Searle’s Swede dream

The Kawasaki leader was not the only one of the Brit pack at the sharp end in Sweden, as Jake Nicholls and Zach Osborne just missed the podium in MX2 and Shaun Simpson was a revelation aboard the Rinaldi (factory) Yamaha in MX1, only a fall midway through the second moto surrendering a podium finish to Kevin Strijbos.

 

On a sensational day Clement Desalle took the MX1 red plate with a perfect score as Toni Cairoli went home pointless!

 

A tangle with a back-marker on Saturday had cost Searle pole, but the Brit was on a different planet to Herlings as he raced past and away from the Dutch teenager during the early laps of the opening MX2 moto, as persistent showers made 

conditions even trickier after storms throughout the morning.

 

Then suddenly the Brit slowed. "My goggles steamed up and I lost something like ten seconds in just a couple of laps,” he said. "There are far too many lappers to ride without goggles so I had to pit for fresh ones. I ran out of time to catch Jeffrey again by three seconds, but it was the right decision – for the result and for my health!”

 

Searle had won the second moto at each of the last four GPs, and Sweden was no exception.

 

"I got past Dylan (Ferrandis) quickly and just focused on riding smooth laps,” added Searle. "Of course I would have liked to win both motos, but ironically I actually gained more points on Jeffrey today than if I had gone 1-1 and he had scored 2-2.”

 

Herlings had to race from way back for seventh in race two to see his points lead slashed: 

 

"I was in a pile-up with my team-mates Jeremy Van Horebeek and Jordi Tixier on the downhill to turn two and the next lap I made a little mistake in the waves,” he admitted. 

 

"I've finished first or second in every moto except at the mud GPs in Brazil and here, so I hope the weather is fine from now on. 

 

"I had 41 points on Tommy after Mexico, but now it's down to 16.”

 

It was an up-and-down day for the rest of the British-based contingent. 

 

 

Rd 9 – Uddevalla, SWEDEN

 1 Clement Desalle (B  - Suzuki) 25 + 25 = 50

 2 Christophe Pourcel (F - Kawasaki) 22 + 22 = 44

 3 Kevin Strijbos (B - KTM) 16 + 20 = 36

 4 Sebastien Pourcel (F - Kawasaki) 20 + 15 = 35

 5 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Yamaha) 18 + 16 = 34

 6 Tanel Leok (EST - Suzuki) 15 + 18 = 33

 7 Gautier Paulin (F - Kawasaki) 14 + 12 = 26

 8 Xavier Boog (F - Kawasaki) 12 + 13 = 25

 9 Ken De Dycker (B - KTM) 10 + 10 = 20

10 Mark De Reuver (NL - Kawasaki) 11 +  9 = 20

11 Cedric Soubeyras (F - Honda) 13+7=20, 12 Jonathan Barragan (E - Honda) 9+8=17, 13 Rui Goncalves (P - Honda) 0+14=14, 14 Davide Guarneri (I - KTM) 0+11=11, 15 Augusts Justs (LAT - Honda) 6+5=11, 16 Kim Lindstrom (S - Kawasaki) 7+4=11, 17 Matteo Bonini (I - KTM) 8+0=8, 18 Nicolai Hansen (DK - Suzuki) 5+2=7, 19 Anthony Boissiere (F - TM) 0+6=6, 20 Santtu Tiainen (SF - Kawasaki) 4+1=5, 21 Tom Macuks (LAT - Suzuki) 0+3=3, 22 Tom Johnsson (S - Suzuki) 3+0=3, 23 Alfie SMITH (GB - Yamaha) 2+0=2, 24 Rasmus Sjoberg (S - Honda) 1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 Desalle, 2 Christophe Pourcel, 3 Sebastien Pourcel, 4 SIMPSON, 5 Strijbos, 6 Leok, 7 Paulin, 8 Soubeyras, 9 Boog, 10 De Reuver, 11 De Dycker, 12 Barragan, 13 Bonini, 14 Lindstrom, 15 Justs, 16 Hansen, 17 Tiainen, 18 Johnsson, 19 SMITH, 20 Sjoberg.

RACE TWO: 1 Desalle, 2 Christophe Pourcel, 3 Strijbos, 4 Leok, 5 SIMPSON, 6 Sebastien Pourcel, 7 Goncalves, 8 Boog, 9 Paulin, 10 Guarneri, 11 De Dycker, 12 De Reuver, 13 Barragan, 14 Soubeyras, 15 Boissiere, 16 Justs, 17 Lindstrom, 18 Macuks, 19 Hansen, 20 Tiainen.

SERIES STANDINGS after 9 (of 16) rounds: 1 Desalle 348 points, 2 Cairoli 345, 3 Christophe Pourcel 336, 4 Paulin 315, 5 De Dycker 257, 6 Strijbos 243, 7 Boog 236, 8 Philippaerts 212, 9 Leok 201, 10 Goncalves 183, 11 SIMPSON 159, 12 Sebastien Pourcel 143, 13 Bobryshev 137, 14 Barragan 135, 15 Karro 112, 16 Guarneri 109, 17 Frossard 66, 18 Boissiere 58, 19 Soubeyras 54, 20 Ferris 52,... 26 SMITH 15,... 47 PARKER 2, 48 LAW 2,... 53 BARR 1,... 

NEXT ROUND: July 15 – Kegums, LATVIA.

 

Rd 9 – Uddevalla, SWEDEN

 1 Tommy SEARLE (GB - Kawasaki) 22 + 25 = 47

 2 Jeffrey Herlings (NL - KTM) 25 + 14 = 39

 3 Dylan Ferrandis (F - Kawasaki) 18 + 20 = 38

 4 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - KTM) 15 + 18 = 33

 5 Zach Osborne (US - Yamaha) 16 + 16 = 32

 6 Jordi Tixier (F - KTM) 13 + 13 = 26

 7 Joel Roelants (B  - Kawasaki) 20 +  5 = 25

 8 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KTM)  0 + 22 = 22

 9 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - KTM) 12 +  9 = 21

10 Jose Butron (E - KTM)  6 + 12 = 18

11 Romain Febvre (F - KTM) 8+10=18, 12 Christophe Charlier (F - Yamaha) 2+15=17, 13 Valentin Guillod (CH - KTM) 9+6=15, 14 Benoit Paturel (F - Kawasaki) 11+4=15, 15 Alexander Tonkov (RUS - Honda) 14+0=14, 16 Petar Petrov (BG - Suzuki) 10+3=13, 17 Alessandro Lupino (I - Husqvarna) 0+11=11, 18 Max ANSTIE (GB - Honda) 0+8=8, 19 Julien Lieber (B - KTM) 0+7=7, 20 Arnaud Tonus (CH - Yamaha) 7+0=7, 21 Jens Getteman (B - Suzuki) 5+0=5, 22 Kevin Fors (B - Yamaha) 4+0=4, 23 Ivanovs Davis (LAT - Kawasaki) 3+0=3, 24 Simone Zecchina (I - Yamaha) 0+2=2, 25 Priit Ratsep (EST - KTM) 0+1=1, 26 Andrea Cervellin (I - TM) 1+0=1.

RACE ONE: 1 SEARLE, 2 Herlings, 3 Roelants, 4 Ferrandis, 5 Osborne, 6 NICHOLLS, 7 Tonkov, 8 Tixier, 9 Coldenhoff, 10 Paturel, 11 Petrov, 12 Guillod, 13 Febvre, 14 Tonus, 15 Butron, 16 Getteman, 17 Fors, 18 Davis, 19 Charlier, 20 Cervellin.

RACE TWO: 1 SEARLE, 2 Van Horebeek, 3 Ferrandis, 4 NICHOLLS, 5 Osborne, 6 Charlier, 7 Herlings, 8 Tixier, 9 Butron, 10 Lupino, 11 Febvre, 12 Coldenhoff, 13 ANSTIE, 14 Lieber, 15 Guillod, 16 Roelants, 17 Paturel, 18 Petrov, 19 Zecchina, 20 Ratsep.

SERIES STANDINGS after 9 (of 16) rounds: 1 Herlings 403 points, 2 SEARLE 387, 3 Van Horebeek 330, 4 Roelants 263, 5 Tixier 243, 6 NICHOLLS 237, 7 ANSTIE 199, 8 Ferrandis 177, 9 Butron 168, 10 Lupino 163, 11 Kullas 132, 12 Petrov 131, 13 Coldenhoff 124, 14 Charlier 123, 15 POCOCK 87, 16 Febvre 82, 17 Larsen 81, 18 Guillod 80, 19 Tonus 74, 20 Leib 69,... 

NEXT ROUND: July 15 – Kegums, LATVIA.