First chance for Cairoli to win his seventh World Title in BastogneThe Belgian venue, which is located in the  Walloon region, will host for second year in a row the Belgian Grand
Prix and this time it will be the scenario of a real Motocross Battle of
the Ardennes where home rider Clement Desalle will race to stop Antonio
Cairoli to win what it would be his seventh FIM Motocross World Title. In another story for Youthstream, Geoff Meyer wrote: "Cairoli some very impressive statistics standing in his corner. The Italian legend will be going for his 10th Grand Prix victory of the season, equalling his 2012 tally of GP wins, and one off his best season ever, when he scored 11 GP wins in 2007. Cairoli will also be going for his 64th GP win of his career, but the most important statistic will be his seventh FIM World Motocross Championship. It should be pointed out that Cairoli has won the last three Grand Prix’s of Belgium with 1-1 results on each occasion. He loves the country and despite being Italian and having a Dutch girlfriend, he lives in Lommel, Belgium, so Belgium is like a second home for the multiple World Champion." Although Jeffrey Herlings was already crowned 2013 FIM MX2 World Champion in Loket, Czech Republic, a couple weeks ago, he will race fully motivated to add one more Grand Prix on his belt. During the same weekend the EMX125 European Championship will celebrate the seventh round of the series, whereas the Honda EMX150 riders will race the second round of the championship.  MX1 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli was out of the podium in the Czech Republic and he actually obtained the worst result of the season by finishing fifth overall. The Italian lost many points in Loket, but he is travelling to Bastogne with a comfortable 90-points advantage over Clement Desalle. This weekend Cairoli has the opportunity to obtain his seventh FIM Motocross World Title – his fifth one in MX1 – if he scores at least ten points more than Desalle over both races. Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Clement Desalle will race on home turf this weekend after having won the Czech Grand Prix in Loket two weeks ago. The Belgian rider has been very consistent in the previous Grand Prix and he will give it all this weekend to win in front of his home crowd and stop the Italian to win the Title in Belgium. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Ken De Dycker will be also racing home this weekend and he is determined to do well and forget the fourth overall position he obtained in Loket. Last year De Dycker was only able to finish sixth overall in Bastogne, but this time he is confident he can do well and keep the third position in the MX1 point standings. Kawasaki Racing Team’s Gautier Paulin will be back racing this weekend after having missed the last two Grand Prix due to the big crash he suffered in the first moto of the German Grand Prix at Lausitzring. The French rider has been recovering from a concussion and he feels now ready to race again and try to defend or even improve his current fourth position in the point standings of the championship. Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Kevin Strijbos has been doing an excellent second half of the season and he is now fifth in the championship 28 points behind Paulin. The Belgian is aware how difficult will be for him to move up one position in the standings, so his main goal is riding consistent races from now until the end of the season and try to be on the podium at every Grand Prix. Both Tommy Searle and Jeremy Van Horebeek had a difficult Grand Prix in Loket, but this weekend they will be fighting once again for what it would be their maiden MX1 podium. Searle won the MX2 Grand Prix last year in Bastogne while Van Horebeek finished on the third step of the podium, but the Belgian is travelling to Bastogne after having finished second in the final heat of the Czech Grand Prix and knowing that he will count with the support of loads of Belgian fans who will travel to Bastogne for the weekend. Whereas Searle and Van Horebeek are currently sixth and seventh in the point standings, Max Nagl keeps on holding the eighth position, but the German will also miss the Belgian Grand Prix because he is still recovering from the Epstein-Barr virus. However, his teammate Evgeny Bobryshev will defend the Honda World Motocross colours this weekend fully motivated to finish on the podium once again and improve his tenth position in the championship – the Russian is seven points behind David Philippaerts. The ICE1Racing team is already set up in the paddock of Bastogne but with a renovated structure; Sebastién Pourcel and Ludde Söderberg will replace Rui Gonçalves and Xavier Boog, who are still recovering from their injuries. 2012 MX1 Podium 1. Antonio Cairoli 2. Clement Desalle 3. Christophe Pourcel MX2 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings will race this weekend having already obtained the 2013 FIM MX2 World Title, but the Dutch rider keeps on being fully motivated as his next goal is finishing the season having won every single Grand Prix. Herlings missed the overall victory last year in Bastogne but he finished tight in points with Searle, so once again it can be an MX2 Grand Prix dominated by the Dutch young rider. His teammate Jordi Tixier will give it all to follow Herlings’ rhythm, especially at the main races on Sunday, in order to keep on improving his speed and get ready for the Motocross of Nations and the upcoming season. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing is currently second in the MX2 point standings and he has a strong advantage over José Butrón, who is 79 points behind Tixier. KTM Silver Action’s José Butrón had a bittersweet weekend in the Czech Republic because he managed to finish third in the second race, but he was forced to retire from the first heat after crashing a couple of times. The Spanish rider is still third in the Championship, but Charlier is now thirty-one points behind him. Monster Energy Yamaha’s Christophe Charlier has not obtained very consistent results during the 2013 season, but now that the Championship is getting towards the end, he realized that he still has the opportunity to finish third in the point standings and he is fighting more than ever to finish among the top three positions at every race. In Loket he ended second overall and he admitted that he would give it all to do it again in Bastogne, Matterley Basin and Lierop. Standing Construct KTM’s Glenn Coldenhoff finished sixth in the first heat in Loket, but he had to retire from the second race and he did not score any points. The Dutch rider is still holding the fifth position in the Championship, but he knows that he could have been fighting with Butrón and Charlier for the third place. This weekend Coldenhoff will start from scratch once again and he will do his best to finish on the podium, as he did in Lausitzring, Germany. Dean Ferris did not have a good weekend in Loket, so he is determined to do well in Bastogne and be racing again for a podium finish. The Australian is currently sixth in the standings, followed by Jake Nicholls and Alessandro Lupino. Max Anstie, who is now recovered from the deep wound he suffered in the first heat of the Czech Grand Prix, is ninth in the Championship and Petar Petrov is completing the top ten. Alexandr Tonkov, who has recently signed with Jacky Martens to race with the new Husqvarna next year, finished on the podium in the Czech Republic and he is determined to do it again this weekend in Bastogne and improve his 13th position in the Championship. 2012 MX2 Podium 1. Tommy Searle 2. Jeffrey Herlings 3. Jeremy Van Horebeek |