Cairoli and Demaria
By TMX Archives on 5th Dec 07
The 2007 FIM Off-road Awards took place in the affluent setting of Monaco and the Salle de Etoiles' last Saturday and Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli and Yamaha Demaria's Yves Demaria proudly accepted their silverware for MX2-GP and MX3-GP world championship success respectively.
In front of more than 400 guests that includedformer world championship legends like Jean-Michel Bayle and Roger deCoster, winners from both the Motocross and Supermoto World andEuropean stages were given their accolades by the FIM and Youthstream.
Cairoli, a double world champion after recapturing the crown he ownedin 2005 on the YZ250F, was treated to a short video of actionhighlights; revealing moments from the 10 GP wins (from 15), 21 motos(from 28) and 13 podiums (from 14) in his MX2-GP dominance. Theflamboyant Sicilian was also able to re-live his stunning MX1-GP debutat Donington Park.
This is a great way to end a fantastic season for me and the team,said Cairoli, who is committed to defending his MX2 title next year.We won many races and it was the perfect answer to 2006 when I lostthe title by just a few points. There are many good memories from 2007but I think my win at Donington Park in the MX1-GP class was special. Iwas hoping for a podium result at best but to get those good starts andwin first time with the YZ450F was incredible. I want to win more in2008 and then see where my future lies with Yamaha.
Yves Demaria signed off his career as a full-time world championshipracer by taking a privately entered YRRD kitted YZ479F to a thirdrider's title in the larger bore category.
2007 was a difficult year because I had to combine being a rider and ateam manager but I could manage to win my third MX3 world championshipand I cannot think of a better way to end my career, said the Frenchveteran who will continue to contest select Grand Prix events with thedirect backing of Yamaha France.
Yamaha De Carli boss, Claudio de Carli, scaled the stage to accept theteam's prize for 2007 while Michele Rinaldi was also on-hand to collectYamaha's award for the MX2-GP Manufacturer's championship. Yamaha wona lot of MX2-GP races in 2007 and I am proud to accept this for theirachievement, he said.