2017 FIM Motocross World Championship – Round 13 – Loket, Czech Republic
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MXGP Report
MXGP race 1 roared down Loket start straight to the Fox Holeshot line and it was Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Clement Desalle who was there first. Desalle was followed by HRC’s Tim Gajser who quickly took the pole position away from the Belgian.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Gautier Paulin followed Desalle but led Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli and Wilvo Yamaha MXGP’s Arnaud Tonus. In the 19 lap race 1 the top five held their positions for 17 of them. During the 17th lap Cairoli found a way around Paulin for third.
Meanwhile Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings was quickly progressing forward from a 9th place start. On the final lap Cairoli caught Desalle and Herlings caught Tonus. While Herlings made it by Tonus, Cairoli couldn’t get past Desalle. Gajser took the race win, his first since the second race of Trentino.
Race Two
After being narrowly beat out on the start of race 1 Tim Gajser responded with the FOX Holeshot in race 2. He then led the first 5 laps before Cairoli cut to the inside and took the spot away. Only one lap later Desalle also found his way past the reigning champ.
With Cairoli leading and Desalle second, Herlings surprised Gajser taking the 3rd position with a quick inside pass. Gajser finished race 2 in 4th to take the 3rd overall.
Gautier Paulin took 5th after he fended off a charge by Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Romain Febvre.
Cairoli took the race win, his 83rd career overall, and won the round
I’m really happy to ‘skip’ this GP with a victory. My goal was make the podium because I’ve never had much of a good feeling with this track and I struggled a lot in the past. This year was better because we have been working well lately with the bike and I feel it’s working almost perfectly for me: I enjoy riding. It was also the first time I rode here with the 450 and that was easier than the 350 because I had to be more aggressive and missed the extra torque of the 450 in some parts of the track. I made too many mistakes in the first moto and had some arm-pump and by the time I found a good rhythm then it was a bit too late. Third was OK because the points are important for the championship and that’s what we are looking at now. I’d like to dedicate this victory to Igor Cuharciuc. It was a difficult night for everybody and riding the bike on the spot of the accident was not easy. I want to say we are thinking of the family.”
Desalle’s consistent 2-2 took second overall ahead of Tim Gajser.
Tim Gajser 1-4 for third overall
“I am really happy as the weekend has been really positive for me after many weekends struggling. Too now be back on the podium is great, I had a good first heat leading all the race. The second race I took the holeshot and for the first couple of minutes I was feeling great and then made some small mistakes, lost my rhythm and it was not easy to come back from that. I was struggling in the last couple of minutes. All in all, I am happy. It is the first weekend in a long time that I have enjoyed riding the bike, I am going to take all the positives from this weekend, focus on that and bring them to Lommel.”
Jeffrey Herlings 5-3 results gave him fourth overall
“The starts cost me the win because both times I was outside the top ten. After the rain it was so tough to pass. [starts] They have cost me a couple of times this year and I’m not sure what to do any more because we have one of the best bikes and it is something I need to be doing better. Hopefully at Lommel we’ll make it work but the start is a little less important there. I have been very consistent again today and I’m third in the championship now and close to second but it has been a while since I’ve been winning.”
Gautier Paulin went 4-5 for fifth overall
“We’ve spent the whole week prior to the race working on our bikes and made some big improvements. I started the weekend by posting the best lap time in Time Practice and that was a good moral booster. Unfortunately, conditions were totally different with the mud on Sunday. I knew it would be crucial to get good starts in this track so I focused all my efforts into making it happen. My starts were quite good in both motos and I did my best to remain close to the top three. Getting fourth in the first race and then fifth in the second was the best I could do but it’s still a good overall result. The hard work continues and I’m hoping to get back on the box in Lommel.”
Romain Febvre carded 7-6 results for 6th overall
“The second moto was better than the first. I had arm-pump really bad in the first race and then in the second race I had a pretty good start but got passed by a couple of riders. I started finding my speed again and then a lapped rider hit me and I lost too much time to come back and make some passes, so it’s hard to say I am happy. I look forward to the next race.”
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten
- Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 35:16.286
- Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:03.096
- Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:04.058
- Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:11.240
- Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:11.588
- Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:16.478
- Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:26.057
- Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:29.479
- Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:41.694
- Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:43.516.
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten
- Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:45.495
- Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:04.530
- Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:08.989
- Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:10.846
- Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:11.580
- Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:15.554
- Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:31.941
- Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Suzuki), +0:38.193
- Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:44.144
- Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:44.836.
Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 45 points
Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 44 p.
Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 43 p.
MXGP Overall Top Ten
- Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 45 points
- Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 44 p.
- Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 43 p.
- Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 36 p.
- Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 34 p.
- Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 29 p.
- Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 27 p.
- Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 26 p.
- Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 20 p.
- Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 19 p.
MXGP Championship Top Ten
- Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 523 points
- Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 431 p.
- Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 418 p.
- Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 417 p.
- Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 353 p.
- Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 338 p.
- Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 308 p.
- Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 294 p.
- Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 286 p.
- Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 279 p.
MXGP Manufacturers
- KTM, 559 points
- Husqvarna, 462 p.
- Yamaha, 441 p.
- Honda, 431 p.
- Kawasaki, 431 p.
- Suzuki, 298 p.
