The Latvian GP proves to be one of the toughest in recent years – Cairoli and Roelants top the podium…
The Latvian round of the FIM Motocross World Championship at Kegums proves to be one of the toughest MXGP weekends ever with more riders than normal DNFing. The first rider to fall foul of a technical problem is MX2 series leader Jeffery Herlings whose rear tyre pops off the rim in the qualification heat. Jeffery’s able to charge to second in race one and is running the same in race two when his bike stops due to a holed radiator. Fortunately for him the rate of attrition is so high he’s still scored as 18th as only 17 riders actually cross the line.
That bad luck is nothing compared to what Tommy Searle has to endure though and after a rock damages an oil line in race one causing the Kawasaki to grind to a halt just over a lap later the Englishman suffers the same fate as Herlings on Saturday when his Pirelli jumps off the rim at the start of moto two. Zero points for Tommy is a hard pill to swallow and despite closing the gap in recent rounds he’s now 41 points behind Herlings and only 12 ahead of Jeremy van Horebeek With Tommy and Herlings hitting trouble it’s Joel Roelants who takes the overall win with a 1-2 scorecard ahead of van Horebeek’s 3-1 and Jordi Tixier’s 5-3.
Jake Nicholls surprises many by challenging for the lead in moto one before eventually slipping back to fourth after a small crash. The Reverend doesn’t reach the finish in race two as a huge crash – cause by standing water before a jump following heavy rain – wrecks his bars. Max Anstie manages a 14-4 scorecard on the Gariboldi Honda to claim sixth overall behind Jose Butron who’s rumored to be racing in the UK real soon possibly with Rockstar KTM.
After his double disaster in Sweden only a fool would have betted against Tony Cairoli winning in Latvia and the Sicilian scythes to the win even though he crashes heavily in moto two hurting his wrist. A 1-2 scorecard seals the overall victory ahead of team-mate Ken de Dycker (2-3) and HM Plant KTM UK’s Kevin Strijbos who takes the second moto victory – his first since 2007! Sole Brit Shaun Simpson battles to eighth overall with an 8-8 scorecard – consistency is key for the Scot!
Results
MX1
1 Tony Cairoli Red Bull KTM 1-2
2 Ken De Dycker Red Bull KTM 2-3
3 Kevin Strijbos HM Plant KTM UK 10-1
4 Rui Goncalves Honda WMX 3-5
5 Gautier Paulin Kawasaki Racing Team 4-6
6 Clement Desalle Rockstar Suzuki 7-4
7 Tanel Leok Rockstar Suzuki 6-7
8 Shaun SimpsonMonster Energy Yamaha 8-8
9 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda WMX 5-11
10 Xavier Boog Kawasaki Racing Team 11-9
Series standings
1 Cairoli 392 points, 2 Desalle 380, 3 Christophe Pourcel 357, 4 Paulin 348, 5 De Dycker 299, 6 Strijbos 279, 7 Boog 258, 8 Leok 230, 9 Goncalves 219, 10 David Philippaerts 212
MX2
1 Joel Roelants Floride Monster Energy Kawasaki 1-2
2 Jeremy Van Horebeek Red Bull KTM 3-1
3 Jordi Tixier Red Bull KTM 5-3
4 Glenn Coldenhoff JM Nestaan KTM 8-5
5 Jose Butron Diga KTM 6-7
6 Max Anstie Gariboldi Honda14-4
7 Jeffrey Herlings Red Bull KTM 2-18
8 Arnaud Tonus Monster Energy Yamaha 9-9
9 Romain Febvre Bodo Schmidt KTM 7-11
10 Jens Getteman Standing Construct Suzuki 13-8
Series standings
1 Herlings 428 points, 2 Tommy Searle 387, 3 Van Horebeek 375, 4 Roelants 310, 5 Tixier 279, 6 Nicholls 255, 7 Anstie 224, 8 Butron 197, 9 Ferrandis 190, 10 Lupino 183
