The fourth round of 17 in the FIM Motocross World Championship took the riders to the spectacular and scenic track of Arco di Trento, located north of Lake Garda in the Italian Alps.

And that’s where Italy’s Antonio Cairoli and Dutchman Jeffrey Herlings added yet more valuable points to their world championship campaigns as they respectively dominated the MX1 and MX2 categories.

Cairoli shot off to a fantastic start in the first of two MX1 races, leading the race from start to finish.

Meanwhile, behind him, was a fight to the finish between French rider Gautier Paulin and Belgian Clement Desalle. In the end, Paulin managed to hold on to the second place, forcing Desalle to settle for third.

MX1 race two saw Cairoli take yet another holeshot, avoiding all the carnage that went on behind him, drama which claimed Desalle and Italian former MX1 world champion David Philippaerts, who went down in turn two. Belgium’s Ken De Dycker sat comfortably in second throughout the race, constructing a 20-second gap on the third place rider, Max Nagl, of Germany.

The first MX2 race saw Jordi Tixier take the holeshot and lead comfortably the first half of the race, with Christophe Charlier following in second and Jose Butron in third.

None of the three riders could settle as they were soon to be under attack by the current MX2 world champion Herlings who charged through the pack to take the lead from Tixier late in the race.

Tixier kept up his strong pace following his team-mate Herlings home to finish second with Christophe Charlier settling in third.

In the second MX2 race, it was Butron who had yet another great start taking the holeshot followed by Australian Dean Ferris and Britain’s Jake Nicholls. On lap three the trio was challenged by Herlings who proved to be just too strong this weekend making the pass and pulling out a 25-second lead. After a fall in the first turn in race one, Ferris was fired up in race two, pressuring Butron from start to finish, but in the end Butron remained strong bringing home the second place position forcing Ferris to settle for third.

The overall victory at the fourth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in the MX1 went to Cairoli who took maximum points, leaving De Dycker to finish up in second and Paulin to round out the top three. Meanwhile in the MX2 it was a similar story with Herlings taking maximum points with Tixier second and Butron third.

Round one of the 2013 FIM European Motocross 125 Championship also took place at the weekend. Latvian Pauls Jonass won both races to take the overall followed by Anton Lundgren and Calvin Vlaanderen.

Leading results:

MX1 Race 1 top ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 40:31.783; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:03.045; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:04.537; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:41.728; 5. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:46.724; 6. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:50.663; 7. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:56.209; 8. Xavier Boog (FRA, KTM), +0:57.255; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, TM), +1:00.618; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +1:22.412.

MX1 Race 2 top ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 41:03.682; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:06.931; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), +0:11.561; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:17.281; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:18.686; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:31.259; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, KTM), +0:32.388; 8. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:33.570; 9. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, KTM), +0:41.915; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:45.159.

MX1 Overall top ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 50 points; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 40 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 33 p.; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 31 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 31 p.; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), 30 p.; 8. Xavier Boog (FRA, KTM), 27 p.; 9. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 25 p.; 10. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, KTM), 20 p.

MX1 Championship top ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 192 points; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 155 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 149 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 148 p.; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 120 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 118 p.; 7. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 89 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 87 p.; 9. Xavier Boog (FRA, KTM), 83 p.; 10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), 75 p.

MX2 Race 1 top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 41:00.398; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:04.125; 3. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +0:06.682; 4. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:21.103; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:40.822; 6. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:47.318; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), +0:55.638; 8. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:58.686; 9. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +1:02.578; 10. Mel Pocock (GBR, Yamaha), +1:04.552.

MX2 Race 2 top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 40:36.884; 2. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:31.262; 3. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), +0:37.339; 4. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:43.477; 5. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +0:47.672; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:51.542; 7. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), +0:52.025; 8. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:22.992; 9. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), +1:29.288; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +1:36.186.

MX2 Overall top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 37 p.; 4. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 36 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), 26 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 26 p.; 8. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 20 p.; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), 20 p.; 10. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), 19 p.

MX2 Championship top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 200 points; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 141 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 128 p.; 4. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 111 p.; 5. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 107 p.; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), 98 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 98 p.; 8. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 89 p.; 9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 82 p.; 10. Mel Pocock (GBR, Yamaha), 77 p.