Paulin’s French Toast
By Alex Hodgkinson on 14th Jun 13
The Tricolor was waved passionately at Ernee, as Gautier Paulin inflicted a moto defeat on Toni Cairoli in MX1 and Dylan Ferrandis chased Jeffrey Herlings all the way in MX2.
But by the end the KTM champions put orange on top of the podium once again after the four most exhilarating GP motos of the year, around the old school hillside track.
And EMX2, again won by Switzerland's Valentin Guillod, was even better.
There were mixed fortunes for the Brits.
Jake Nicholls missed the podium by a single point and Tommy Searle missed his first MX trophy by one place, while the starts again cost Max Anstie, after he had lapped in the same second as Herlings on Saturday.
A restarted first MX2 moto cost Steve Dixon's crew, after Dean Ferris and Mel Pocock had sprinted to the front at the first attempt.
Shaun Simpson was in pain all day after a major get-off on Saturday and EBB would just like to get through the opening lap without drama.
Cairoli looked to be on his way as he holeshot the MX1 opener, but Paulin had other ideas and – after a shocking qualification on an over-watered track on Saturday – was in phenomenal form to surge past KRT teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek, with an exhilarating downhill pass to haul back the Sicilian.
The champion was clearly unnerved and making mistakes and when the leading duo hit the lappers Paulin sensed his chance. Mikola Paschinskyi unwittingly hindered Cairoli in the turn before the most severe ski jump and three corners later, at the place where the champion had wobbled badly two laps earlier, Paulin swept around the outside for a lead he was never to relinquish.
Cairoli never gave up, though and the Frenchman had to set the fastest lap of the race on the final circuit.
"I don't like to win like that but I saw Toni was having problems with lappers,” said a smiling Paulin at the finish.
"But I got the win and I would like moments like that, in front of my home crowd, every day.”
He didn't get a second chance, though, as Max Nagl braked too late for the first turn in race two and collected a heap of others including his own team-mate Bobryshev.
Cairoli was soon out of sight as Paulin battled through to fourth, saying afterwards: "I got put in the fence.”
Searle's starts in qualification and moto one were appalling: "We normally start in second gear, but it wasn't working here, so I took a risk and started in first,” admitted the Brit.
From 12th on lap one Searle was stuck behind Cedric Soubeyras for a long time: "Those French guys can go fast for 15 minutes and it was not easy to pass because the ruts came together in the turns,” said Searle.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX JUNE 14
WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 8 – Ernee, FRANCE
1 Antonio Cairoli (I - Red Bull KTM) 22 + 25 = 47
2 Gautier Paulin (F - KRT Kawasaki) 25 + 18 = 43
3 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 20 + 22 = 42
4 Tommy SEARLE (GB - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 14 + 20 = 34
5 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KRT Kawasaki) 18 + 15 = 33
6 Ken De Dycker (B - Red Bull KTM) 16 + 16 = 32
7 Kevin Strijbos (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 10 + 13 = 23
8 Davide Guarneri (I - Marchetti KTM) 12 + 11 = 23
9 Xavier Boog (F - Ice1 KTM) 7 + 14 = 21
10 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda World) 9 + 12 = 21
11 Max Nagl (D - Honda World) 13+8=21, 12 Rui Goncalves (P - Ice1 KTM) 11+9=20, 13 David Philippaerts (I - Gariboldi Honda) 15+0=15, 14 Nicolas Aubin (F - Buildbase Honda) 2+10=12, 15 Joel Roelants (B - Monster Energy Yamaha) 5+7=12, 16 Gregory Aranda (F - Kawasaki) 6+6=12, 17 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Ricci TM) 8+0=8, 18 Cedric Soubeyras (F - Honda) 3+3=6, 19 Fabien Izoird (F - Suzuki) 0+5=5, 20 Loic Leonce (F - Yamaha) 0+4=4, 21 Jonathan Barragan (E - STR KTM) 4+0=4, 22 Matiss Karro (LAT - STR KTM) 0+2=2, 23 Dennis Ullrich (D - KTM) 0+1=1, 24 Milko Potisek (F - Yamaha) 1+0=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Paulin, 2 Cairoli, 3 Desalle, 4 Van Horebeek, 5 De Dycker, 6 Philippaerts, 7 SEARLE, 8 Nagl, 9 Guarneri, 10 Goncalves, 11 Strijbos, 12 Bobryshev, 13 SIMPSON, 14 Boog, 15 Aranda, 16 Roelants, 17 Barragan, 18 Soubeyras, 19 Aubin, 20 Potisek.
RACE TWO: 1 Cairoli, 2 Desalle, 3 SEARLE, 4 Paulin, 5 De Dycker, 6 Van Horebeek, 7 Boog, 8 Strijbos, 9 Bobryshev, 10 Guarneri, 11 Aubin, 12 Goncalves, 13 Nagl, 14 Roelants, 15 Aranda, 16 Izoird, 17 Leonce, 18 Soubeyras, 19 Karro, 20 Ullrich.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 (of 17) rounds: 1 Cairoli 377 points, 2 Paulin 321, 3 Desalle 309, 4 De Dycker 277, 5 Strijbos 243, 6 SEARLE 239, 7 Nagl 190, 8 Van Horebeek 171, 9 Goncalves 168, 10 Philippaerts 145, 11 Bobryshev 127, 12 Roelants 124, 13 Guarneri 120, 14 SIMPSON 120, 15 Boog 111, 16 Leok 108, 17 Barragan 84, 18 Frossard 47, 19 Justs 43, 20 Karro 41,... 21 Jason DOUGAN 19,... 24 Adam CHATFIELD 12,... 30 Nathan WATSON 6,... 37 Jamie LAW 4,...
NEXT ROUND: June 16 – Maggiora, ITALY.
