Desalle & Herlings Shine in France
FIM MX World Champs 2014
Click here for all race highlights.
Round nine of the FIM Motocross World Championship allowed the crowd to fully appreciate the blistering fast speeds the riders of MXGP carry as they held the throttles on their four stroke machines wide open up and down hard clay based hills of Saint Jean d’Angely. Ray Archer image
With the hard pack base demanding throttle control, and the hills demanding traction, horsepower and perfected aerodynamics, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Clement Desalle and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings shone.
A racer should always push until the checkered flag and today Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Clement Desalle proved exactly why. After putting himself in a good position in both races, second place behind Cairoli, Desalle wound up the beneficiary of the champ’s errors in not one, but two races allowing him to take two race wins for his second perfect score of the year.
The final two laps of MXGP’s race two put Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Van Horebeek to the ultimate test as he pulled out all the stops to keep the seven-time world champion Antonio Cairoli at bay. Digging deep paid off for the Belgian as he defeated Cairoli by a hair for second overall and his eighth podium out of a possible nine this season.
Today can confirm that Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s super talented world champion Antonio Cairoli is in human after all, as the Italian was forced back to third after a costly error with two laps to go in both races. While it’s not often the MXGP red plate holder makes errors of this caliber, it happened and cost him a couple of spots on the podium. “Overall this weekend was going good, it is difficult to be focused over the last couple of weeks with everything that has happened and especially on a track like we had today. In the first race it was for sure my mistake, but in the second race it was a little bit because of a lapped rider, I panicked a little bit and braked too hard on the front so I slipped away on this slick surface, but overall it’s ok. I have no injury, so I am going away looking forward for the next GP.”
Local hero Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Steven Frossard kept his French fans on their toes today when a mistake in race one forced him to impressively fight forward from well outside of the top twenty to eventually cross the line in sixth. Meanwhile in race two, the Frenchman started up front and pressured Van Horebeek for third for a good part of the race but unfortunately couldn’t find a place on the hard and tricky St Jean d’Angely circuit to find some extra speed meaning he would have to settle for fourth and fourth overall.
Rounding out the top five Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev rode two solid races to take home a trio of fifths. Fifth place in both motos gave the Russian fifth overall.
Yet another flawless meeting is in the bag for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings despite his biggest threat in the championship Arnaud Tonus starting near the front in both races. While Tonus ran a good pace today, it was evident that the speed and skill of Herlings is just on another level with the Dutch teenager to run away with another fifty points.
Take nothing away from CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Arnaud Tonus; the Swiss sensation definitely threw everything he could at the Flying Dutchman in race two. Although he showed a fair amount of promise early on in the race, ‘The Bullet’ proved once again to be just too good. “I am happy, I think I improved over the weekend, we worked a little bit on the bike and it got better and better and then in the second moto I was a little bit closer to Jeffrey, I try my best every weekend and I try to get closer and closer and I hope to beat him one time.”
The battle of French pride between Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Romain Febvre and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jordi Tixier stole the attention of the boisterous crowd throughout both motos. With both French youngsters brawling for the final spot on the podium, in the end it was Tixier who prevailed forcing Febvre to settle for fourth. Tixier proudly said, “It’s always really good to be on the podium in France in front of all of the public, my French fans, all of my family. It was a nice weekend for me.”
All Standing Construct KTM’s Valentin Guillod wants to do is uncork a bottle of champagne. Just when the Swiss looked right on track for his first ever MX2 Grand Prix podium, something went wrong. An incredible ride in race one landed the 2013 EMX250 Champion in third behind fellow Swiss Tonus, but all hope for a podium finish was soon thrown out the window when a crash over a double jump early in race two spoiled what could have been. The Swiss finished fifth.
Meanwhile the third of the young French MX2 stars CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Dylan Ferrandis had more or less an “off” weekend only managing to secure two sixths for sixth.
MX2 Race 1 top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:07.083; 2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:19.178; 3. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), +0:20.249; 4. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:30.491; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:41.655; 6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:56.313; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Yamaha), +1:01.818; 8. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +1:09.508; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +1:13.405; 10. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +1:15.163.
MX2 Race 2 top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:38.863; 2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:08.844; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:42.104; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:48.795; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:55.255; 6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:24.411; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +1:25.905; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +1:26.927; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), +1:27.220; 10. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +1:41.044
MX2 Overall top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, KAW), 44 p.; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, HUS), 34 p.; 5. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 30 p.; 7. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 26 p.; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 26 p.; 9. Petar Petrov (BUL, YAM), 24 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, YAM), 22 p.
MX2 World Championship Classification Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 394 points; 2. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, KAW), 349 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, HUS), 297 p.; 4. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 291 p.; 5. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 278 p.; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 235 p.; 7. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 216 p.; 8. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), 205 p.; 9. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 199 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 176 p.
MX2 Manufacturer: 1. KTM, 424 points; 2. Kawasaki, 375 p.; 3. Husqvarna, 303 p.; 4. Suzuki, 275 p.; 5. Honda, 245 p.; 6. Yamaha, 242 p.; 7. TM, 6 p.
MXGP Race 1 top ten: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 33:48.880; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:00.602; 3. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:34.663; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:37.158; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:41.290; 6. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:45.568; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Honda), +1:01.240; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +1:06.237; 9. Dennis Ullrich (GER, KTM), +1:08.293; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), +1:15.518.
MXGP Race 2 top ten: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 33:47.790; 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:01.575; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:01.774; 4. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:06.786; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:42.302; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:53.826; 7. Rui Goncalves (POR, Yamaha), +0:55.634; 8. Matiss Karro (LAT, KTM), +1:09.383; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), +1:13.164; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +1:13.964.
MXGP Overall top ten: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 50 points; 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 42 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 42 p.; 4. Steven Frossard (FRA, KAW), 33 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 32 p.; 6. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 26 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 24 p.; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, YAM), 23 p.; 9. Matiss Karro (LAT, KTM), 23 p.; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), 23 p.
MXGP World Championship Classification Top Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 393 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 373 p.; 3. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 358 p.; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 276 p.; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, KAW), 205 p.; 6. Steven Frossard (FRA, KAW), 197 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 183 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 168 p.; 9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HON), 166 p.; 10. Xavier Boog (FRA, HON), 159 p.
MXGP Manufacturer: 1. KTM, 393 points; 2. Suzuki, 383 p.; 3. Yamaha, 358 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 340 p.; 5. Honda, 282 p.; 6. Husqvarna, 200 p.; 7. TM, 167 p.
Click here to obtain the complete results.
All the photos of the MXGP of France will be available here
MXGP FRANCE – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1580
Type of ground: Hard Pack
Temperature: 23°
Weather conditions: sunny with variable clouds
Crowd Attendance: 32.000
NEXT MXGP
The next round of MXGP will take place in two weeks time in Maggiora, Italy on the weekend of 15 June.