PAULIN TAKES MX1 WIN | Bikesportnz

Italy’s Antonio Cairoli was beaten to the top step of the podium in Bulgaria over the weekend but he remains solidly on top of the MX1 motocross world standings.

The fifth round of 17 in the Motocross World Championships in Sevlievo, Bulgaria, saw Frenchman Gautier Paulin (pictured here) and Dutchman Jeffery Herlings celebrate the overall victories in MX1 and MX2 respectively.

Cairoli finished runner-up to Paulin in the MX1 category, with Belgium’s Clement Desalle third, while Jordi Tixier and Alessandro Lupino completed the MX2 podium.

MX1 CLASS

Kawasaki’s Paulin obtained the first overall victory of the season and he wins in Sevlievo for the second year in a row.

The French rider dominated the qualifying race yesterday and the first race today, but in the second moto he crossed the finish line second behind Cairoli. Paulin explained that he could not pass the Italian, but he was very for having been able to race behind Cairoli during all the heat.

Paulin is now determined to keep on working hard in order to try to stop the Italian and keep on fighting for the championship now that he is up to the second position in the point standings.

KTM rider Cairoli did not have a good qualifying race on Saturday, but on race day he succeeded in finishing second overall with a 4-1 result. In the first race the Italian had a good start, but in the first corner Germany’s Max Nagl pushed him to the outside and he was down to the seventh position.

The red plate holder rode the first half of the heat behind Nagl, but once he overtook him he gave chase to Searle who was riding fourth. In the end Cairoli overtook the British rider and ended the heat in fourth. The Italian had another great start in the second race, but this time he managed to be second in the first corner behind Paulin and he quickly made the pass over the French rider and led the race until the chequered flag.

Suzuki’s Desalle was back on the podium this weekend after finishing third in both races. After two great starts Desalle had to battle with his team-mate Kevin Strijbos to finish on the podium; while in the first race Desalle could not overtake Strijbos, in the second one Desalle finished in front of his teammate. Desalle admitted that in the first race he made several mistakes which made him lose some ground with Strijbos and after exchanging the second position several times, Desalle could only finish third.

Strijbos missed the podium this weekend being tight in 40 points with his team-mate Desalle, but he was very satisfied for having finished third in the first race. However, Strijbos was a little disappointed with his fourth position in the second race because a problem in his goggles stopped him to fight for the third position, every time that he was closing the gap with the Desalle, a lot of sand was getting into his eyes.

Kawasaki’s Jeremy Van Horebeek obtained the best result of the season this weekend finishing fifth overall. In the first race the Belgian rider started down in eighth and he rode behind former world champion David Philippaerts most of the heat, but in the last laps Van Horebeek closed the gap, overtook the Italian and crossed the finish line seventh. In the second race Van Horebeek had a better start and he was riding fifth comfortably until he was overtaken by Belgian Ken De Dycker and had to settle down with the sixth place.

Britain’s Tommy Searle started third in the first race, but he lost one position with Desalle after a couple of laps. The British rider gave it all to keep such position until the end, but he could not stop Cairoli to overtake him and he ended fifth.

In the second race he started seventh and when he was trying to overtake Van Horebeek he made a mistake and went down to fifteenth. In the end Searle crossed the finish line eighth and finished sixth overall of the Grand Prix.

It was not an easy weekend for De Dycker, who struggled with his starts and could only finish ninth in the first race. In the second one, he did an incredible recovery moving from eleventh to fifth, which gave him the overall seventh position. De Dycker has gone from second to fourth in the point standings, but he is only six points behind Desalle who is third at the moment.

Philippaerts obtained an overall eighth position, followed by Nagl and Italy’s Davide Guarneri.

MX2 CLASS

KTM’s Herlings was very satisfied with his victory this weekend because it is the first time in nine years that he has won at the Bulgarian track. The Dutch rider imposed once again an incredible rhythm at the front and while in the first race he crossed the finish line 25 seconds ahead of Tixier, in the second heat he finished forty seconds in front. Herlings admitted in the press conference that he is now comparing his lap times with the MX1 riders and his goal is to keep on improving his speed race after race.

KTM’s Tixier had two great starts once again and he managed to lead the first six laps of the first race, but once his team-mate Herlings overtook him there was nothing he could do to pass him back.

In the second race Tixier explained that Britain’s Jake Nicholls pushed him a little bit to the outside in the first corner and he was too wide to get the holeshot, but the French rider managed to move up to second already in the opening lap. Tixier tried to follow Herlings’ lines in the first laps, but it was impossible for him to catch him, so he decided to ride safe and try to keep a comfortable gap with Alessandro Lupino and Max Anstie who were riding behind him.

It was a great day for Lupino, who was able to finish eighth and third in the races and obtained his maiden podium in the MX2 class.

The CLS MX2 Kawasaki Monster Energy Pro Circuit rider was riding with two ribs broken from a crash he suffered in Arco di Trento, but he admitted that he could not feel the pain when he was riding third in the second race. When he crossed the finish line the Italian rider did not know that he had ended on the podium and it was only when he saw Cairoli waiting for him at the winning circle that he realized what he had just achieved.

Lupino was visibly emotional at the press conference remembering those moments and he said that he will keep on working hard to try to finish on the podium in the Grand Prix to come.

KTM’s José Butrón rode once again this weekend for a podium finish, but this time the Spanish rider ended fourth overall just one point behind Lupino. In the first race Butrón started at the front but he dropped down to third already in the opening lap.

After seven laps the Spaniard could not keep his rhythm and Valentin Teillet overtook him and Butrón could not pass him back. In the second race Butrón had another good start but after the first sixth laps the KTM rider started getting tired and he could only finish seventh.

Suzuki’s Anstie starred in an incredible recovery in the first race moving from an initial twenty-first position to a final ninth place. In the second heat Anstie could not start at the front either but he was fourth after the first six laps. However, even if he tried to overtake Lupino, he had to settle down to the fourth place which gave him the overall fifth position in the Grand Prix.

Christophe Charlier was satisfied with his second race, as he could work all the way through the fifth position after starting down in the 13th place, but he was disappointed with his starts because they stopped him to achieve his main goal which was finishing on the podium. The French rider ended sixth overall ahead of Dutch rider Glenn Coldenhoff and Australian Dean Ferris.

The ninth overall position went to Nicholls, who had really good starts in both motos but he made several mistakes in both races which made him finish sixth and fourteenth. Teillet, who had finished third in the first race, crashed in the second one and decided to retire from the race because he had hit his injured shoulder. The French rider ended 10th at the Grand Prix.

Home rider Petar Petrov rode really well this weekend and the crowd present in Sevlievo could enjoy watching their local rider finishing 11th overall of the Grand Prix.

Results from the weekend’s Bulgarian GP:

MX1 Race 1 top ten:

1. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 40:14.945; 2. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:04.689; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:06.006; 4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:30.205; 5. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:35.733; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), +0:40.606; 7. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:45.322; 8. David Philippaerts (ITA, Honda), +0:52.735; 9. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +1:05.573; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +1:14.625.

MX1 Race 2 top ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 40:00.784; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:02.888; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:07.415; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:08.501; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:40.876; 6. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:44.408; 7. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:47.683; 8. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:48.078; 9. David Philippaerts (ITA, Honda), +0:56.418; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +1:01.838.

MX1 Overall top ten:

1. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 47 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 43 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 40 p.; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 40 p.; 5. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 29 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 29 p.; 7. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 28 p.; 8. David Philippaerts (ITA, Honda), 25 p.; 9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), 25 p.; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), 22 p.

MX1 Championship top ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 235 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 195 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 189 p.; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 183 p.; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 160 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 147 p.; 7. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 109 p.; 8. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), 100 p.; 9. Xavier Boog (FRA, KTM), 90 p.; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 87 p.

MX2 Race 1 top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 39:21.965; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:25.397; 3. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:36.700; 4. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:42.217; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:44.519; 6. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:47.745; 7. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +0:55.354; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), +0:56.889; 9. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), +0:57.451; 10. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), +1:10.358.

MX2 Race 2 top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 40:29.060; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:40.387; 3. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), +0:44.302; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), +0:47.967; 5. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:02.871; 6. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), +1:10.192; 7. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +1:11.042; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +1:23.777; 9. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:24.743; 10. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, KTM), +1:36.000.

MX2 Overall top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), 33 p.; 4. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 32 p.; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 30 p.; 6. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 30 p.; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 26 p.; 9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Kawasaki), 20 p.

MX2 Championship top ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 250 points; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 185 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 157 p.; 4. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 143 p.; 5. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 137 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), 128 p.; 7. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 115 p.; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), 109 p.; 9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 104 p.; 10. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), 98 p.

Other photos courtesy Youthstream