Cairoli birthday win and Teutschenthal double for Searle
By Team TMX on 24th Sep 12
Searle rounds out the year and his MX2 career with a double moto win and the overall in Germany with birthday boy Cairoli sealing a near perfect year with another GP victory.
The big Brit news behind Searle in MX2 was Jake Nicholls and Elliot Banks-Browne. Nicholls rounded a solid and professional season with a thoroughly professional final GP of the year. Moto one was the professional part where he knew following championship rival Jordi Tixier home would be enough, which he did in fourth. Moto two though was the perfect time to pull a holeshot out the bag and make hay while Tixier was languishing and then tipping off behind him in the early laps.
For EBB it was yet another mechanical DNF that robbed the HM Plant KTM UK rider from a ‘what could have been' kinda result. Luck? We're not sure it's playing a part by this stage after so many mechanicals for the KTM UK team. But strong qualifying was followed by a possible podium in moto one on Sunday before it all ended in a cloud of blue smoke. Although he faded in moto two to finish 9th after running fourth early on, it certainly showed the talent has been somewhat wasted this year.
MX2 world champion Jeffrey Herlings had a rare DNF in moto one before pulling in behind Searle in moto two. On his 27th birthday, Antonio Cairoli put in yet another dominant MX1 performance aboard his factory 350 KTM SX-F, taking an impressive seventh GP win in a row and 21st moto win this season. Behind Tony, the battle of the Germans was won by Ken Roczen ahead of Max Nagl, who was running his last GP for KTM before switching to Honda next year.
Roczen, looking to stay sharp for the MX of Nations in two weeks, put in a guest appearance after completing his stateside AMA outdoor season. Motocross fans were looking forward to seeing how Roczen (AKA K-Roc) would match up against the unstoppable Champion, Cairoli. Unsurprising, he had a good run out, finishing behind Cairoli but staying ahead of his German compatriot Max Nagl.
Championship runner-up Clement Desalle showed exactly why he walks away from 2012 with the ‘next best' tag mixing it up with the German KTM riders and bagging third overall.
Gautier Paulin quietly as ever went about his business grabbing third overall in the championship in what we shouldn't forget was his first season in MX1. If Searle can match that in 2013 he'd surely be snatching your hand off right now.
MX1 Brit watch was on Shaun Simpson but the Scot had a crash right at the start of moto one and a mid-pack result in moto two while his top ten championship rival Evgeny Bobryshev was inside the top ten in both motos and robbing him of overall championship placing.
STR Racing KTM rider (and DBR columnist) Bryan Mackenzie scored more solid GP points and made a strong case for a full season in GPs in 2013 as he just robbed his team-mate Jamie Law of 34th overall in the championship.
MX1 Overall
Tony Cairoli
Clement Desalle
Gautier Paulin
Christophe Pourcel
Ken de Dycker
MX2 Overall
Jeffrey Herlings
Tommy Searle
Jeremy van Horebeek
Jake Nicholls
Jordi Tixier
