Cycle News Staff | July 7, 2021
The steep hills and hardpack of the historic Maggiora Park circuit welcomed FIM World Championship racing for the first time since the 2016 Motocross of Nations and for the first Grand Prix event since 2015. Warm and showery conditions created a slick, rutty and finally muddy affair around the narrow and tricky Italian layout, and it was Red Bull KTM Team riders who prevailed.
Jeffery Herlings used a lopsided 6-1 moto tally to claim the MXGP-class win, while the Italian, Mattia Guadagnini, captured his first career overall victory in MX2.
Herlings dominated timed practice for his first pole position of the season by almost four-tenths of a second over Tim Gajser (Honda HRC). Jorge Prado was third fastest. Winner of the last round in the UK, Tony Cairoli, was seventh.
It was Prado who made the better start in the first race and circulated behind leader and winner Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Kawasaki) in what was a static affair. Cairoli was third and Herlings had to fight back to sixth after he initially lost time removing a stone wedged into his rear brake system.
A brief thunderstorm just before the second moto dumped a lot of rain on Maggiora and ensured the final race of the day would be a mudder. Herlings made the best start and followed Glenn Coldenhoff for 11 of the 17 laps. Herlings passed his fellow countryman and won by almost seven seconds. The 6-1 scorecard meant he tied on points, but the second moto win defined the Grand Prix ranking.
Also equal on 40 points was Cairoli who had to deal with broken goggles before finally ditching the eyewear. Despite the disadvantage, Cairoli was able to ride to third and his 3-3 gave him a second consecutive podium appearance. Prado was also running with the leaders but lost two places inside the final two laps and his 2-7 cast him to fourth spot overall.
First-moto winner Febvre started the race in seventh, struggled with some mistakes in the slick mud and ended up finishing 12th in the moto for fifth overall.
Championship leader Tim Gajser (Honda) had an “off” day going 5-6 for seventh overall.
Gajser leads the MXGP Championship with 124 points, followed by Herlings with 118 and Febvre at 107.
One week after his maiden podium result in his rookie MX2 season, Guadagnini was not over-awed by the prospect of his home Grand Prix and rode to a steady second position behind Yamaha rider Thibault Benistant in the first moto.
Guadagnini, however, was faultless in the second, leading from start to finish. As well as his superiority on the day, the Italian was also able to seize the red plate as the new MX2 world championship leader.
Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) was second overall on the day with a 6-2, while Jago Geerts (Yamaha) completed the podium with a 4-5.
Roan Van De Moosdijk (Husqvarna) and Benistant (1-14) rounded out the top five overall.
Guadagini is the new championship leader with 113 points. Renaux is second with 111 and Ruben Fernandez (Honda) is third at 108.
VIDEO | 2021 Monster Energy MXGP of Italy Highlights
MXGP
- Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 6-1
- Glenn Coldenhoff (Yam) 4-2
- Tony Cairoli (KTM) 3-3
- Jorge Prado (KTM) 2-7
- Romain Febvre (Kaw) 1-12
MX2
- Mattia Guadagnini (KTM) 2-1
- Maxime Renaux (Yam) 6-2
- Jago Geerts (Yam) 4-5
- Roan Van De Moosdijk (Hus) 9-3
- Thibault Benistant (Yam) 1-14
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