Report: World MXGP/ MX2 Championship – Rd 8, Germany
By Alex Hodgkinson on 11th May 16
Its only round seven of 18 but the gloves came off at Teutschenthal over the weekend with ranting, contact and wagging fingers in both MXGP and MX2. And the winner? It was Tony Cairoli who roared back into contention with a clean sweep thats qualification, GP race one, GP race two!
There was no podium for Britain after Max Anstie cast away a certain win midway through race two but there were top-10 motos for Anstie, Shaun Simpson, Tommy Searle and Nat Kane plus points for Jake Nicholls, James Dunn, Adam Sterry and Stacey Fisher.
The aggro started on Saturday with world leaders Tim Gajser and Romain Febvre mouthing off at each other after contact had left a laughing Cairoli to take his first qualification victory for a year.
The Sicilian expanded the field of conflict as he nicked a Yamaha gate for race one and within half-a-lap the champion was scrambling in the dirt. This left the red plate headed for the red bike as Gajser climbed all over Cairoli for the lead but TC had already sniffed the situation, twice retaliating fair but hard to unnerve the Slovenian teenager.
In the end Gajser dropped back of his own free will and an early crash in race two confirmed that he is starting to feel the pressure. Speed alone is not enough in the pressure cooker of world motocross and Cairoli is not eight times champion for nothing.
Indeed, the Italian is feeling so confident that he even spoke openly about the physical problems which still plague him.
"I never lost my confidence but it's difficult to hold on when you have a broken bone that doesn't grow anymore and problems with your shoulder muscles,” he said. "This track is slower but I know Arco will be more difficult and the Italian fans don't want to accept second.
"This week we had new engine and suspension parts from Austria to test for the new bike and we have some more to test before Arco!”
Over in MX2 the cauldron had been bubbling very slowly as Jeffrey Herlings sweeps from success to success but Anstie, the second fastest but also the most Bullit-friendly of the chasers, is not the only one keen to end the roll!
After five consecutive podiums Jeremy Seewer had already pronounced last week that he had his eyes on the next step.
On Saturday Herlings complained he was drained from an illness and was unable to match Seewer's single lap speed.
"This isn't one of my favourite tracks,” said the Dutchman. "Everyone can go fast here. I'm not looking at the perfect season – I don't care how many GPs I win, I just want the title.”
A first lap error which left Seewer chasing through from mid-pack to fourth made life easy for Herlings in race one but race two was a different story. If Anstie, another facing a long ride out of the pack to third in race one, had not been flung off by a seat bounce over a big tabletop when well clear not even Herlings would have stood a chance.
Herlings' later swipe at Dylan Ferrandis – "he likes to cut me off, that's normal” – missed the target by miles as he simply left the gate too slowly. And, anyway, it's water off a duck's back for the stoical Frenchman.
Having finally passed Seewer for the win two laps from home after a nerve-tingling duel, Herlings had refused to shake the Swiss rider's hand in the holding pen and YS quickly asked KTM to order him to zip it for the post-race TV interview – but he was having none of it.
"Seewer jumped across me on the triple on the first lap,” said Herlings. "I had to close the throttle and twisted my ankle. I'll jump on him next time and see if he likes that!”
The working class hero from Switzerland wasn't all that bothered.
"I did nothing bad and I did nothing on purpose,” he said. "Does he think we spend the first lap in traffic looking for him?”
For sure Herlings' ankle was hurting but, despite his insistence of the previous day that he was ready to lose, it was his pride which appeared to be hurting most. For 30 minutes he sat on Seewer's rear wheel, unable to pass as the smart Swiss defended.
Indeed, their duel was so intense that they were stuck behind Benoit Paturel until Seewer took the initiative with a ferocious attack on the Frenchman which left the crowd gasping as, with the Swiss block on Herlings momentarily surrendered, the three of them hurtled side-by-side around the switchback track, each nosing in front temporarily until Seewer made it his own.
It took a further six laps, with Anstie picking himself up and an exhausted Ferrandis surrendering meekly, before Herlings finally made a pass stick.
But what of the Brits?
Anstie simply gave himself too much to do in race one and, leading all the way until his fatal fall, could have been long gone in race two.
"They'd watered the hell out of the track before the second race and I actually splattered my own goggles,” he said. "I couldn't push until I had got rid of all the tear-offs because I couldn't see and my vision was blurry after that because of the water actually in the goggles.”
Adam Sterry had shot out of the gate in both quali and race one to gain valuable experience running top six and top 10.
"I could keep the pace for a couple of laps,” he said, "so that is positive for the future but I'm simply lacking race time. I got massive arm-pump every race and by the second moto I had blisters as well.”
James Dunn stormed to five points on the Hitachi REVO Husqvarna.
"I'm still weak from the virus I had last week and just rode tight in the first race,” he said, "but I'm happy with race two. I didn't gate well but I moved forward to 16th so I'm satisfied – that's where I'd expect to be at the moment.”
Conrad Mewse missed the points and is simply still coming to terms with the tough reality of GP racing at the moment.
Up in MXGP Shaun Simpson was solid in the lower half of the top 10 for 9-8 motos.
"That's where we are at the moment,” said the Scot. "I'd like to be higher and we're making advances so I'm looking for more soon.”
Tommy Searle wrecked his weekend with a fall while fifth in quali which left him chasing from an impossible gate on race day to 13-9.
Jake Nicholls continues to advance through the ranks as he gets back into GP mode with 11-12 motos. His first ride when he matched champion Febvre wheel-to-wheel for two laps sums it up.
Natalie Kane is up to sixth in WMX but the Ulster rider is a minute off the pace over a 25-minute moto and an incident when an Italian in a photo vest hooked off Courtney Duncan with her elbow has effectively reduced the championship to a duel between Livia Lancelot and Nancy van de Ven.
Defending champion Kiara Fontanesi can still put in a fast lap but can't manage two together on her CRF250 without crashing and Stacey Fisher added a further two points on her 125cc stroker.
After a fascinating but cool opening third to the season, GP racing fired up with a vengeance last weekend and should be boiling by Matterley Basin...
