Cairoli wins second MX2 world title in great style
By TMX Archives on 20th Aug 07
Antonio Cairoli won his second MX2 world championship thanks to a resolute double moto haul in a cold and windy Northern Ireland, his ninth victory of 2007. The Sicilian conquered Moneyglass Demesne in dominant style and could rejoice in his well-deserved title after taking honours in the first race and charging through to pass Tommy Searle on the last lap of the second.
Cairoli was already mathematically the new number one as outgoing championand nearest rival Christophe Pourcel crashed in warm-up, dislocating his leftshoulder and breaking his pelvis.
The Sicilian grabbed pole position onSaturday with the qualification heats replaced by a joint 45 minute practice andTimed period in an effort to save the soaked and boggy track. Rainfall had beenreplaced by a strong and cold wind on Sunday and extensive work carried out bythe organisers helped preserve what was an interesting layout full of jumps andelevation changes but dangerous in places (jump landings) due to the softmud.
Cairoli won the first moto easily from Tommy Searle and RuiGoncalves with Yamaha's Nico Aubin, Davide Guarneri and Carl Nunn taking fifth,six and seventh positions respectively. The De Carli team started thecelebrations as Cairoli rolled the finish-line double. The 21 year old then hadan authentic challenge in the second race when he started poorly and had to comethrough the top ten with a buckled front wheel after a collision with MarcusSchiffer. He faced a gap of almost twenty seconds to Searle and seemed to havereached as far as he could go - and would have to accept second place - butlaunched into a flurry of furiously fast laps. He worked hard to slice the finalsix seconds to the back of the KTM in the last two circulations and forced hisway through to the lead with mere corners left until the flag. It was agrandstand finale to an incredible year for the rider and team.
From 90motos and 45 Grand Prix since 2005, Cairoli has won 44 and 18 respectively. Histitle-winning campaign has seen him miss the overall top three only once with 19chequered flags from a possible 26 and 9 Grand Prix wins from 13 on the potentYZ250F.
Newly crowned French MX2 champion Aubin could not complete thesecond moto after a stone damaged his clutch. Team-mate and winner of his firstever Grand Prix two weeks ago in Namur Guarneri was riding hurt after damagingone of his ribs while practicing in Belgium during the week. The Italian wassixth and tenth and openly admitted his dislike of the track and his failure tofind an effective race speed.
British Champion Carl Nunn steered his Bike it Yamaha Dixon Racing machine toa season-best seventh in the first sprint but ran into a fallen rider in thesecond and could only collect 16th.
In the series standings Aubin isseventh and 13 points from Swanepoel in sixth. Guarneri has passed Gundersen torise to tenth.
Cairoli can now relax and chase higher numbers for his wins tally in the nexttwo weeks as the British Grand Prix at Donington Park and the Grand Prix of theNetherlands at Lierop bring the '07 world championship to aclose.
Antonio Cairoli, De Carli Yamaha:
"Normally I would have been looking at this race just to confirm thechampionship and not be thinking about the overall but I had a good feeling onthe track. The conditions were not the best, but all year I have been happy withthe Yamaha and have been able to push when others have held back. The package wehave now is incredible and I have to say thanks to the team. I got into the leadin the first moto and from there just worked on being smooth. My finger wasbothering me because the track was still so soft and wet that I needed to usethe clutch a lot. That race was not difficult and I thought a lot about thechampionship. When I went over the finish it was so good to see all the team andthe people there waiting; it was a sight that I had been waiting for since thebeginning of the championship. I got held up behind Schiffer for five or sixlaps in the second and I tried to move through but ended up damaging the frontwheel. Towards the end I was always watching where Tommy was on the trackbecause I knew he would take the overall. I was happy to see that I was gainingground quickly and then on the last lap he made a mistake and went wide. We havebeen making little parties all year it seems but we will have a big one afterLierop!"
Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Team Ricci:
"For me the track was really dangerous and I found myself holding back alittle bit because I did not want to get injured again. I took two good startsbut did not ride the bike like I wanted and lacked some rhythm. I'm glad I camethrough the weekend but I am not happy overall and I will hope for better at thenext race."
Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci:
"I started well in both races today. I was pushing behind Cairoli in thefirst heat but then had some arm-pump and ended up crashing because I did nothave the bike totally under control. I restarted and finished fifth but it was abad race. In the first corner of the second heat Goncalves broke a little bitlate and pushed me wide so I lost positions. I was fighting in the top five butthen had a rock smash my clutch and it was not possible tocontinue."
Laurens Klein Koerkamp, Racing Division Manager, YamahaMotor Europe:
"It is unbelievable the way Tony has won this championship with totaldomination through the whole season and what he did in the last few laps of thatsecond moto he showed that he's a rider who is not from this planet. He had somedamage to the wheel but still managed to be seconds faster than the others! ForYamaha Tony is clearly the main man in MX2 but in the last month we have seenwins from Aubin and Guarneri that show the strength of the YZ250F overall. Wemust give a big compliment to Antonio and Claudio de Carli too for his tuningand preparation. It is great for us that we offer them the bike as standard andthey can do such a good job. Molte contenti!"
2007 GP of Moneyglass Demense, Northern Ireland 19/08/2007
Race 1 - 16 Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 42'39.804
2 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'22.551
3 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'30.263
4 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 0'33.492
5 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'35.541
6 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'42.831
7 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 0'44.348
8 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'44.760
9 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 0'56.271
10 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'1.549
11 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'3.560
12 Jeremy Tarroux KTM FRA 1'39.607
13 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 1'45.309
14 Shannon Terreblanche KTM RSA 1'47.426
15 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 1'52.917
16 Aigars Bobkovs KTM LVA 1'55.617
17 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'56.650
18 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 2'6.782
19 Marcus Norlen Suzuki SWE 2'10.540
20 Elliott Banks-Browne Suzuki GBR 2'16.720
Race 2 - 16 Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 41'57.999
2 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'10.080
3 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'34.928
4 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'50.319
5 Jeremy Tarroux KTM FRA 0'58.093
6 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'58.730
7 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'7.855
8 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'12.438
9 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'15.245
10 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'33.995
11 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 1'37.241
12 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'42.301
13 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 1'52.434
14 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'58.946
15 Kounsith Vongsana KTM FRA 2'0.395
16 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 2'7.693
17 Marcus Norlen Suzuki SWE 2'17.686
18 Aigars Bobkovs KTM LVA 2'24.649
19 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 2'30.494
20 Matiss Karro Honda LVA 3'20.065
Rider Standings 19/08/2007
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points
1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 610
2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 436
3. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 431
4. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 371
5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 320
6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 301
7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 288
8. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 235
9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 233
10. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 218
11. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 213
12. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 196
13. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 177
14. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 174
15. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 165
16. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 127
17. Jeremy Tarroux KTM FRA 117
18. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 115
19. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 114
20. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 112
23. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 77
31. Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 24
Manufacturer Standings 19/08/2007
Pos. Manufacturer Points
1. Yamaha 626
2. KTM 531
3. Kawasaki 481
4. Honda 392
5. Suzuki 208
