Cairoli, Herlings Score In Russian Motocross GP

Cycle News Staff | July 23, 2012

Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings were dominant in their class wins at the Russian Motocross Grand Prix in Semigorje, July 22. Both Cairoli and Herlings went 1-1 to capture the overall wins in the MX1 and MX2 class, respectively.

For Cairoli, the win is his 49th-career GP victory and he is now just one win away shy of matching Belgian great Joel Robert.

Cairoli led from start to finish in the first MX1 moto but had to work a little harder for the win in moto two. The Italian blasted into the lead right from the get-go but fell two laps in. He got up in third and quickly overtook second place, then, with four laps to go, he passed Suzuki’s Clement Desalle for the win.

Antonio Cairoli

Desalle finished second overall with a 3-2.

Cairoli has quickly built back his points lead after DNF’ing both motos two GPs ago. He now leads Desalle by 20.

Third overall in Russia went to Cairoli’s teammate Ken De Dycker. The Belgian went 2-3 on the day.

Christophe Pourcel, on the CP377 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, led the second moto at point but couldn’t hold it. He eventually finished fourth in both motos for fourth overall.

Rounding out the top five overall was Russia’s own Evgeny Bobryshev who struggled with his starts. The Honda rider went 6-5.

Rui Goncalves, Gautier Paulin, Kevin Strijbos, Jonathan Barragan and Tanel Leok completed the top 10 overall.

Jeffrey Herlings (84)

Herlings simply tore it up in the MX2 class. The Dutch rider felt right at home on the sandy track and pulled clear of his nearest competitors by over 30 second in both motos.

Team Floride Monster Energy Kawasaki Pro Circuit’s Tommy Searle and Red Bull KTM’s Jeremy van Horebeek traded 2-3 scores in their battle for runner-up honors, which ended up going to Searle, who caught and passed Van Horebeek in the deciding second moto.

Searle’s teammate Joel Roelants finished fourth overall despite having to pit for quick repairs in the first moto. Dropping to ninth, he caught back up to fifth, and then followed that up with a fourth in moto two.

KTM rider Jake Nicholls went 4-5 for fifth overall.

Jordi Tixier, Arnaud Tonus, Dylan Ferrandis, Glenn Coldenhoff and Jose Butron rounded out the top 10 overall.