Antonio Cairoli claimed his 57th career win in Italy, matching him with Joel Smets. Photography By: Ray Archer/KTM Images
Italy’s Antonio Cairoli had little trouble recording his 57th career Motocross GP win after topping both MX1 motos at the Arco de Trento in Trento, Italy, April 14. Cairoli’s teammate Jeffrey Herlings made it another Red Bull KTM sweep.
Cairoli struggled a bit during Saturday qualifying but quickly turned thing around Sunday for the GP, where he pretty much led from the get-go in both motos and never looked back. He is now tied with Joel Smets with the second-most GP career wins, only one rider has more, and that’s Stefan Everts who leads the way with 101 career GP victories.
Cairoli’s MX1 teammate Ken De Dycker claimed second overall on the day. The Belgian spent most of the first moto making up for a bad start and ended up finishing fourth, but he had it a lot easier in the second moto. This time, De Dycker started off in second and stayed there the whole race, his 4-2 giving him runner-up honors.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Gautier Paulin finished off the MX1 podium. Paulin was looking good in the first moto, getting off to a fast start in fifth then climbing up to third. He then ran down and passed Tommy Searle to finish second. An 18th-place start in the second moto hurt his chances of an overall win, but he did fight his way up to an impressive fourth, giving him third overall.
Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Clement Desalle chased Paulin for much of the first moto but couldn’t make the pass and had to settle for third. A second-turn crash, which also involved Searle and David Philippaerts, put Desalle way in the back in the second moto, but he charged back to finish eighth, giving him fourth overall.
Rounding out the top five overall was Desalle’s teammate Kevin Strijbos, who suffered bad starts in both motos. Strijbos ended up going 6-5 on the day.
Searle ended up sixth overall, followed by Max Nagl, Xavier Boog, Jeremy van Horebeek and Jonathan Barragan.
Honda’s Evgeny Bobryshev did not start the GP, having broken his leg earlier in the week while training.
Cairoli extended his lead over De Dycker to 37. Desalle is just six points behind De Dycker.
Cairoli’s teammate Jeffrey Herlings also won both of his motos, making it another KTM sweep. Photography By: Ray Archer/KTM Images
Unlike Cairoli, Herlings really had to work for his two wins after suffering bad starts in both MX2 motos. By the midway point of the first moto, however, the Dutch rider had already caught leader and teammate Jordi Tixier. With five laps remaining, Herlings made the pass and went on to win.
Herlings jumped the gun a bit in the second moto, hitting the starting gate and causing him to trail the pack heading into the first turn. But, once again, Herlings threaded his way through the pack and went on to take the win for a 1-1 day.
Tixier ended up second overall. After finishing a strong second in moto one, he found himself deep in the field at the start of moto two but still finished fourth.
KTM Silver Action’s Jose Butron got on the MX2 podium for the second time this season. The Spaniard ran third for most of the first moto until he began experiencing a mechanical issue, which caused him to slip back to sixth. He holeshot the second moto, dropped to second and held off Dean Ferris to take the position, his 6-2 giving him third overall and making it a KTM podium sweep of the class.
Fourth overall went to Monster Energy Yamaha’s Christophe Charlier, while Standing Construct KTM’s Glenn Coldenhoff completed the top five overall.
American James Decotis made his GP debut for the CLS Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki Team but he did not have a good day. Needing assistance from his mechanic to get his bike started in the first moto meant a last pick for gate position, and he ended up finishing 21st. Decotis pulled out of the second moto with arm pump. Decotis joined the team just a little over a week ago and admitted having trouble getting comfortable with the track.
