Heavy rain could not dampen the spirits of the sell-out crowd at the Honda Grand Prix of Brazil at the weekend as Tommy Searle and Christophe Pourcel secured victories in MX2 and MX1 respectively.

There was space on the podium as well for Christophe Charlier and Jose Butron in MX2 and David Philippaerts and Kevin Strijbos in MX1.

After a disappointing MX1 qualifying race on Saturday, Kawasaki rider Pourcel arrived at the circuit with his A-game, pulled the holeshot and never looked back, to win the first MX1 race by more than a minute.

Italian Yamaha rider Philippaerts came through the quagmire to take second ahead of Gautier Paulin’s Kawasaki Racing team machine.

Ice One Racing Kawasaki’s Dean Ferris looked set for his first podium finish but fell with a handful of laps remaining, and eventually came home in eleventh.

Championship leader Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had a difficult race and could only manage eighth, but it was better than Clement Desalle, his Rockstar Energy Suzuki coming to a stop with a lap to go, whilst ahead of his championship rival.

Race two saw an ecstatic Xavier Boog (Kawasaki Racing Team) secure his first ever race win as he fended off the challenge from Desalle in the closing stages of the race, in what an exciting finale to the race despite the tough conditions.

Pourcel had led but after being passed by Boog, eventually made a mistake and dropped to fourth which was good enough for the overall victory.

Philippaerts put in another solid performance to finish sixth to claim second overall in the GP, but ride of the day came from Kevin Strijbos (HM Plant KTM UK) as he scored fifth and third places to take his first podium in more than four years, to finish third overall.

In the MX2 class, good starts were needed today in Brazil and Searle (Team Floride Monster Energy Proc Circuit Kawasaki) did just that in the first race as he led all but one of the 13 laps to take victory in what was a tough weekend in Brazil ahead of Charlier (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Jeremy Van Horebeek (Red Bull KTM). Max Anstie (Honda Gariboldi Esta) rode a solid race take fourth while Joel Roelants (Floride Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) came home in fifth. Championship leader Jeffrey Herlings (Red Bull KTM) made a mistake with three laps to go and fell from fourth to twelfth.

In race two, Searle once again made a good start but was beaten to the holeshot by Butron (DIGA Racing KTM). Searle eventually found a way through to take his second win of the afternoon. Herlings rode a steady race to bring his Red Bull KTM home in third ahead of Roelants and Charlier.

Searle won the overall Grand Prix while Charlier and Butron secured their first ever podium finishes in second and third respectively.

RESULTS FROM BRAZIL:

MX1 Race 1 top ten:

1. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 44:47.275; 2. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +1:29.145; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:43.349; 4. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +1:47.125; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, KTM), +1:49.116; 6. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +2:26.285; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +2:43.169; 8. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +2:59.506; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), -1 lap(s); 10. Matiss Karro (LAT, KTM), -1 lap(s).

MX1 Race 2 top ten:

1. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 42:09.534; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:02.155; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, KTM), +0:07.681; 4. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:32.074; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:43.134; 6. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:53.271; 7. Tanel Leok (EST, Suzuki), +1:02.910; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +1:03.333; 9. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +1:05.447; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +1:26.338.

MX1 Overall top ten:

1. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 43 points; 2. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 37 p.; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, KTM), 36 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 36 p.; 5. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 31 p.; 6. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 30 p.; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 30 p.; 8. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 25 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 23 p.; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), 23 p.

MX1 Championship top ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 203 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 179 p.; 3. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 172 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 170 p.; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 154 p.; 6. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 142 p.; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, KTM), 139 p.; 8. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 129 p.; 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 110 p.; 10. Tanel Leok (EST, Suzuki), 107 p.

 

MX2 Race 1 top ten:

1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 44:31.410; ; 2. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +0:23.896; 3. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +0:46.131; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), +2:16.278; 5. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), +2:22.232; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +2:29.302; 7. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +2:34.943; 8. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +2:47.345; 9. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +2:53.896; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Suzuki), +3:24.769.

MX2 Race 2 top ten:

1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 43:42.838; 2. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:11.095; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:36.276; 4. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:39.879; 5. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:15.554; 6. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +1:21.010; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), +1:23.875; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), +1:28.353; 9. Harri Kullas (FIN, Suzuki), +1:39.850; 10. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:53.530.

MX2 Overall top ten:

1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 50 points; 2. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 38 p.; 3. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 35 p.; 4. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 35 p.; 5. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), 34 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), 32 p.; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 25 p.; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), 23 p.; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Suzuki), 23 p.

MX2 Championship top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 223 points; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 203 p.; 3. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 189 p.; 4. Joel Roelants (BEL, Kawasaki), 152 p.; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Honda), 137 p.; 6. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 128 p.; 7. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 120 p.; 8. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), 107 p.; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), 103 p.; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Suzuki), 99 p.

Words courtesy Paul Malin, Youthstream