Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli took his first MXGP overall victory of the season at the MXGP of Spain in Talavera de la Reina. Meanwhile in MX2, Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod put in a superb performance to land on the top of the box for the first time in his MX2 racing career.
It was a well overdue MXGP round victory for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli and an emotional one at that. The last time the eight-time FIM Motocross World Champion won a grand prix was back in August of last year at the MXGP of Belgium. This victory marked the seventy-third overall win of his career and is one that he dedicates to his father, the late Benedetto Cairoli.
“My father was here last year and after that I didn’t see him anymore so I dedicate this win to him,” Cairoli said.
Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl added one more holeshot and race win statistic to the books in race one where he blitzed everyone after taking his sixth FOX Holeshot of the season. And while finishing third in race two was disappointing, he was happy with the day, finishing second overall.
“I messed up my start when I did a little wheelie, so that wasn’t so good and then after that I was struggling to find the good lines so I just rode smart, but I happy with the day,” Nagl said.
Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre earned his first MXGP podium with a third-place overall finish. Not surprising as the Frenchman has been impressive in his rookie year.
“It was such an amazing feeling for me, it was a little bit the same as last year when I won my first MX2 Grand Prix. It is such a good feeling,” Febvre said.
A crash in race two ended Clement Desalle’s podium streak. Despite the craziness of Rockstar Energy Suzuki rider’s crash, the Desalle managed to salvage fifth in that race and combined with his second place in race two finished fourth overall.
Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev who had to come from behind in both races. Nevertheless, Russian Bob is not a quitter and he made that evident with his solid fight forwards in both races for fourth and fifth place results which landed him in fifth overall.
Similar to his teammate, Team HRC’s Gautier Paulin also had two bad starts. In race one Paulin managed to finish fifth, but his most impressive performance was in race two after he went down in the first corner and managed to go from last to seventh.
In the MX2 class, Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod put in the ride of his life to win the second race for his first ever MX2 grand prix victory.
Even in defeat Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings demonstrated maturity beyond his years in the first race as he held his composure despite the pressure he received from Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie which saw him take the victory. But, what was most extraordinary was his performance in race two after he had a very ugly crash which left his bars bent out of shape. Nevertheless, The Bullet soldiered on and managed to charge from twenty-first back to seventh for second overall.
Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jordi Tixier was pretty solid in taking home third and fourth place finishes for his third consecutive podium finish this season.
After sitting on the heels of Herlings for the entire duration of MX2 race one, it looked to be the turn in results that Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie was looking for. Although he put in an amazing performance in that particular moto, the Brit made his life extremely difficult when he started well outside of the top ten. After missioning it forward on an extremely challenging circuit, Anstie managed to wrap up eighth which left him walking away from the grand prix of Spain with fourth overall.
Rounding out the top five, Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser rebound from his average result in race one which came about because of a crash to finish second in race two for fifth.
2015 Spanish Grand Prix
Talavera de la Reina
MXGP Overall Top Ten:
1. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 3-1
2. Maximilian Nagl (HUS) 1-3
3. Romain Febvre (YAM) 4-2
4. Clement Desalle (SUZ) 2-5
5. Evgeny Bobryshev (HON) 6-4
6. Gautier Paulin (HON) 5-7
7. Tyla Rattray (KAW) 7-8
8. Kevin Strijbos (SUZ) 8-11
9. Xavier Boog (KAW) 12-10
10. Alessandro Lupino (HON) 16-9
MX2 Overall Top Ten:
1. Valentin Guillod (YAM) 6-1
2. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 1-7
3. Jordi Tixier (KAW) 3-4
4. Max Anstie (KAW) 2-9
5. Tim Gajser (HON) 11-2
6. Aleksandr Tonkov (HUS) 5-8
7. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 4-10
8. Julien Lieber (YAM) 9-5
9. Jeremy Seewer (SUZ) 10-6
10. Brian Bogers (KTM) 8-13
