Cycle News Staff | March 4, 2018
2018 MXGP Argentina Results – Defending MXGP Champion Antonio Cairoli led every lap of the opening round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Neuquen, Argentina, February 4, except one–the important one–the very last lap of the day.
2018 MXGP Argentina Results
Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) scored a wire-to-wire victory in the first moto, successfully holding off a charging Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) at the end. In moto two, Cairoli again got out in front off the start and led the pack for nearly the entire race before again getting attacked by Herlings. On the final lap, Herlings, who started the moto off in fifth, made the pass on his teammate to take the moto win and overall victory. Cairoli’s 1-2 gave him second overall.
“I had some battles going on for the fifth, fourth, and third,” said Herlings of the deciding second moto, “so by the time I got into second there was only 10 minutes left in the race and Tony had a good gap of like 10 seconds, he was riding great so to close the gap was very difficult, but I luckily made it happen. I am blessed to have won the first GP, the opening GP of the year, it is really good to know all the hard work we put in during the winter is showing.”
“I am really happy to be on the podium, we almost made it the first perfect weekend,” Cairoli said at the end of the day. “In the second race, I had a good start and a good gap, I was trying to pull away a little bit and when I hit the lappers I tried to change some lines and made some mistakes. I went off the berm in a few corners and then also hit some kickers so I had to slow down a little bit. When we are riding on the limit like we were in the second race if you slow down a little bit you loose time quickly. Jeffrey was able to come closer and he was stronger in the end, the last two or three laps, I was making too many mistakes, I was a little tired and he had the chance to go around me and he took it, it was a good move.”
Third overall went to Belgium’s Clement Desalle (Monster Energy Kawasaki) who went 3-3 on the day.
Belgian Jeremy Van Horebeek (Monster Energy Yamaha) went 5-4 for fourth overall, and Frenchman Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha) went 4-5 to round out the top five overall.
2018 MXGP Argentina Results
Latvia’s Pauls Jonass made it a Red Bull KTM sweep by winning the MX2 class. The number-one plate holder won both motos.
Denmark’s Thomas Kjer Olsen (Husqvarna, 3-2), Australian Hunter Lawrence (Honda, 2-6), Great Britain’s Ben Watson (Yamaha, 4-4) and Australia’s Jed Beaton (Kawasaki, 7-8) completed the top five overall.
American Darian Sanayei (Kawasaki) finished out the day in eight place despite dropping out of the first moto while running up front for a while. He came back and finished third in the second moto.
Fellow American Thomas Covington (Husqvarna) went 10-18 for 15th overall.
2018 MXGP Argentina Results
2018 MXGP Argentina Results
MXGP
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:23.907; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:01.075; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:30.101; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:32.081; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:34.491; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:39.338; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:44.786; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:51.977; 9. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:55.538; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:56.248.
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:56.319; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:02.051; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:23.027; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:26.080; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:34.539; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:45.838; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:58.958; 8. Maximilian Nagl (GER, TM), +1:01.409; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Suzuki), +1:15.786; 10. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), +1:17.858.
MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 47 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 47 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 40 p.; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 34 p.; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 34 p.; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 30 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, YAM), 24 p.; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, KAW), 22 p.; 9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, TM), 21 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 21 p.
MX2
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 34:44.373; 2. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, Honda), +0:01.993; 3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:12.509; 4. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:21.540; 5. Henry Jacobi (GER, Husqvarna), +0:39.686; 6. Conrad Mewse (GBR, KTM), +0:40.184; 7. Jed Beaton (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:41.891; 8. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +0:43.238; 9. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:44.951; ; 10. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +0:52.725.
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 34:00.087; 2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:05.260; 3. Darian Sanayei (USA, Kawasaki), +0:10.726; 4. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:13.864; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (RSA, Honda), +0:13.993; 6. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, Honda), +0:14.909; 7. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), +0:33.086; 8. Jed Beaton (AUS, Kawasaki), +0:34.461; 9. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:40.040; 10. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:41.654.
MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 50 points; 2. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 42 p.; 3. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, HON), 37 p.; 4. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 36 p.; 5. Jed Beaton (AUS, KAW), 27 p.; 6. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, YAM), 24 p.; 7. Henry Jacobi (GER, HUS), 21 p.; 8. Darian Sanayei (USA, KAW), 20 p.; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 20 p.; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (RSA, HON), 19 p.
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2018 MXGP Argentina Results