Desert storm
By Alex Hodgkinson on 8th Mar 13
Confusion reigned in Qatar as Clement Desalle scoredthe most MX1 worldchampionship points and was awarded the series leaders red plate and will go into the record books as the GP winner... but the Belgian didnt get the winners trophy.
That went to Toni Cairoli for his victory in the combined MX1/MX2 Superfinal! Desalle's comment: "It's pretty stupid!”
The situation arose because most TV viewers will only see excerpts from the MX1 and MX2 races before witnessing the
Superfinal live.
And Cairoli, even though he accepts that the records will not show him as scoring his 55th GP victory, defended the move.
"Somebody who is not a regular fan will not watch four hours of motocross, but we can attract him to watch the one hour show,” said Cairoli.
"And he would not understand if he has just watched one rider win the race but the winner's trophy is awarded to someone else.”
At least Jeffrey Herlings put the MX2 victory beyond dispute, indeed the MX2 podium was on the overall and in Qatar that reflected the first three 250F riders to cross the line in the Superfinal.
For Britain it was a day of mixed emotions.
Tommy Searle finished a frustrating seventh in the MX1 moto, but carved the first notch on his belt with a fifth in the Superfinal for sixth overall.
The next best Brits were Shaun Simpson and Jake Nicholls, each tenth overall in MX1 and MX2 respectively.
And UK-based Dean Ferris
became the first Aussie on a GP podium since the late Andrew McFarlane in 2005.
There were a series of impressive rides, with Simpson having shown genuine top-six pace through the second half of MX1, Nicholls having the race of his life to come home fourth best 250F in the Superfinal after a shocking start and Mel Pocock leading home the Brits in the MX2 moto.
Elliott Banks-Browne was edged out of the top ten on the day at the death by that Nicholls charge, and Max Anstie was desperately unfortunate but stunningly fast.
Racing was fast and furious all day.
With Herlings sensibly giving points priority over ego, the Superfinal was a flop as the ‘confrontation of the classes', but the battles and chases in class and the physical clashes of riders not in direct competition provided a scorcher for the initiated.
But back to the start of the play, with the MX2 race an hour after dusk in the first GP under floodlights.
Herlings had screwed up in qualification: "I got the holeshot, but looked across and simply ran off the track”, he grinned.
But he made no mistakes when it counted, even though there was no mandatory KTM factory holeshot.
With a clear second over the opposition he didn't need it and he admitted post-race: "No disprespect to the other guys, but I think I am my own main competition at the moment.
"It is all about not getting hurt or doing something stupid.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX MARCH 8
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Losail, QATAR
1 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Dean Ferris (AUS - Monster Yamaha) 16 + 22 = 38
3 Romain Febvre (F - Wilvo Nestaan JM KTM) 18 + 20 = 38
4 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - Standing Construct KTM) 22 + 14 = 36
5 Christophe Charlier (F - Monster Yamaha) 20 + 13 = 33
6 Jordi Tixier (F - Red Bull KTM) 14 + 16 = 30
7 Jose Butron (E - Silver Action KTM) 11 + 15 = 26
8 Alessandro Lupino (I - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 15 + 10 = 25
9 Julien Lieber (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 13 + 11 = 24
10 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Wilvo Nestaan KTM) 3 + 18 = 21
11 Mel POCOCK (GB - Monster Yamaha) 12+7=19, 12 Elliott BANKS-BROWNE (GB - HM Plant KTM UK) 9+8=17, 13 Petar Petrov (BUL - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 10+6=16, 14 Max ANSTIE (GB - Rockstar Suzuki) 0+12=12, 15 Alexander Tonkov (RUS - ESTA Honda) 6+5=11, 16 Harri Kullas (SF - Honda Gariboldi) 7+4=11, 17 Valentin Teillet (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki) 0+9=9, 18 Maxime Desprey (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 8+1=9, 19 Kevin Fors (B - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 4+3=7, 20 Stefan-Kjer Olsen (DK - JTech ESTA Honda) 5+2=7, 21 Ivo Monticelli (I - Ricci TM) 2+0=2, 22 Pascal Rauchenecker (A - Standing Construct KTM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Herlings, 2 Coldenhoff, 3 Charlier, 4 Febvre, 5 Ferris, 6 Lupino, 7 Tixier, 8 Lieber, 9 POCOCK, 10 Butron, 11 Petrov, 12 BANKS-BROWNE, 13 Desprey, 14 Kullas, 15 Tonkov, 16 Olsen, 17 Fors, 18 NICHOLLS, 19 Monticelli, 20 Rauchenecker.
RACE TWO: 1 Herlings, 2 Ferris, 3 Febvre, 4 NICHOLLS, 5 Tixier, 6 Butron, 7 Coldenhoff, 8 Charlier, 9 ANSTIE, 10 Lieber, 11 Lupino, 12 Teillet, 13 BANKS-BROWNE, 14 POCOCK, 15 Petrov, 16 Tonkov, 17 Kullas, 18 Fors, 19 Olsen, 20 Desprey.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 18) rounds: 1 Herlings 50 points, 2 Ferris 38, 3 Febvre 38, 4 Coldenhoff 36, 5 Charlier 33, 6 Tixier 30, 7 Butron 26, 8 Lupino 25, 9 Lieber 24, 10 NICHOLLS 21, 11 POCOCK 19, 12 BANKS-BROWNE 17, 13 Petrov 16, 14 ANSTIE 12, 15 Kullas 11, 16 Tonkov 11, 17 Teillet 9, 18 Desprey 9, 19 Olsen 7, 20 Fors 7,...
NEXT ROUND: March 10 – Si Racha, THAILAND.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Losail, QATAR
1 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 25 + 22 = 47
2 Antonio Cairoli (I - Red Bull KTM) 20 + 25 = 45
3 Gautier Paulin (F - KRT Kawasaki) 18 + 20 = 38
4 Ken De Dycker (B - Red Bull KTM) 22 + 14 = 36
5 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda World) 16 + 18 = 34
6 Tommy SEARLE (GB - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 14 + 16 = 30
7 Kevin Strijbos (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 15 + 15 = 30
8 Rui Goncalves (P - Ice1 KTM) 12 + 11 = 23
9 Steven Frossard (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 9 + 13 = 22
10 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Ricci TM) 13 + 7 = 20
11 Xavier Boog (F - Ice1 KTM) 8+10=18, 12 David Philippaerts (I - Gariboldi Honda) 3+12=15, 13 Joel Roelants (B - Monster Energy Yamaha) 6+9=15, 14 Tanel Leok (EST - Route77 Honda) 7+8=15, 15 Max Nagl (D - Honda World) 10+5=15, 16 Davide Guarneri (I - Marchetti KTM) 11+4=15, 17 Jonathan Barragan (E - STR KTM) 5+6=11, 18 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KRT Kawasaki) 4+1=5, 19 Jason DOUGAN (GB - Route77 Honda) 2+2=4, 20 Jens Getteman (B - MX24 Honda) 0+3=3, 21 Kenny Van Dueren (B - KTM Scott Racing) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Desalle, 2 De Dycker, 3 Cairoli, 4 Paulin, 5 Bobryshev, 6 Strijbos, 7 SEARLE, 8 SIMPSON, 9 Goncalves, 10 Guarneri, 11 Nagl, 12 Frossard, 13 Boog, 14 Leok, 15 Roelants, 16 Barragan, 17 Van Horebeek, 18 Philippaerts, 19 DOUGAN, 20 Van Dueren.
RACE TWO: 1 Cairoli, 2 Desalle, 3 Paulin, 4 Bobryshev, 5 SEARLE, 6 Strijbos, 7 De Dycker, 8 Frossard, 9 Philippaerts, 10 Goncalves, 11 Boog, 12 Roelants, 13 Leok, 14 SIMPSON, 15 Barragan, 16 Nagl, 17 Guarneri, 18 Getteman, 19 DOUGAN, 20 Van Horebeek.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 18) rounds: 1 Desalle 47 points, 2 Cairoli 45, 3 Paulin 38, 4 De Dycker 36, 5 Bobryshev 34, 6 SEARLE 30, 7 Strijbos 30, 8 Goncalves 23, 9 Frossard 22, 10 SIMPSON 20, 11 Boog 18, 12 Philippaerts 15, 13 Guarneri 15, 14 Nagl 15, 15 Roelants 15, 16 Leok 15, 17 Barragan 11, 18 Van Horebeek 5, 19 DOUGAN 4, 20 Getteman 3,...
NEXT ROUND: March 10 – Si Racha, THAILAND.Desert storm
Report & pictures:
Alex Hodgkinson
Confusion reigned in Qatar as Clement Desalle scored
the most MX1 worldchampionship points and was awarded the series
leader's red plate and will go into the record books as the GP
winner... but the Belgian didn't get the winner's trophy.
That went to Toni Cairoli for his victory in the combined MX1/MX2 Superfinal! Desalle's
comment: "It's pretty stupid!”
The situation arose because most TV viewers will only see excerpts from the MX1 and MX2 races before witnessing the
Superfinal live.
And Cairoli, even though he accepts that the records will not show him as scoring his 55th GP victory, defended the move.
"Somebody who is not a regular fan will not watch four hours of motocross, but we can attract him to watch the one hour show,” said Cairoli.
"And he would not understand if he has just watched one rider win the race but the winner's trophy is awarded to someone else.”
At least Jeffrey Herlings put the MX2 victory beyond dispute, indeed the MX2 podium was on the overall and in Qatar that reflected the first three 250F riders to cross the line in the Superfinal.
For Britain it was a day of mixed emotions.
Tommy Searle finished a
frustrating seventh in the MX1 moto, but carved the first notch on his belt with a fifth in the Superfinal for sixth overall.
The next best Brits were Shaun Simpson and Jake Nicholls, each tenth overall in MX1 and MX2 respectively.
And UK-based Dean Ferris
became the first Aussie on a GP podium since the late Andrew McFarlane in 2005.
There were a series of
impressive rides, with Simpson having shown genuine top-six pace through the second half of MX1, Nicholls having the race of his life to come home fourth best 250F in the Superfinal after a shocking start and Mel Pocock leading home the Brits in the MX2 moto.
Elliott Banks-Browne was edged out of the top ten on the day at the death by that Nicholls charge, and Max Anstie was desperately unfortunate but stunningly fast.
Racing was fast and furious all day.
With Herlings sensibly giving points priority over ego, the Superfinal was a flop as the ‘confrontation of the classes', but the battles and chases in class
and the physical clashes of riders not in direct competition
provided a scorcher for the
initiated.
But back to the start of the play, with the MX2 race an hour after dusk in the first GP under
floodlights.
Herlings had screwed up in qualification: "I got the holeshot, but looked across and simply ran off the track”, he grinned.
But he made no mistakes when it counted, even though there was no mandatory KTM factory holeshot.
With a clear second over the
opposition he didn't need it and he admitted post-race: "No
disprespect to the other guys, but I think I am my own main
competition at the moment.
"It is all about not getting hurt or doing something stupid.”
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX MARCH 8
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Losail, QATAR
1 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - Red Bull KTM) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Dean Ferris (AUS - Monster Yamaha) 16 + 22 = 38
3 Romain Febvre (F - Wilvo Nestaan JM KTM) 18 + 20 = 38
4 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - Standing Construct KTM) 22 + 14 = 36
5 Christophe Charlier (F - Monster Yamaha) 20 + 13 = 33
6 Jordi Tixier (F - Red Bull KTM) 14 + 16 = 30
7 Jose Butron (E - Silver Action KTM) 11 + 15 = 26
8 Alessandro Lupino (I - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 15 + 10 = 25
9 Julien Lieber (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 13 + 11 = 24
10 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Wilvo Nestaan KTM) 3 + 18 = 21
11 Mel POCOCK (GB - Monster Yamaha) 12+7=19, 12 Elliott BANKS-BROWNE (GB - HM Plant KTM UK) 9+8=17, 13 Petar Petrov (BUL - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 10+6=16, 14 Max ANSTIE (GB - Rockstar Suzuki) 0+12=12, 15 Alexander Tonkov (RUS - ESTA Honda) 6+5=11, 16 Harri Kullas (SF - Honda Gariboldi) 7+4=11, 17 Valentin Teillet (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki) 0+9=9, 18 Maxime Desprey (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 8+1=9, 19 Kevin Fors (B - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 4+3=7, 20 Stefan-Kjer Olsen (DK - JTech ESTA Honda) 5+2=7, 21 Ivo Monticelli (I - Ricci TM) 2+0=2, 22 Pascal Rauchenecker (A - Standing Construct KTM) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Herlings, 2 Coldenhoff, 3 Charlier, 4 Febvre, 5 Ferris, 6 Lupino, 7 Tixier, 8 Lieber, 9 POCOCK, 10 Butron, 11 Petrov, 12 BANKS-BROWNE, 13 Desprey, 14 Kullas, 15 Tonkov, 16 Olsen, 17 Fors, 18 NICHOLLS, 19 Monticelli, 20 Rauchenecker.
RACE TWO: 1 Herlings, 2 Ferris, 3 Febvre, 4 NICHOLLS, 5 Tixier, 6 Butron, 7 Coldenhoff, 8 Charlier, 9 ANSTIE, 10 Lieber, 11 Lupino, 12 Teillet, 13 BANKS-BROWNE, 14 POCOCK, 15 Petrov, 16 Tonkov, 17 Kullas, 18 Fors, 19 Olsen, 20 Desprey.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 18) rounds: 1 Herlings 50 points, 2 Ferris 38, 3 Febvre 38, 4 Coldenhoff 36, 5 Charlier 33, 6 Tixier 30, 7 Butron 26, 8 Lupino 25, 9 Lieber 24, 10 NICHOLLS 21, 11 POCOCK 19, 12 BANKS-BROWNE 17, 13 Petrov 16, 14 ANSTIE 12, 15 Kullas 11, 16 Tonkov 11, 17 Teillet 9, 18 Desprey 9, 19 Olsen 7, 20 Fors 7,...
NEXT ROUND: March 10 – Si Racha, THAILAND.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Losail, QATAR
1 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 25 + 22 = 47
2 Antonio Cairoli (I - Red Bull KTM) 20 + 25 = 45
3 Gautier Paulin (F - KRT Kawasaki) 18 + 20 = 38
4 Ken De Dycker (B - Red Bull KTM) 22 + 14 = 36
5 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda World) 16 + 18 = 34
6 Tommy SEARLE (GB - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 14 + 16 = 30
7 Kevin Strijbos (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 15 + 15 = 30
8 Rui Goncalves (P - Ice1 KTM) 12 + 11 = 23
9 Steven Frossard (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 9 + 13 = 22
10 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Ricci TM) 13 + 7 = 20
11 Xavier Boog (F - Ice1 KTM) 8+10=18, 12 David Philippaerts (I - Gariboldi Honda) 3+12=15, 13 Joel Roelants (B - Monster Energy Yamaha) 6+9=15, 14 Tanel Leok (EST - Route77 Honda) 7+8=15, 15 Max Nagl (D - Honda World) 10+5=15, 16 Davide Guarneri (I - Marchetti KTM) 11+4=15, 17 Jonathan Barragan (E - STR KTM) 5+6=11, 18 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KRT Kawasaki) 4+1=5, 19 Jason DOUGAN (GB - Route77 Honda) 2+2=4, 20 Jens Getteman (B - MX24 Honda) 0+3=3, 21 Kenny Van Dueren (B - KTM Scott Racing) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Desalle, 2 De Dycker, 3 Cairoli, 4 Paulin, 5 Bobryshev, 6 Strijbos, 7 SEARLE, 8 SIMPSON, 9 Goncalves, 10 Guarneri, 11 Nagl, 12 Frossard, 13 Boog, 14 Leok, 15 Roelants, 16 Barragan, 17 Van Horebeek, 18 Philippaerts, 19 DOUGAN, 20 Van Dueren.
RACE TWO: 1 Cairoli, 2 Desalle, 3 Paulin, 4 Bobryshev, 5 SEARLE, 6 Strijbos, 7 De Dycker, 8 Frossard, 9 Philippaerts, 10 Goncalves, 11 Boog, 12 Roelants, 13 Leok, 14 SIMPSON, 15 Barragan, 16 Nagl, 17 Guarneri, 18 Getteman, 19 DOUGAN, 20 Van Horebeek.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 18) rounds: 1 Desalle 47 points, 2 Cairoli 45, 3 Paulin 38, 4 De Dycker 36, 5 Bobryshev 34, 6 SEARLE 30, 7 Strijbos 30, 8 Goncalves 23, 9 Frossard 22, 10 SIMPSON 20, 11 Boog 18, 12 Philippaerts 15, 13 Guarneri 15, 14 Nagl 15, 15 Roelants 15, 16 Leok 15, 17 Barragan 11, 18 Van Horebeek 5, 19 DOUGAN 4, 20 Getteman 3,...
NEXT ROUND: March 10 – Si Racha, THAILAND.
