Febvre pulled up alongside Cairoli and made an amazing pass, the Italian tried to come back but nearly crashed, eventually finishing second.
Gajser took over the lead from holeshot artist Max Nagl in the opening moto of the MXGP class. On the opening lap it was Gajser, Febvre, Nagl, Bobryshev, Bengtsson, Cairoli, Desalle, Van Horebeek, Searle, Guillod, Leok, Lupino, Charlier, Butron, 15th. Well back were Coldenhoff in 17th place, Nicholls in 21st, Townley and Strijbos 22nd and 23rd, and Simpson back in 27th after a crash.
After one lap the lead by Gajser was nearly four seconds ahead of Febvre, who held a second over Nagl. Desalle is riding well in sixth place as he tries to keep an eye on Cairoli. Strijbos moved into 16th place, Townley 19th, Nicholls 21st and Simpson 22nd.
Gajser extended his lead to five seconds on lap two, but Febre looked determined and cut it back to three seconds a lap later. Searle is up to 8th place and riding well. Top ten after three laps is Gajser, Febvre, Nagl, Bobryshev, Cairoli, Desalle, Van Horebeek, Searle, Leok, Guillod.
Strijbos moves into 13th place, Townley 16th, Simpson 17th, and Nicholls is down in 22nd.
Febvre continues to close up on Gajser and is now just two seconds off the back wheel of the HRC rider. Nagl was six seconds back, Bobryshev 12 seconds, Cairoli 20 seconds.
The Frenchman is on it as he climbed all over Gajser, Nagl is also closing in on the two front men.
Febvre made a mistake and Gajser pulled away to an eight second lead. Nagl also made the most of the mistake and Febvre and the German rider came into a tough battle together. Top ten after eight laps was Gajser, Febvre, Nagl, Bobryshev, Cairoli, Van Horebeek, Searle, Desalle, Leok, and Strijbos. Simpson was up to 13th and Townley 14th.
After 10 laps the lead by Gajser was still around eight seconds, Nagl moved past Febvre and quickly pulled away from the Frenchman who seemed to be making a lot of small mistakes.
Van Horebeek passed Cairoli who just isn’t the same rider as in previous years. Is it his condition, or is his time just up as the best of the best?
With time running out Nagl made his charge, pulling up to just three seconds from Gajser, as Febvre dropped back even more from the top two.
Strijbos was up to 8th, Simpson 11th, Townley 14th, and Nicholls 17th.
Febvre crashed on the last lap and was struggling to get going again and drops 20 seconds on Gajser.
Gajser takes the win from Nagl, Febvre, Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Strijbos, Cairoli, Searle, Desalle, Simpson, Leok, Guillod, Coldenhoff, Townley and Dewulf in 15th place.
Cairoli took the holeshot of the second MXGP moto ahead of Tim Gajser, then Febvre, Bengtsson, Desalle, Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Coldenhoff, Searle, Simpson, Charlier, Lupino, Strijbos, Lenoir and Nagl in 15th place.
Gajser was quickly past Cairoli in the opening lap. At the end of the opening lap Febvre stalled his bike on and was passed by Van Horebeek.
Gajser then crashed and dropped back to sixth, and Febvre repassed Van Horebeek. Gajser and Desalle were in an intense battle, both looking out of shape. Simpson is flying as he moved into seventh place behind Gajser.
Townley is back in 19th place, and Nicholls 28th. Condenhoff have moved into fourth place and Febvre is right up on Cairoli. Febvre makes a mistake and goes down, making life a little easier for Cairoli.
Simpson slide over and lost a bunch of places as he struggled to get up, dropping back to 13thplace. The top ten after three laps was Cairoli, Van Horebeek, Febvre, Coldenhoff, Gajser, Nagl, Desalle, Bobryshev, Strijbos, and Searle.
Van Horebeek wasn’t letting Cairoli get away and Febvre despite being a little away from Van Horebeek was also staying rather close.
After six laps the lead by Cairoli was one second, from both Yamaha riders who had now began to battle eachother. Fourth placed Coldenhoff was four seconds back, and Gajser rounded out the top five six seconds back.
Cairoli starts to make a little gap now between himself and Van Horebeek, and on lap eight the lead was more than two seconds.
After 14 laps it’s Cairoli and Febvre were locked together in a huge battle. Febvre looked a little wild. But made a magnificent pass on the Italian, Cairoli tried to come back, but got out of shape and nearly crashed. Febvre wins the moto and the GP.
Not a good weekend for Ben Townley. After being ill during the week and unusually low in the qualifying, it was surprising to see him on the start line. He was 14th in Race 1 and pulled out of Race 2 after 5 laps.
Despite his state, the New Zealander somehow found the energy to reach fourteenth in the first moto before retiring from the second. “Just to give my best today was the plan,” he said. “The illness side had gone but the energy side from being in bed for four days was on the empty mark. The little I had in the tank I used it up today. It was a shame but I have never experienced anything like it. I couldn't feel my muscles and was just absolutely ruined; I feel like I have run two marathons.”
Mewse wins EMX250
British rider Conrad Mewse has won the opening round of the EMX250 championship. The 16-year-old dominated the opposition with 1-1 scores. EMX250 Race 2 is at 6 laps. Australian Hunter Lawrence came 2nd in race 1 and was leading in race 2 when he crashed, ending up 5th and then 4th overall. Josiah Natzke was 20th in race 2. Outside of top 20 in race 1 and in the overall.
Results:
MXGP – Race 1 – Classification
1 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS Honda 34:41.033
2 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB Husqvarna 34:46.464
3 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM Yamaha 35:14.476
4 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MUL Honda 35:28.009
5 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB Yamaha 35:32.330
6 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB Suzuki 35:33.238
7 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 35:33.411
8 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU Kawasaki 35:41.419
9 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB Kawasaki 35:51.697
10 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU KTM 35:55.802
11 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF KTM 35:59.442
12 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FMS Yamaha 36:01.100
13 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 36:07.387
14 8 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ Suzuki 37:07.344
15 212 Dewulf, Jeffrey BEL FMB KTM 34:44.717
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2
1 1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA YAM 34:55.696
2 2 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM 35:00.852
3 3 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL YAM 35:08.133
4 4 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER HUS 35:10.196
5 5 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL SUZ 35:12.949
6 6 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS HON 35:20.861
7 7 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KTM 35:23.254
8 8 243 Gajser, Tim SLO HON 35:34.883
9 9 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR KTM 35:48.946
10 10 100 Searle, Tommy GBR KAW 33:36.851 15
MXGP – Overall Classification
1 461 Febvre, Romain FRA FFM YAM 20 25 45
2 12 Nagl, Maximilian GER DMSB HUS 22 18 40
3 243 Gajser, Tim SLO AMZS HON 25 13 38
4 222 Cairoli, Antonio ITA FMI KTM 14 22 36
5 89 Van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL FMB YAM 16 20 36
6 777 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS MUL HON 18 15 33
7 22 Strijbos, Kevin BEL FMB SUZ 15 16 31
8 24 Simpson, Shaun GBR ACU KTM 11 12 23
9 259 Coldenhoff, Glenn NED KNMV KTM 8 14 22
10 7 Leok, Tanel EST EMF KTM 10 9 19
11 100 Searle, Tommy GBR ACU KAW 13 3 16
12 151 Kullas, Harri EST EMF KTM 4 10 14
13 92 Guillod, Valentin SUI FMS YAM 9 5 14
14 25 Desalle, Clement BEL FMB KAW 12 2 14
15 23 Charlier, Christophe FRA FFM HUS 0 11 11
16 37 Krestinov, Gert EST EMF HON 0 8 8
17 19 Philippaerts, David ITA FMI YAM 0 7 7
18 8 Townley, Ben NZL MNZ SUZ 7 0 7
