PHOTOGRAPHY BY J.P. ACEVEDO
Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl earned his third MXGP round victory of the season at the MXGP of Trentino, while Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser took his first ever grand prix victory in MX2.
While the hype has been focused on the much anticipated battle between the World’s eight-time champion, RedBull KTMs Antonio Cairoli, and America’s multi-time Supercross and Motocross champion, Ryan Villopoto—Nagl has been steadily collecting race wins with his new Husqvarna squad. It was more of the same in Italy.
After taking a solid second place in race one, the German took his fourth FOX Holeshot of the season and ran away for yet another meritorious race victory which handed him his third MXGP overall and has moved him up to second place in the championship, just one point behind series leader Clement Desalle.
But it wasn’t all Nagl as Cairoli fired the first shot with a hair-raising victory in moto one, much to the delight of the home crowd. A second place in race two put Cairoli second step of the podium here in Trentino. The Italian later confirmed he was a little angry this weekend, but it had nothing to do with anything track relate.
“I fell in the shower this week and had to go to the hospital for stitches,” Cairoli said via release. “I couldn’t believe that I race motocross and then I crash in the shower and hurt my head, so this made me a little bit angry [he laughed].”
Meanwhile Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Clement Desalle kept his momentum flowing and ended the day third overall with a 3-4 tally. Although with Ryan Villopoto in his sights during the final race, we saw another side to the number twenty-five where he was relentless on his mission to the front of the field. After narrowly escaping the carnage of Villopoto’s crash, which happened along side him, he later fell on his own ,but managed to remount for fourth in that race.
Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre continues to creep closer to the podium ending the day fourth overall (7-3).
Team HRC’s duo of Gautier Paulin and yesterday’s top qualifier Evgeny Bobryshev fell victim to bad starts in both races. With the track being so gnarly and the depth of talent in the MXGP class being stronger than ever, making up ground was always going to be difficult which meant the pair finished fifth (5-5) and sixth overall (8-6), respectively.
Although Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Ryan Villopoto had the opportunity to steal the thunder from the MXGP regulars, the day ended in disappointment. Villopoto was a solid player in an epic four-way battle for the win in the first moto and ultimately settled for fourth. Race two ended badly with one of the most bizarre, and ugly, crashes of the season. The American was, however, lucky to walk away from it.
The other two Italian fan favorites—TM Factory Racing Team’s Davide Guarneri finished eighth (11-9) while DP19 Racing Yamaha’s David Philippaerts finished ninth (13-8). Rounding out the top 10 was Brit Shaun Simpson with a pair of 10th place finishes.
Meanwhile in MX2, it was an emotionally charged victory for Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser took home his first MX2 race win of the season and his first ever MX2 Grand Prix overall. In moto two, Gajser passed the defending champion Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jordi Tixier and resisted a brief challenge from Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings.
Herlings was more than impressive in race one as he did what he typically does and annihilated everyone, in race two he got off to a terrible start and was forced to work his way through the pack. After chopping down the ten-second lead of Gajser, with half a lap to go, he lost traction and had a mini high side, which killed all chances of both the race and overall victories.
Rounding out the podium, Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jordi Tixier had to settle for two thirds.
MXGP of Trentino Overall Results:
1. Maximilian Nagl (HUS) 2-1
2. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 1-2
3. Clement Desalle (SUZ) 3-4
4. Romain Febvre (YAM) 7-3
5. Gautier Paulin (HON) 5-5
6. Evgeny Bobryshev (HON) 8-6
7. Ken de Dycker (KTM) 9-7
8. Davide Guarneri (TM) 11-9
9. David Philippaerts (YAM) 13-8
10. Shaun Simpson (KTM) 10-10
