Orange army
By Alex Hodgkinson on 22nd Jul 11
It was doubles day again in the Baltic but the maximum scores at the rough tough Kegums track went to orange in both World MX1 and MX2 classes as Toni Cairoli matched Ken Roczen on the top step of their respective podiums.
Their victories also reinforced their grip on the world series as the Italian now leads by 42 points in MX1, the German by 27 in MX2. Britain dominated the placings in MX2 with Tommy Searle again on the podium with top ten finishes for Max Anstie, Zach Osborne, Jake Nicholls, Matiss Karro and Arnaud Tonus.
MX2 GP winner in 2010, Jeffrey Herlings' chances went up in smoke at turn one of the opening moto when the front wheel washed out on the slick surface. In a separate incident further out in the turn Jake Nicholls did the same and one turn later Gautier Paulin followed suit to drag down home hero Matiss Karro.
Roczen was soon long gone, but the scene was set for a superb race through the pack by this charging quartet.
Herlings eventually got through to third and was all over Tommy Searle in the closing laps. The Brit had grittily moved forward from sixth on the opening lap, but was defending at the end: "I heard him complaining at the post-race TV interview, but I was always in front and had the right to defend. What does he want me to do? Take the wide line and let him put a block on me, or give him room to sweep around the outside? This track is hard work!”
His task was eased on the final tour as Herlings' engine began to misfire: "There was a problem with the plug.”
Tonus and Anstie also eventually moved the obstinate fast-gating Nico Aubin aside, while Osborne kept Paulin out of eighth.
Nicholls was a superb 12th, even tagging Paulin on the factory Yamaha for a while, and Karro made it to 15th: "I got a little tired in the middle of the race, but then I got a second wind to gain another couple of places. With a start I can race top ten!”
And so it proved in race two as the Brit pack took control of the top ten, five of the first nine having UK connections. It could have been six, but Tonus broke a rear wheel when running fifth. And after five podiums in a row Paulin couldn't catch any of them!
The win was beyond all of them however as Roczen and Herlings sprinted clear and started a game of cat and mouse.
"I had saved energy during the first race but I still took it easy in the first few laps,” insisted Roczen. "When Jeffrey went past I saw I had better lines than him.”
"I was getting nervous in the lead so I let Ken back past again,” countered Herlings. "I planned to attack again in the last ten-minutes, but I made a mistake and he was gone.”
Jordan Booker followed up his maiden point in Germany with three more in this moto, but team-mate Jake Nicholls was frustrated despite finishing eighth: "I couldn't jump anything for the last five laps. It was about to seize and I had to nurse it home. I should have been fifth!”
That place went to a brave Zach Osborne. The American, diagnosed with Eppstein-Barr in the week after Sweden, quite literally gave everything and collapsed at the end.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX JULY 22
WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 10 – Kegums, LATVIA
1 Ken Roczen (D - Red Bull Teka KTM) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Jeff Herlings (NL - Red Bull Teka KTM) 20 + 22 = 42
3 Tommy SEARLE (GB - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 22 + 20 = 42
4 Max ANSTIE (GB - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 16 + 18 = 34
5 Zach Osborne (USA - Bike-It Cosworth Yam) 14 + 16 = 30
6 Harri Kullas (SF - Monster Gariboldi Yam) 12 + 15 = 27
7 Valentin Teillet (F - Suzuki Europe MX2) 11 + 14 = 25
8 Gautier Paulin (F - Monster Rinaldi Yam) 13 + 11 = 24
9 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - HMP Red Bull KTM) 9 + 13 = 22
10 Matiss Karro (LV - Route77 MVR-D Honda) 6 + 12 = 18
11 Arnaud Tonus (CH - Bike-It Cosworth Yam) 18+0=18, 12 Petar Petrov (BG - Van Beers Yamaha) 7+9=16, 13 Jordi Tixier (F - JM Nestaan KTM) 8+8=16, 14 Alessandro Lupino (I - Ricci Husqvarna) 5+10=15, 15 Nico Aubin (F - HDI KTM) 15+0=15, 16 Jose Butron (E - Silver Action KTM) 10+0=10, 17 Ludvig Soderberg (SF - Ice1 Kawasaki) 1+7=8, 18 Mike Kras (NL - Beursfoon Suzuki) 2+5=7, 19 Even Heibye (N - KTM) 0+6=6, 20 Petr Smitka (CZ - Bonver TM) 0+4=4, 21 Michael Leib (USA - Ricci Husqvarna) 4+0=4, 22 Jordan BOOKER (GB - HMP Red Bull KTM) 0+3=3, 23 Nick Triest (B - Diga KTM) 3+0=3, 24 Julien Lieber (B - Lieber K TM) 0+2=2, 25 Roberts Justs (LV - Latvia Elksni Honda) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Roczen, 2 SEARLE, 3 Herlings, 4 Tonus, 5 ANSTIE, 6 Aubin, 7 Osborne, 8 Paulin, 9 Kullas, 10 Teillet, 11 Butron, 12 NICHOLLS, 13 Tixier, 14 Petrov, 15 Karro, 16 Lupino, 17 Leib, 18 Triest, 19 Kras, 20 Soderberg.
RACE TWO: 1 Roczen, 2 Herlings, 3 SEARLE, 4 ANSTIE, 5 Osborne, 6 Kullas, 7 Teillet, 8 NICHOLLS, 9 Karro, 10 Paulin, 11 Lupino, 12 Petrov, 13 Tixier, 14 Soderberg, 15 Heibye, 16 Kras, 17 Smitka, 18 BOOKER, 19 Lieber, 20 Justs.
SERIES STANDINGS after 10 (of 15) rounds: 1 Roczen 446 points, 2 Herlings 419, 3 SEARLE 370, 4 Paulin 343, 5 Osborne 295, 6 Tonus 274, 7 ANSTIE 249, 8 Kullas 224, 9 Aubin 207, 10 Charlier 170, 11 Roelants 166, 12 Lupino 121, 13 Tixier 115, 14 NICHOLLS 114, 15 Butron 94, 16 Coldenhoff 90, 17 Petrov 86, 18 Triest 80, 19 Teillet 70, 20 Rauchenecker 63,... 29 BANKS-BROWNE 17,... 40 BOOKER 4,...
NEXT ROUND: July 31 – Lommel, BELGIUM.
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 10 – Kegums, LATVIA
1 Toni Cairoli (I - Red Bull Teka KTM) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Steven Frossard (F - Monster Rinaldi Yam) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda World) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Rui Goncalves (P - Honda World) 14 + 18 = 32
5 David Philippaerts (I - Monster Rinaldi Yam) 16 + 16 = 32
6 Max Nagl (D - Red Bull Teka KTM) 18 + 11 = 29
7 Ken De Dycker (B - LS Honda) 15 + 12 = 27
8 Steve Ramon (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 11 + 15 = 26
9 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 13 + 13 = 26
10 Tanel Leok (EW - Bonver TM) 9 + 14 = 23
11 Davide Guarneri (I - Rockstar Bud LMT Kaw) 10+9=19, 12 Anthony Boissiere (F - Rockstar Suzuki) 8+8=16, 13 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - LS Honda) 6+6=12, 14 Xavier Boog (F - KRT Kawasaki) 12+0=12, 15 Jonathan Barragan (E - KRT Kawasaki) 0+10=10, 16 Marcus Schiffer (D - Suzuki Europe) 5+5=10, 17 Carlos Campano (E - Andalucia Yamaha) 0+7=7, 18 Greg Aranda (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki) 7+0=7, 19 Gert Krestinov (EST - Maxxis Henderson Kaw) 3+2=5, 20 Matthias Walkner (A - BGR KTM) 0+4=4, 21 Kevin Strijbos (B - Delta Suzuki) 4+0=4, 22 Marc DeReuver (NL - Van Beers Yamaha) 0+3=3, 23 Ivo Steinbergs (LV - Ist Tisco Kawasaki) 2+1=3, 24 Gunther Schmidinger (A - GF Schmidiger Honda) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Cairoli, 2 Frossard, 3 Bobryshev, 4 Nagl, 5 Philippaerts, 6 De Dycker, 7 Goncalves, 8 Desalle, 9 Boog, 10 Ramon, 11 Guarneri, 12 Tanel Leok, 13 Boissiere, 14 Aranda, 15 SIMPSON, 16 Schiffer, 17 Strijbos, 18 Krestinov, 19 Steinbergs, 20 Schmidinger.
RACE TWO: 1 Cairoli, 2 Frossard, 3 Bobryshev, 4 Goncalves, 5 Philippaerts, 6 Ramon, 7 Tanel Leok, 8 Desalle, 9 De Dycker, 10 Nagl, 11 Barragan, 12 Guarneri, 13 Boissiere, 14 Campano, 15 SIMPSON, 16 Schiffer, 17 Walkner, 18 DeReuver, 19 Krestinov, 20 Steinbergs.
SERIES STANDINGS after 10 (of 15) rounds: 1 Cairoli 416 points, 2 Desalle 374, 3 Frossard 370, 4 Bobryshev 334, 5 Nagl 311, 6 Philippaerts 282, 7 Goncalves 281, 8 Ramon 229, 9 De Dycker 228, 10 Boog 215, 11 Barragan 214, 12 Tanel Leok 169, 13 Strijbos 165, 14 Boissiere 135, 15 SIMPSON 125, 16 Guarneri 122, 17 Aranda 61, 18 Schiffer 55, 19 Campano 52, 20 DeReuver 44,... 22 DOUGAN 26,... 28 ANDERSON 12,... 31 BARR 8,...
NEXT ROUND: July 31 – Lommel, BELGIUM.
