyone likes it here and so do I. Its one of my favorites this season so far. I am just happy to win this GP. Now we only need a few more points to take the title in Gaildorf so I am very happy things are going so well for us.”
Max Nagl: “The riding went really well for me today although it could be even better. But today I had bad starts and I always had to come from the back of the field and that costs a lot of energy and hard work. I managed to come back from 20th place to fifth in the first race and I also didn’t have a good start in the second race. But in the restart it was a bit better and I got up to fifth. Then (Carlos) Campano (of Spain) was pushing hard behind me and I had to keep blocking him so that I could hold on to fifth place for overall fourth. Now I have the chance to finish in the top three in the championship and that would be really nice for me.”
MX1 Results
1, Tony Cairoli, Italy, KTM
2, Christophe Pourcel, France, Kawasaki
3, Steven Frossard, France, Yamaha
4, Max Nagl, Germany, KTM
5, Brad Anderson, UK, Honda
Other KTM
22, Tom Church, UK, KTM
23, Martin Barr, UK, KTM
30, Nathan Parker, UK, KTM
MX1 Standings
1, Tony Cairoli, Italy, KTM, 554
2, Steven Frossard, France, Yamaha, 472
3, Clement Desalle, Belgium, Suzuki, 461
4, Max Nagl, Germany, KTM, 410
5, Evgeny Bobryshev, Russia, Honda 387
Credits: KTM news release content and images
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