Searle’s Bul-dozer

KTM riders Jeffrey Herlings and Toni Cairoli retained the red plates – but only just.

 

Max Anstie, Jake Nicholls and Shaun Simpson again made it four Brits in the top ten.

 

An over-zealous assault on qualification the previous day had left Herlings sitting at gate 16, with Searle on pole for MX2. 

 

The Dutchman managed to salvage fourth leaving turn one, but Searle and teammate Joel Roelants were already on their way, running away from Herlings at two seconds a lap.

 

Tommy blitzed the field for five laps but then suddenly slowed: "I lost the front brake. One turn it was there, the next there was nothing. 

 

"Without the problem I would have won both motos, but this is not the place to lose your front brake with all of those long downhills. 

 

"I couldn't ride the inside lines anymore, and I was having to use the rear brake more, but the suspension set-up didn't work any more either. 

 

"I let Joel go, but I was able to hold Jeffrey for a long time until the rear brake started boiling.”

 

Roelants took over to win but was his usual bashful self: "I felt good but it's only the first moto. The team is so good and we have great suspension and power – I have never been on such a good bike as the Kawasaki. 

 

"Tommy and I also work a lot together in training and today I was able to pick up the good lines from him.”

 

The second moto was Searle all the way, but Herlings quickly moved into second and kept Tommy honest until the chequered flag. 

 

Searle said: "I think we were both on the limit, and the surface was treacherous, so I didn't want to push any harder than I needed, I just made sure I kept him off my rear wheel. 

 

"I tried to gap him a little when we came to lappers, but in the end I seemed to get through them best.”

 

Herlings added: "I rode a little tight, especially in the first moto. I managed to close Tommy down in race two but I just couldn't get around him. 

 

"I need to work on the hardpack – we only have a few sand GPs!”

 

Roelants completed the podium after a long, hard struggle with Anstie in race two, as the Brit tried to compensate for his horse-power deficiency with tough riding. 

 

In the end Roelants gave Max a taste of his own medicine to escape.

 

Jake Nicholls again gated well in race one, but went backwards from fifth to seventh. "I rode stiff, but that was probably because I made the wrong tyre choice,” said Nicholls.

 

"I thought there would be more grip like yesterday and didn't go for the full hard-tyre.” 

 

FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS APRIL 27

 

WORLD MX2 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Rd 2 – Sevlievo, BULGARIA

 1 Tommy Searle (GB - Kawasaki) 20 + 25 = 45

 2 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - KTM) 22 + 22 = 44

 3 Joel Roelants (B  - Kawasaki) 25 + 18 = 43

 4 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KTM) 18 + 20 = 38

 5 Max ANSTIE (GB - Honda) 15 + 16 = 31

 6 Harri Kullas (SF - Suzuki) 16 + 12 = 28

 7 Dylan Ferrandis (F - Kawasaki) 13 + 11 = 24

 8 Alexander Tonkov (RUS - Honda) 10 + 13 = 23

 9 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - KTM) 14 +  9 = 23

10 Alessandro Lupino (I - Husqvarna)  7 + 15 = 22

11 Jose Butron (E - KTM) 8+14=22, 12 Michael Leib (US - Yamaha) 11+10=21, 13 Jordi Tixier (F - KTM) 12+7=19, 14 Petar Petrov (BG - Suzuki) 9+8=17, 15 Mel POCOCK (GB - Yamaha) 4+6=10, 16 Nikolaj Larsen (DK - Suzuki) 6+0=6, 17 Julien Lieber (B - KTM) 0+5=5, 18 Romain Febvre (F - KTM) 5+0=5, 19 Andrea Cervellin (I - TM) 0+4=4, 20 Alessandro Battig (I - Yamaha) 0+3=3, 21 Kevin Fors (B - Yamaha) 3+0=3, 22 Jens Getteman (B - Suzuki) 0+2=2, 23 Ivo Monticelli (I - Suzuki) 2+0=2, 24 Roberts Justs (LAT - Honda) 0+1=1, 25 Valentin Guillod (CH - KTM) 1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Roelants, 2 Herlings, 3 Searle, 4 Van Horebeek, 5 Kullas, 6 ANSTIE, 7 NICHOLLS, 8 Ferrandis, 9 Tixier, 10 Leib, 11 Tonkov, 12 Petrov, 13 Butron, 14 Lupino, 15 Larsen, 16 Febvre, 17 POCOCK, 18 Fors, 19 Monticelli, 20 Guillod.

RACE TWO: 1 Searle, 2 Herlings, 3 Van Horebeek, 4 Roelants, 5 ANSTIE, 6 Lupino, 7 Butron, 8 Tonkov, 9 Kullas, 10 Ferrandis, 11 Leib, 12 NICHOLLS, 13 Petrov, 14 Tixier, 15 POCOCK, 16 Lieber, 17 Cervellin, 18 Battig, 19 Getteman, 20 Justs.

SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 16) rounds: 1 Herlings 94 points, 2 Searle 87, 3 Roelants 85, 4 Van Horebeek 74, 5 ANSTIE 57, 6 NICHOLLS 51, 7 Kullas 43, 8 Lupino 38, 9 POCOCK 32, 10 Tixier 29, 11 Ferrandis 24, 12 Ferrandis 24, 13 Petrov 24, 14 Tonkov 23, 15 Teillet 23, 16 Butron 22, 17 Coldenhoff 21, 18 Leib 21, 19 Tixier 19, 20 Tonkov 15,...

NEXT ROUND: April 29 – Fermo, ITALY.

 

WORLD MX1 MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Rd 2 – Sevlievo, BULGARIA

 1 Gautier Paulin (F - Kawasaki) 22 + 25 = 47

 2 Christophe Pourcel (F - Kawasaki) 25 + 22 = 47

 3 Antonio Cairoli (I - KTM) 18 + 20 = 38

 4 Ken De Dycker (B - KTM) 14 + 18 = 32

 5 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda) 13 + 16 = 29

 6 Xavier Boog (F - Kawasaki) 15 + 14 = 29

 7 David Philippaerts (I - Yamaha) 16 +  8 = 24

 8 Clement Desalle (B  - Suzuki) 20 +  3 = 23

 9 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Yamaha) 10 + 12 = 22

10 Sebastien Pourcel (F - Kawasaki)  6 + 15 = 21

11 Tanel Leok (EST - Suzuki) 7+13=20, 12 Kevin Strijbos (B - KTM) 9+11=20, 13 Cedric Soubeyras (F - Honda) 8+7=15, 14 Jonathan Barragan (E - Honda) 5+9=14, 15 Rui Goncalves (P - Honda) 12+0=12, 16 Gregory Aranda (F - Yamaha) 11+0=11, 17 Davide Guarneri (I - KTM) 0+10=10, 18 Milko Potisek (F - Honda) 3+5=8, 19 Dean Ferris (US - Kawasaki) 1+6=7, 20 Matteo Bonini (I - KTM) 2+4=6, 21 Matiss Karro (LAT - KTM) 4+0=4, 22 Nathan PARKER (GB - KTM) 0+2=2, 23 Alfie SMITH (GB - Yamaha) 0+1=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Christophe Pourcel, 2 Paulin, 3 Desalle, 4 Cairoli, 5 Philippaerts, 6 Boog, 7 De Dycker, 8 Bobryshev, 9 Goncalves, 10 Aranda, 11 SIMPSON, 12 Strijbos, 13 Soubeyras, 14 Leok, 15 Sebastien Pourcel, 16 Barragan, 17 Karro, 18 Potisek, 19 Bonini, 20 Ferris.

RACE TWO: 1 Paulin, 2 Christophe Pourcel, 3 Cairoli, 4 De Dycker, 5 Bobryshev, 6 Sebastien Pourcel, 7 Boog, 8 Leok, 9 SIMPSON, 10 Strijbos, 11 Guarneri, 12 Barragan, 13 Philippaerts, 14 Soubeyras, 15 Ferris, 16 Potisek, 17 Bonini, 18 Desalle, 19 Parker, 20 Smith.

SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 16) rounds: 1 Cairoli 88 points, 2 Paulin 79, 3 Desalle 67, 4 De Dycker 63, 5 Christophe Pourcel 59, 6 Strijbos 51, 7 Boog 49, 8 SIMPSON 45, 9 Philippaerts 44, 10 Leok 42, 11 Goncalves 41, 12 Frossard 40, 13 Bobryshev 38, 14 Barragan 26, 15 Sebastien Pourcel 24, 16 Guarneri 22, 17 Karro 21, 18 Soubeyras 15, 19 Schiffer 14, 20 Bonini 13,... 26 PARKER 2, 27 SMITH 1, 28 BARR 1,...

NEXT ROUND: April 29 – Fermo, ITALY.