Six of the best
By Alex Hodgkinson on 4th Jan 13
Any lingering doubts over whether Toni Cairoli is the outstanding motocross rider of the current generation were finally laid to rest last summer, as the 27-year-old Sicilian completed a six-pack of world titles, the last four on the trot and three straight for KTM.
Cairoli's 98-point margin of victory was not a record – injuries to his closest rivals had seen him romp home 124 points clear of the second placed man in 2011 – but ‘TC222' dominated the season from day one.
A double-win at the Valkenswaard opener and three more outright GP wins through the first half of the campaign put him 47 points clear at the mid-point stage, before a double DNF in Sweden cost him the red stripe in the corner of his ‘golden plate'.
But that situation wasn't to last long!
Another victory in Latvia took him back to the head of the table and the timely warning that ‘nothing is certain until the fat lady sings' saw Toni take no prisoners, even after the title was secure – as he stormed to 12 straight moto victories in the final six rounds.
The no-risk calculated defeat at the hands of Kevin Strijbos in the second moto at Kegums was the last time he lost a race on the world stage!
But the ease with which Toni dominated was certainly not due to a lack of opposition.
No less than 20 riders with a GP moto win on their CV were listed as series contenders back in January and five manufacturers felt they had the champion-to-be in their ranks.
So where did they all go?
First to fall, or rather fail to appear, was Cairoli's team-mate Max Nagl.
The German had gritted his way through back troubles in 2011, when it would have been more sensible to get an operation.
But motocrossers are not renowned for their rationality when it comes to dealing with injuries and the delay cost Max two-thirds of 2012, as Belgian surgeons messed-up and he eventually had to go under the knife three times before the problem was solved.
Honda's Evgeny Bobryshev had stormed his way through the early season races and sensationally topped the first Pre-Qualifying session of the year at Valkenswaard by one-and-a-half seconds.
But the Russian split his finger open after landing on a stake later in the session and was back in the ambulance late afternoon as he crashed out dramatically from the race to decide gate choice.
Continuing to race even though he could hardly hold the bike – not a good idea on a factory 450 – ‘Bobby' kept crashing for half the summer, each knock causing another pause in his training programme.
Through the final third of the summer he was a shadow of his known talent, but at least he stayed on two wheels for regular finishes in the bottom half of the leader-board. "This season's done. I need to heal up in the winter so I can train properly again.”
Next to go was Yamaha's Steven Frossard.
The burly Frenchman had started with a podium in Valkenswaard through sheer guts and determination and was phenomenally fast through the practice sessions at Sevlievo, where had won on his MX1 debut 12 months earlier.
But a crash during the qualification race left him with a wrecked cruciate ligament and his challenge was over.
With an operation on the Monday, he was on the track for practice at Fermo five days later, but inevitably could not hope to compete. He struggled through the first third of the season before getting the knee cleaned up properly.
Why wait so long? His Yamaha contract said he got paid in full if he rode at six GPs!
Rinaldi partner David Philippaerts, the last man other than Cairoli to win an MX1 title, started slowly before once again turning up the wick on the overseas tour.
But he was back to also-ran even before he broke both wrists again in Sweden – the breaks directly adjacent to the plates which had been inserted after he suffered the same fate in 2011.
All of which left just Suzuki's Clement Desalle and Kawasaki rivals Gautier Paulin and Christophe Pourcel (CP377) to trouble Cairoli.
The French duo in rival green camps make no secret of their mutual animosity. Indeed Pourcel declared in the post-race press conference at their home GP: "I hate that guy!”
And they had two classic duels in Bulgaria as they made the rest of the world look silly.
The show continued a week later in Italy, though Cairoli took full advantage of poor starts by the two Frenchmen to run and hide in race two and the red plate was still securely in the Sicilian's possession as each of his Gallic rivals had surrendered points at the Dutch opener.
CP377 had not even seen the chequered flag in race one at Valkenswaard and had the know-alls nodding their heads that he couldn't be consistent enough.
Meanwhile, Paulin – having won a moto on each of his three previous top level rides aboard a 450 – had cart-wheeled down the track at the start of race two, before storming back in typically gritty fashion to advance three places on the very last lap of the day.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, JANUARY 4
