KTM men take top honours in Argentina
Set at the foothills of the picturesque mountains of Villa la Angostura, the spectacular yet deceiving natured volcanic loam circuit of Patagonia played host to the fourth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship.
Bringing it home for the extremely animated and enthusiastic crowds out here in Argentina were Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings, the Slovenian taking his second MXGP victory of the season while Herlings romped to his 51st career MX2 win.
MXGP Report
The track in Villa la Angostura is perhaps one of the best looking tracks on the calendar. While its width and beautifully sculpted jumps are loved by the riders, it shapes up to be very tricky as the hard base blanketed by a layer of loam is hard to read and has a habit of kicking riders when they least expect it.
Despite the technical, physical and mental demand of the circuit it was the nineteen-year-old rookie Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser who excelled for his second grand prix overall of the year.
Tim Gajser
“I had a really good weekend”, the Slovenian said, “I won my first ever qualifying race yesterday and I took a FOX holeshot and won today. Next we go to Mexico and I have good memories there, I won my first ever MX2 race there and I really like the track so I look forward to going there.”
It’s been a long time coming for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli who finally filled the big boots he walks in with his first podium finish since May last year.
Antonio Cairoli
“I’m not yet at my best, but I have to make the best of it, I am happy with my riding although I have to ride different to what I am used to because I feel not strong enough in some places. But it’s ok and it gets better and better.”
Second overall here in Argentina saw TC222 jump from fifth in the championship standings up to third.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl is slowly but surely moving in the right direction. The small statured German was looking good today. He took his first race win of the season in the first moto but after a last ditch effort to catch Cairoli for second in the final race, he decided it was too risky and backed off.
Max Nagl
“Overall, it was a very good weekend for me. I had a really good first heat. I got a great start and managed to pass Tony pretty soon after the first few corners. I was feeling good so I tried to remain focused on my own race and it paid off. I built a gap of about seven seconds, which allowed me to race to the win. Everything was fine and my riding was really good. Then in the second heat I got a better start but was a bit late on the brakes for the first corner. I went a bit wide ending up sixth after the first corners. I made a few passes but was struggling a little with my lines and this allowed Febvre and Van Horebeek to pass me again. A podium is always good but I’m a bit disappointed, as I could have won the GP. I feel good heading to Mexico. It’s another one of my favourite tracks there so another podium would be great.”
The red plate holder, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Romain Febvre broke his 16 round podium streak and almost relinquished the red plate here in Argentina after binning it a number of times in both races. Thanks to his ‘never say die’ fighting spirit the Frenchman put in yet another epic last lap surge in the final moto to pass both Nagl & Van Horebeek for third in that race which combined with his sixth in race one, was enough for fourth overall.
Febvre lost a bunch of points to Gajser today but nevertheless he will head into the MXGP of Leon in Mexico next weekend with a three-point lead over the rookie. Meanwhile his Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek put in two solid top five finishes to round out the top five.
Christophe Charlier
“We made another step in the right direction today. Physically I was feeling a bit closer to where I want to be and the pain from my injuries was almost non existent. For me this GP was even tougher than the previous one in The Netherlands. The most important thing is that I now start enjoying myself again on the bike and I know this will slowly pay off in terms of results. My goal is to keep building on my physical conditioning so that I can be able to keep pushing until the end of each moto. But everything keeps getting better as the season goes on. I’m feeling super positive going to Mexico now. The track there is hard-packed and that suits my riding style a lot more.”
Clement Desalle
“I had some good lap times in the practice session, but in the qualifying race Bobryshev crashed just in front of me and I couldn’t avoid him; I had to come back from last to ninth. Today I had a good start in the first race and was in the top five, but after fifteen minutes I could feel the effect of not being able to ride my bike so much since my accident and I had to slow down. I finished seventh; for sure I’d like better results but I don’t want to take stupid risks as I’m still recovering. The second race was similar with a good rhythm in the first laps, but then I lost some positions. I know that soon I will be able to train normally; for sure it’s always difficult to wait as I want to win races and score podiums.”
Tommy Searle
“This weekend was disappointing for me, I felt good when I came here as I like the track and the area but I just don’t seem to be able to get a start at the moment. My lap times are as good as the leaderboard men, even in traffic, but I am using all my energy to catch up to them at the moment. I crashed on my own in the second race. It was a stupid mistake and I hit my nose. I tried to carry on but I was a little dizzy and making more mistakes; I had blood in my goggles and couldn’t see with the sun so it was better to stop. I will be OK for next weekend in Mexico.”
Kevin Strijbos
“We made some changes to the set-up for today but they didn’t really work. The track was really sketchy and with that hard base it was easy to make mistakes…and I think a lot of people did make them! We tried to keep positive and gave our best out there. It is a bit frustrating for me and the team at the moment but we’ll go to Mexico now and then have some more tests when we get back home. I really want to thank the team because there is a lot of hard work going on behind-the-scenes and it is not paying-off at the moment; but I’m sure it soon will.”
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), 34:29.721; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:05.185; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:07.776; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:11.472; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:12.973; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:24.641; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:34.253; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:40.168; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:46.162; 10. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:52.900
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:47.423; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:03.936; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:07.794; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:11.910; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:19.640; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:40.886; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:47.977; 8. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:51.197; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:53.609; 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:54.351
MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 45 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 41 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 35 p.; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 34 p.; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 27 p.; 7. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 27 p.; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 25 p.; 9. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 24 p.; 10. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 24 p.
MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 172 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 169 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 144 p.; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 138 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 134 p.; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 125 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 105 p.; 8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 103 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 82 p.; 10. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 74 p.
MXGP Manufacturer: 1. Yamaha, 173 points; 2. Honda, 171 p.; 3. KTM, 151 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 136 p.; 5. Suzuki, 115 p.; 6. Kawasaki, 87 p.
MX2
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings seems to have returned to his old self. He’s oozing confidence and appears to enjoy every lap he is racing at the moment with big whips and scrubs, to the point the fans almost toppled the fences over in excitement. At the last round in Valkenswaard, The Bullet reached a milestone with his 50th grand prix victory, and today in Villa la Angostura he hit yet another with his 100th race win! In addition to remaining unbeaten, Herlings won in Argentina for the first time in his career.
Team Suzuki World MX2’s Jeremy Seewer had his work cut out for him today as he spent both races bashing bars with the competition. It wasn’t easy, he may have left a few yellow plastic scuffs on some riders, but eventually he got it together for second overall, “I feel amazing I have been on the podium three times in a row now, I will try to keep on going like this.”
Just like he did in Thailand, Wilvo Standing Construct Yamaha’s Aleksandr Tonkov had that right grip twisted today where he landed on the podium for the second time this year. After such a good day in the office, Tonkov has moved up to third in the championship after Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass DNF’d the first race after high-siding big-time on turn two where he split his chin open. Unfortunately for Jonass, he dropped from second to fourth.
TM Racing Factory Team’s Samuele Bernardini’s cat-like reactions got him off to two epic starts this weekend. Since Bernardini made his debut in MX2 halfway through last year he has proven he knows how to get off the gate, although his lack of experience racing up front in the worlds premier series always seemed to get the better of him. The Italian is now onto his second season in MX2 and with two fantastic starts today he delivered the goods for fourth overall, his best ever finish by far.
Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Petar Petrov looked at home on the circuit here in Patagonia as he served up pancakes all afternoon on the huge jumps. Petrov is a big lad and struggles on the start. Despite always having to come from behind, the Bulgarian put in a solid performance for fifth overall which was his first top five of the season.
Petar Petrov
“I battled all weekend long, but finally I got my best result of the year with a fifth overall in the GP and fifth position in the championship ! On Saturday I didn’t feel comfortable on the track but we worked on the settings and found solutions; this track was really fast and I’m never as comfortable when it’s not so technical. But I had to deal with it, so there are a lot of positive points to take out of the weekend. I know that I have to work on the starts and the first ten minutes; we need to fix that for the next GPs. In both motos I passed several riders in the second half of the races; it’s frustrating as with better starts I could have been on the podium. But it’s a long season, it’s important to be consistent and apart from one DNF we have been consistent so far.”
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:29.494; 2. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:34.840; 3. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:36.815; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:49.465; 5. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:56.817; 6. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +1:07.056; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), +1:09.327; 8. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +1:13.359; 9. Jorge Zaragoza (ESP, Honda), +1:22.090; 10. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +1:23.679
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:54.991; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:30.746; 3. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Yamaha), +0:33.248; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:41.457; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:43.160; 6. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:51.648; 7. Roberts Justs (LAT, KTM), +0:57.064; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +0:58.093; 9. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Kawasaki), +1:03.564; 10. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +1:11.648
MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 40 p.; 3. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 40 p.; 4. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 31 p.; 5. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 28 p.; 6. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 25 p.; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 24 p.; 8. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 22 p.; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 22 p.
MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 200 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 152 p.; 3. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 131 p.; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 130 p.; 5. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 104 p.; 6. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 99 p.; 7. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 91 p.; 8. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, KAW), 84 p.; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 78 p.; 10. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 70 p.
MX2 Manufacturer: 1. KTM, 200 points; 2. Suzuki, 152 p.; 3. Yamaha, 148 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 131 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 107 p.; 6. TM, 91 p.; 7. Honda, 78 p.
