MXGP ITALY TWO RED PLATES ON POLE IN MAGGIORA
MAGGIORA (Italy), 13 June 2015 – After a grim day of treacherous rain yesterday where the circuit and venue took a hammering from water, it was unbelievable how amazing Maggiora shaped up today to host the qualifying races at round nine of the FIM Motocross World Championship. With surprisingly picture perfect conditions, it was both red plate holders Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings who cleaned up.
In the European Championships EMX300 and EMX125, who also raced their first motos of the weekend, it was Swiss rider Killian Auberson who claimed the twenty-five points in the EMX300 while KTM Factory Juniors Josiah Natzke took his fourth consecutive race win in the EMX125.
The MXGP riders were lucky as the rain that was threatened failed to amount, which left the track dry but still very technically challenging. When the gates dropped it looked as though the two fastest in Timed Practice,Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev and Gautier Paulin, would lead the way around turn one. Instead, the two collided and went down.
Wilvo Forkrent KTM’s Steven Frossard was the one who nabbed the holeshot in this instance followed byRed Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli and Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl. As the trio exited turn three, there was an epic roar from the crowd as the legend Antonio Cairoli took the lead. Uncharacteristically Cairoli failed to complete the first lap because of a crash that forced him out of the race.
With Cairoli out, Nagl took the lead and then it was game over for the rest of MXGP as the red plate holder ran away for his first qualifying heat victory of the season. Meanwhile behind the German, Frossard put in a phenomenal performance before he lost the front around the midway mark and retired. It was Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Jeremy Van Horebeek who capitalized on the mistakes of Cairoli and Frossard and took home a comfortable second ahead Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM’s Shaun Simpson, a guy known more for his sand skills, who came home in third.
The most impressive performance of the day was undoubtedly that of Bobryshev who rallied his way from last all the way up to fourth. Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Glenn Coldenhoff also put in a great performance for fifth with Paulin rounding out the top six.
As for Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP’s Clement Desalle, he went out in free practice but still cannot ride due to a shoulder and a knee injury. So he has withdrawn.
MXGP Qualifying Race Top Ten: 1. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), 24:42.694; 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:04.702; 3. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:07.624; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:09.534; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +0:13.588; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:14.956; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:15.640; 8. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:16.548; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Honda), +0:23.868; 10. Todd Waters (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:24.551.
There was no catching the Red Bull KTM Factory bikes out of the gate as Pauls Jonass snatched the holeshot from The Bullet Jeffrey Herlings. Herlings knows the importance of a good start and wasted no time in squirting up the inside of his teammate to take over the lead. Jonass then tried to tuck in behind Herlings but had to switch from attack to defense mode with Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Thomas Covington and Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod all over him like a rash.
Covington soon made life easier for everyone when he went down in the first few laps while Guillod, hasty in moving forward kept Herlings in his sights. With Jonass dropping back to third, the next challenger for the Latvian was the defending champion Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jordi Tixier who, six laps in, managed to execute a sweet pass by launching the step up for the inside line on the following turn.
Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie was the next rider to start reeling Jonass in after passingHonda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser in the early stages of the race. After a few laps of eating the pebble-like clay roost, both Anstie and Gajser were gifted a position when Jonass went down.
Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Aleksandr Tonkov also took advantage of Jonass’ fault and moved up to sixth which soon became fifth as Anstie suffered another engine malfunction.
At the checkered flag, it was Herlings who rode flawless for the win while Guillod put in a solid performance for second. Tixier was also unchallenged in third followed by Gajser and Tonkov respectively.
MX2 Qualifying Race Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 24:25.689; 2. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:08.939; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:12.877; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:15.712; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:26.263; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:30.379; 7. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:32.629; 8. Damon Graulus (BEL, Yamaha), +0:37.429; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:43.718; 10. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Honda), +0:45.052.
Click here to obtain the complete results.
All the photos of the MXGP of Italy will be available here
MXGP ITALY – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1650m
Type of ground: Hard Pack
Temperature: 24°C
Weather conditions: cloudy with some shower
TIMETABLE
Sunday: EMX300 Warm-up 08:45; EMX125 Warm-up 09:00; EMX300 Race 2 10:30; MX2 Warm up 11:10; MXGP Warm up 11:30; EMX125 Race 2 12:00; MX2 Race 1 13:15; MXGP Race 1 14:15; MX2 Race 2 16:10; MXGP Race 2 17:10.
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