PHOTOGRAPHY BY J.P. ACEVEDO
The much-anticipated MXGP season got underway under the lights in Losail, Qatar and taking the win in dominating fashion was Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl. Nagl’s big win was perhaps a bit unexpected, as the pre-season hype was all about the face-off between eight-time World Champion Antonio Cairoli and four-time AMA Supercross Champion Ryan Villipoto.
Unexpected or not, it was a perfect performance by Nagl—the double win, both holeshots and led every lap of each race. The German was obviously pleased with his result, especially on what he considered was a very rough track.
Ending the night with a pair of second-place finishes to finish second overall was Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Clement Desalle.
In third was Team HRC Honda’s Gautier Paulin (4-3) who ran second for most of the second moto before losing the position to Desalle with under four minutes to go. While third wasn’t ideal for the Frenchman, Paulin is happy with his new team and to leave Qatar with third place.
Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli finished fourth overall with a 3-4 tally ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy van Horebeek who was playing it safe on the rough track to leave Qatar with a pair of fifth place finishes and fifth overall. In sixth was Van Horebeek’s teammate Romain Febvre with a 6-7 tally.
Ryan Villopoto’s season got off to a less than dream start—stalled out at the gate in Moto one and had a couple of crashes, but the Monster Energy Kawasaki fought back to finish ninth. The second moto went smoother for Villopoto, finishing eighth and ultimately seventh overall in his MXGP debut.
Eighth overall was Paulin’s teammate Evgeny Bobryshev (8-9) ahead of Kevin Strijbos (12-6) on the Rockstar Energy Suzuki. Rounding out the top 10 was Brit Shaun Simpson on the Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM with a 7-14 tally.
2015 MXGP Qatar Overall Results
1. Max Nagl (Hus) 1-1
2. Clement Desalle (Suz) 2-2
3. Gautier Paulin (Hon) 4-3
4. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 3-4
5. Jeremy van Horebeek (Yam) 5-5
6. Romain Febvre (Yam) 6-7
7. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw) 9-8
8. Evgeny Bobryshev (Hon) 8-9
9. Kevin Strijbos (Suz) 12-6
10. Shaun Simpson (KTM) 7-14
