Cairoli and Herlings unbeaten in Holland The sun came up today in Valkenswaard to host the main races of the Grand Prix of the Netherlands, which made the track being more demanding for the MXGP riders. The great crowd of 27,000 present at Valkenswaard enjoyed fantastic racing in both MX1 and MX2 classes and they saw Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings adding one more Grand Prix victory in his records. This weekend it was the first time that the SkyBox was used in the FIM Motocross World Championship and it was a big success, as watching the start from the second floor was a unique experience for the fans and the presentation of the MXGP riders before the start provided another impressive element of the show. The second race of the first round of the FIM WMX (Women) World Championship took place today and Natalie Kane, Megan Rutledge and Chiara Fontanesi starred in an intense battle from the beginning until the end of the heat. In the end it was Fontanesi who took the win, as well as the overall victory ahead of Rutledge and Kane. Valkenswaard also hosted today the two main races of the first round of the FIM MX3 World Championship, where Gert Krestinov obtained the overall win with a 2-1 result. Second overall was Mike Kras and Filip Neugebauer completed the top three. The next MXGP will take place in the Italian track of Arco di Trento during the 14th April weekend. During the Grand Prix of the Netherlands it was made official that the MXGP of Europe, scheduled for the 8th September weekend, will take place in Lierop. Mr Daniele Rizzi, CEO Youthstream Organisation, and Lierop’s representative Mr Tyny van Erp have announced a three-year agreement starting from September 2013.  From left to right: Herlings, Van Erp and Rizzi MX1 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli was really happy for being once again on the podium even if he could not win both heats. In the first race the Italian managed to take the lead from Bobryshev already in the opening lap, but by the middle of the heat he was surprised by his teammate Ken De Dycker who led a couple of laps until the made a mistake. The Italian recuperated the lead and crossed the finish line with almost three seconds difference with the second classified. In the second race Cairoli admitted that had some pain in his arms in the beginning of the heat which made him make many mistakes, so he decided to slow down in order to stay in two wheels. After a few laps the Italian got back the good rhythm, but De Dycker had already opened a big gap, so he finished second and won the MXGP of the Netherlands for the fourth time in a row. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Ken De Dycker ended on the second step of the podium after finishing second and first in today’s races, but he might have won the Grand Prix if he hadn’t crash in the first heat when he was leading it. The Belgian admitted that he was very satisfied with his riding and with his second overall position, as it had been a long time since he was on the podium and racing at the front. De Dycker moved from fourth to third in the MX1 point standings. Honda World Motocross’ Evgeny Bobryshev succeeded in being on the third step of the podium this weekend after finishing second and fourth in today’s races. The Russian took the holeshot in both heats and he won the Get Athena Award, which is given to the rider that takes the holeshot in the first heat. Bobryshev admitted that he was really happy with his riding this weekend, even if he had a small crash in the end of the second heat. The fourth overall position went for Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Kevin Strijbos. The Belgian rider had quite a good start and he rode sixth during the first six laps, but Paulin overtook him and Strijbos was not able to passed him back and crossed the finish line seventh. However, the Belgian had an excellent start in the second heat and he rode second until Cairoli made the pass on him by the middle of the heat. Strijbos was very satisfied with his third position in the second heat, as well as with the overall fourth position in the Grand Prix. Honda World Motocross’ Max Nagl was touched by bad luck yesterday in the qualifying heat, but he did two excellent races today and he finished fifth overall. The German ended sixth in both motos and he recuperated the confidence he was missing after being so unfortunate in the previous two grand prix. Gautier Paulin had a good start in the first race and he finished fifth, but in the second moto his start was not that good and he struggled to get a good rhythm to overtake the riders that were riding in front of him. In the end Paulin finished seventh and obtained the overall sixth position. Clement Desalle did not find himself comfortable on his bike today and he ended only seventh overall, followed by Tanel Leok and Tommy Searle. Rui Gonçalves completed the top ten. David Philippaerts had a really good start in the second moto, but a mechanical problem pushed him to pull out from the race. The Italian ended thirteenth in the Grand Prix. Jeremy Van Horebeek finished eleventh in the first heat, but he stopped in the pitlane in the second moto as he noticed that there was a problem with his bike and he did not want to take any risks. Monster Energy Yamaha’s Steven Frossard did not take part in the races today, as he had to get an operation done on one of his toe this morning, as yesterday he broke the toe that he had fractured last week while training. MX1 Race 1 top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 39:45.837; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:02.473; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:09.193; 4. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), +0:26.611; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:30.675; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), +0:35.943; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:49.340; 8. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +1:13.591; 9. David Philippaerts (ITA, Honda), +1:16.523; 10. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:16.668; MX1 Race 2 top ten: 1. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 39:22.098; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:01.521; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:14.800; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:37.145; 5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:44.981; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), +0:52.555; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:00.383; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +1:02.518; 9. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:02.629; 10. Joel Roelants (BEL, Yamaha), +1:06.622; MX1 Overall top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 47 points; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 40 p.; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 34 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), 30 p.; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 30 p.; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 29 p.; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), 28 p.; 9. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 23 p.; 10. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 21 p.; MX1 Championship top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 142 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 116 p.; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 115 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 108 p.; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 89 p.; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 87 p.; 7. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 87 p.; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 73 p.; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), 61 p.; 10. Joel Roelants (BEL, Yamaha), 58 p.; MX1 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 147 points; 2. Suzuki, 121 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 108 p.; 4. Honda, 99 p.; 5. Yamaha, 66 p.; 6. TM, 35 p.; 
Tony Cairoli Clement Desalle  MX1 Podium MX2 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings has broken one more record this weekend obtaining another overall victory winning both motos, so the Dutch rider has won all the races celebrated in Valkenswaard since 2010. However, the home rider admitted that today’s victory has been the most difficult one because he had to start from gate 40 as he was disqualified from yesterday’s qualifying race. Herlings had an excellent start in race one, he was already eighth after the first corners and by the middle of the race he was leading. The second race was more complicated for Herlings, as his start was not that good, but he succeeded in overtaking several riders in each lap until he got to the second place. At this point, his teammate Tixier was already 21 seconds ahead of him, but the French rider was getting a bit tired and Herlings passed him and won the race. The second overall position was for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jordi Tixier who rode really well this weekend in both races. The French rider took the holeshot in both heats and led the race comfortably until his teammate Herlings passed him. Tixier and the whole Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team were very satisfied with such result, as they had all been working really hard to obtain a podium finish. During the press conference Herlings also congratulated Tixier for his podium finish and for having ridden so well in both races. The Dutch Grand Prix will be always remembered by Wilvo Nestaan JM Racing KTM’s Jake Nicholls, who obtained his maiden MXGP podium after finishing fourth and third in today’s races. The British rider admitted that he had almost lost all the confidence he had in himself after obtaining so bad results in the first two Grand Prix of the season, so this weekend’s result will help him to keep the motivation up and try to finish on the podium more often during the year. Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Max Anstie had a great start in the first heat and he crossed the finish line third ahead of Nicholls and Coldenhoff. However, in the second race he started down in the eighth position and it was very difficult for the British riders to move up some positions. In the end, Anstie finished sixth and obtained the overall fourth position of the Dutch Grand Prix. Wilvo Nestaan JM Racing KTM’s Glenn Coldenhoff started really good the weekend winning the qualifying race, but the home rider was only able to finish fifth overall of the Grand Prix. Coldenhoff had a good start in both motos; in the first one he started fourth and in the second he rode second during the first laps, but Coldenhoff could not keep the rhythm of the front group and he crossed the finish line fifth and fourth. All in all, the young Dutch rider is very satisfied with his performance today. Aleksander Tonkov had one of the best weekends since he is in the MX2 class, as he managed to finish sixth overall ahead of Mel Pocock and Priit Ratsep. Pascal Rauchenecker was ninth and Romain Febvre completed the top ten. Dean Ferris decided not to take part in the Grand Prix as he is still suffering a lot of pain from the injuries he got some weeks ago. The Australian rider will be back on his Monster Energy Yamaha in the following Grand Prix, which will take place in Italy in two weeks time. MX2 Race 1 top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 39:49.179; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:11.056; 3. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), +0:21.337; 4. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:22.824; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:24.088; 6. Julien Lieber (BEL, Suzuki), +0:58.146; 7. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +1:01.127; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +1:09.946; 9. Priit Ratsep (EST, KTM), +1:11.786; 10. Mel Pocock (GBR, Yamaha), +1:15.897; MX2 Race 2 top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 39:47.473; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:07.845; 3. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:12.739; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:21.467; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), +0:45.622; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), +1:08.635; 7. Elliott Banks-Browne (GBR, KTM), +1:12.868; 8. Alexander Tonkov (RUS, Honda), +1:15.878; 9. Mel Pocock (GBR, Yamaha), +1:19.983; 10. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, KTM), +1:25.293; MX2 Overall top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 35 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 34 p.; 6. Alexander Tonkov (RUS, Honda), 23 p.; 7. Mel Pocock (GBR, Yamaha), 23 p.; 8. Priit Ratsep (EST, KTM), 22 p.; 9. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, KTM), 19 p.; 10. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), 16 p.; MX2 Championship top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 150 points; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 101 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), 98 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 97 p.; 5. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 74 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 72 p.; 7. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 71 p.; 8. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 69 p.; 9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 64 p.; 10. Julien Lieber (BEL, Suzuki), 62 p.; MX2 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 150 points; 2. Yamaha, 103 p.; 3. Suzuki, 94 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 63 p.; 5. Honda, 52 p.; 6. TM, 3 p.;  Coldenhoff Tixier  MX2 Podium |