Orange heaven!
By TMX Archives on 29th Apr 09
THE orange corner of the paddock could breathe a sigh of relief after the Valkenswaard GP, but so too could Toni Cairoli after his damaged front wheel lasted the distance in the MX1 opener and enabled him to keep his title chase on track.
KTM had not won either class at any of the opening three GPs, but Cairoli's moto win was the only break in the Austrian monopoly in the first sand GP of the year.
Shaun Simpson and Rui Goncalves shared the MX2 motos, the Portuguese heading the Scot for the overall to record his, and his country's first ever GP victory, while Jonathan Barragan came back from the dead to win MX1.
Simpson was not the only light at the end of the tunnel for the Brit pack.
Billy MacKenzie led for half of the opening MX1 moto, indeed both CAS Hondas showed over the weekend that they have the pace to run up front. James Noble was passing factory bikes as he converted two disastrous opening laps into solid score-lines, while a solitary mistake cost MVRD team-mate, Matiss Karro, seventh overall after he had hounded points leader, Gautier Paulin, for half of race two. Zach Osborne also kept his title challenge on track with two no-nonsense rides and Mel Pocock opened his season sensationally to come within 20 yards of points. Brad Anderson added real points to his Hawkstone podium. But there was also frustration for CCM and KTM UK, even though Jason Dougan and Stephen Sword persevered to grab a few points each.
MX2
AT the beginning of last week, Shaun Simpson didn't even know if he would be able to race: I still couldn't lift my arm on Monday, but I've been out practicing three times in the week and have no pain anymore.
And the Scot led every lap of the opening moto, quickly establishing a lead before letting his lap times increase by three seconds mid-race: I took the inside gate yesterday and didn't come out of turn one first, so I went a few gates in today, got the start and moved across them. I rode a smart race and didn't push too hard.
Goncalves was gifted second by birthday boy Nico Aubin on lap two when the Frenchman's front wheel dug in, and the Portuguese matched his team-mate's laps at arm's length before dropping his time on the penultimate lap. He clearly hoped to surprise the leader, but went down in the process. Simpson was not worried I could have dropped my times too and the error didn't cost a point third-placed David Guarneri was half a minute back!
The French were binning it all over the place. Xavier Boog never got round turn one unscathed all day, Paulin went down twice on his own, losing his front plate the second time, and Aubin hit the deck again with Marvin Musquin as he tried to recover lost ground. Nevertheless, the quartet still formed a solid phalanx from fifth to eighth at the chequered flag, but a cool-headed Osborne rode regular laps to advance to fourth and Karro won a photo-finish with Arnaud Tonus for ninth.
MX1
MX1 sand races have become classics in recent years as the 450s ride their pilots and tactics now dictate the show.
Max Nagl had dominated the 20-minute show on Saturday, but the German was out-gated by MacKenzie and Josh Coppins in the Sunday opener and paid the price.
The Scot held the line through turn one, but the Kiwi hi-sided, leaving the apex and created havoc as he shot across the bows of the field at 90 degrees. Nagl had to stand the bike up too and, although everybody stayed on, those who could sneak up the inside were gone.
Marc De Reuver, unimpressive on Saturday, put in a phenomenal opening lap to move ahead but MacKenzie retaliated with an even better one on lap two to go back ahead and move away.
It is questionable if even a 100 per cent fit Billy could have maintained the seering pace for 35 minutes plus two-laps and, just after half-distance the lack of mid-week training began to take its toll, his lap times increased every tour and by the finish he was eighth.
The closing laps were incredible.
When De Reuver ran off track two laps after recovering the lead, just six seconds separated the first seven, and Barragan, a faller on lap one, was hauling them in at a second a lap.
Philippaerts went ahead briefly, Ramon started making mistakes trying to pass him and eventually landed on his head hard. De Reuver was charging back, and it was Cairoli who cleverly slipped past them all taking inside lines.
The Sicilian had been staying low off all the jumps and riding with his head. After wobbling across the line to win, he explained: My front wheel ran into Ramon's footrest when I went to pass him on lap one and he got out of shape. I could feel the spokes were broken and dropped back to eighth. But after a few laps it wasn't getting any worse.
Barragan ran out of time to catch De Reuver. Ken De Dycker, riding a subdued race because of his back problems, found he had more left than the rest to take fourth but Nagl never got past 11th behind the sick Coppins: I never found a rhythm and every time I tried to push I hit every bump.
Noble had been hooked off at turn four but came back to 14th. Anderson kept the factory boys in his sights for most of the moto to finish 15th and Dougan earned two points from a start crash even though he was continually irritated when the leaders came to lap him: Campano was right behind me and I had to make sure he didn't slip through.
Unknown to Doogie', the Spaniard was another lap down even before he came the most almighty gutser. Tom Church, after a fortnight out, admitted ruefully: I just ran out of steam!
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2009
Sixth overall, American Zach Osborne tastes the Valkenswaard dirt as he chases Arnaud Tonus in MX2.