Gautcha
By TMX Archives on 26th Apr 13
It was business as usual in MX2 in Bulgaria, as Jeffrey Herlings maintained his unbeaten record, but Toni Cairoli not only dropped his third moto of the MX1 campaign, the champion also suffered his second GP defeat of the season, as Gautier Paulin repeated his 2012 success at Sevlievo.
None of the Brits could put two motos together, but Max Anstie took a moto fourth and there were fifths for Tommy Searle and Jake Nicholls.
Just 20 MX1 riders made it to Bulgaria, so anyone who made the 108% cut in Pre-Qualifying (as they all did) would score points, but all of the big names still off the sick list were there for the high-speed chase round the hillside.
Paulin had shown his liking for the track last year and the French Kawasaki ace dominated Saturday, heading both training sessions and qualification from the exit to turn one.
He repeated it in moto one of the GP: "But there had been light rain during the MX2 race and one had to take care as it was slippery,” he said.
Clement Desalle caught both Max Nagl and Searle napping by switching inside at the 180 degree turn after the finish jump on the first two laps.
But the race was entering the closing laps before he could get close enough to Kevin Strijbos to try the same trick.
But the Panda's Suzuki buddy declined to surrender, surging back around the outside to retake second when Desalle bobbled at the very next turn.
Cairoli had been buried in the pack: "I gated well, but Nagl forgot to turn,” he said.
But he moved forward relentlessly to snatch fourth at the flag, one ahead of Searle.
"I struggle every week with my first motos and I find it hard to flow when I'm with guys like Strijbos and Desalle, their style is so different,” he said.
Shaun Simpson was a frustrated 12th: "I just couldn't get the rutted turns at the bottom of the hills right and that was costing me speed on the uphills,” he said.
The Scot spent the second half of the race fending off the STR KTMs of Matiss Karro and Jonathan Barragan. Tanel Leok was never happy all weekend on the ultra-fast track and broken goggles cost him places at the end.
