Christophe Pourcel picks up his first win of the season while Jeffrey Herlings collects a couple more enemies at the Italian GP…
Fermo’s one of the finest tracks on the GP calendar and always chucks up a shock result or two – this year’s race is no different.
Christophe Pourcel takes the overall win in the MX1 class by running 1-2 on the CP377 Kawasaki. His first race duel with Gautier Paulin is nothing short of stunning as the pair trade paint mid-race then the lead in the latter few laps. A last minute mistake by the younger of the two fast Frenchies – that’s Paulin – allows Pourcel back through to take his second moto win of the year while Gautier grabs second ahead of defending champ Tony Cairoli.
Moto two’s all about the #222 though and after yanking the holey the speedy Sicilian streaks away at the front. Pourcel takes second while Clement Desalle claims third in the race and overall. A turn one fall see Paulin have to pull through the pack from last to sixth to claim the first of the non-podium positions.
In MX2 it’s a super-tough GP for Tommy Searle who has his radiator holed in moto one on lap one as he’s T-boned by a fellow racer. Despite pulling through the pack to well inside the top 10 Tommy’s efforts count for nowt as the coolant free engine clunks to a stop. Seconds later Joel Roelants steps off his Kawasaki making it a double disaster for Kawasaki as Jeffrey Herlings takes another race win ahead of team-mate Jeremy van Horebeek and stand-in Monster Energy Yamaha racer Michael Leib third.
Moto two sees one of the craziest first corners in recent GP history as Herlings cuts across Searle who has nowhere to go and takes out half the pack in the resulting crash. Herlings is also involved but gets away way quicker than Tommy. Both riders charge through the pack and finish 1-2 at the end with Leib third once more. With a double win Herlings takes the overall ahead The Jerre and Leib who’s meant to be returning to the States after filling in for the Bulgarian and Italian rounds for Steve Dixon.
