Max Attacks
By TMX Archives on 22nd Apr 15
Max Nagl is the man of the moment in MXGP. The Husqvarna team leader stormed to his third win in four GPs this year at Arco di Trento and just a single point spans the German, Suzukis Clement Desalle and defending champion Toni Cairoli.
After a dramatic crash in race two Ryan Villopoto is already 47 points off the pace, back in sixth place.
There was a shock in MX2 as Tim Gajser beat Jeffrey Herlings straight up for the first time in three years, to hand Honda its first win since 2010.
Max Anstie, fifth in MX2, was top Brit as Shaun Simpson overcame a difficult day for tenth in MXGP and Tommy Searle celebrated his comeback with a hard-fought 13th.
Ben Watson added points in MX2, and Argentine hero Adam Sterry opened up his Euro campaign with second place to Maxime Desprey.
Nagl had been surprisingly far back in sixth during Saturday qualification at the tortuous Arco hardpack track, littered with pebbles waiting to claim the unwary, but he was not perturbed.
The German said: "We went the wrong way with set-up but ironically that was the key to our success as we avoided the mistake on race day.”
Within half a lap in race one the German had slipped past Villopoto to cling to Cairoli's rear wheel but there was no way past as the champion dug deep into his bag of tricks to fend off every assault.
"I'd rather race Villopoto,” insisted Nagl. "He holds his line!”
In the end an unintentional last-lap block by lapper Angus Heidecke cost Nagl his final hope and almost put him back into the claws of Desalle.
But it was clear for all to see that Nagl is the fastest man at present and when he holeshot race two no-one saw which way he went.
He was the length of the pit straight ahead after one lap and extended his lead by two seconds a lap until the advantage was over ten seconds and he could throttle back slightly.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, APRIL 23 (ISSUE 1968)
