Yamaha Factory rider Romain Febvre has won the MXGP class as the world championships reached the halfway stage with round nine of 18 at the Grand Prix of Italy in Maggiora at the weekend.

With his 1-6 results at Maggiora on Sunday, the Frenchman added to his GP of France victory just two weeks ago. Second overall was Kevin Strijbos with 9-1 scored and third was Australian Todd Waters with 4-4 scores.

Defending MXGP champion Antonio Cairoli struggled all weekend long with his injury wrist and went 7-19 for 13th overall. He is now 30 points behind Germany’s Max Nagl in the series points. Nagl went 15-2 for seventh overall.

While it was Febvre who scored his third moto win in three GPs, in the opening MXGP moto at Maggiora, it was home rider Cairoli who walked away with a big smile, although a smile through gritted teeth. His seventh place finish gave him 14 points compared to the seven points Nagl scored for 15th place. The difference between the two for the championship is now 11 points. The Italian rode in terrible pain, but once again showing what an amazing champion he is.

For Italian fans the start of the MXGP moto couldn’t have gone any better with David Philippaerts in the lead followed by Febvre and Cairoli. Alessandro Lupino was in fifth position. Red plate owner Nagl was back in around 12th position early and moved into 10th after half a lap.

To make matter worse for Nagl, he pitted on lap one to change his goggles and get mud scrapped from his handlebars after a possible crash. Nagl re-entered the race in 21st position. Febvre was racing away with the moto while veteran Philippaerts continues to impress the large home crowd. Cairoli 20 seconds back on Febvre must have been more than content with his third place.

On lap five, Belgium’s Jeremy Van Horebeek passed Cairoli to give Yamaha the top three positions and Cairoli was looking a little brittle as he looked over his shoulder to see who was coming behind him. Cairoli looking in more trouble as Lupino and Waters goes past. Nagl held 17th position after seven laps.

Top ten after eight laps was Febvre, Philippaerts, Van Horebeek, Waters, Lupino, Cairoli, Evgeny Bobryshev, Jose Butron, Shaun Simpson and Kevin Strijbos. Simpson was on fire passing both Butron, Bobryshev and Cairoli to move into sixth position. Nagl moved into 15th position.

While Febvre took yet another moto win, ahead of Philippaerts, Van Horebeek, Waters, Lupino, Simpson, Cairoli, Bobryshev, Strijbos and Butron, the performance of Cairoli proved important as he gained a bunch of points on Nagl in the championship chase.

The second MXGP moto saw even more drama as Cairoli started well back and Febvre crashed hard. Up front it was Nagl in the lead from Strijbos and Paulin. GP veteran and former world champion Philippaerts led the overall early in fourth place. Behind him was GP rookie Waters and another veteran Simpson. Waters passed the Italian and put himself in contention for the overall win, while Cairoli held 18th position.

Febvre remounted and held 8th place and a charge from him could maybe see him move into overall contention. As Cairoli began to drop back in the field clearly having trouble with his hand as he couldn’t even hold onto the handlebars, Febvre was making a charge to the front, passing De Dycker for and moving into first place in the GP overall.

Nagl remained well ahead up front, but behind Waters in fourth place led a freight train of riders, Philippaerts, Simpson, Febvre and De Dycker. If Philippaerts could pass Water he led the GP, but Febvre lurking behind was also looking a candid for the GP victory. Amazing excitement for the large crowd.

Simpson passed Philippaerts as Febvre made a small mistake and dropped off the pace of Waters, Philippaerts and Simpson. Cairoli continued on in 19th place.

Strijbos after riding really well caught and passed Nagl for the moto lead and Simpson was on the back wheel of Waters. Philippaerts began to drop back and was in seventh place on lap 16. Strijbos got the moto win, Febvre the GP win and once again high drama in the MXGP class.

MX2 CLASS

Gariboldi Honda rider Tim Gajser won the MX2 class at the Grand Prix of Italy.

Gajser scored 3-2 results for the win, ahead of Jeffrey Herlings who scored 6-1 results and Jeremy Seewer who went 4-3. The big news was the fact Herlings now has a 139 points lead over second-placed men Valentin Guillod and Pauls Jonass, both riders struggling big time in the muddy conditions.

The fight for second place in the MX2 championship is an exciting one with five riders within 13 points of each other.

Photo courtesy Yamaha Europe

Results from round nine of 18:

MXGP Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 34:30.862; 2. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:16.185; 3. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:22.837; 4. Todd Waters (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:25.631; 5. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Honda), +0:39.407; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:43.504; 7. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:53.425; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:55.228; 9. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:56.129; 10. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:58.612.

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten:

1. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 35:17.283; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:02.013; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:24.778; 4. Todd Waters (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:29.652; 5. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:32.520; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:36.443; 7. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:37.465; 8. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:38.913; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:39.945; 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Honda), +0:53.466.

MXGP Overall Top Ten:

1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 40 points; 2. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 37 p.; 3. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 36 p.; 4. David Philippaerts (ITA, YAM), 36 p.; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 32 p.; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 31 p.; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 28 p.; 8. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 27 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 23 p.; 10. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 22 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten:

1. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 360 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 330 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 322 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 291 p.; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 279 p.; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 270 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 200 p.; 8. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 174 p.; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 158 p.; 10. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 155 p.

MX2 CLASS

MX2 Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), 35:43.948; 2. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:10.152; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:19.927; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:43.043; 5. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +1:20.365; 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +1:25.800; 7. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +1:29.160; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +1:35.621; 9. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Honda), +1:37.483; 10. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +1:38.710.

MX2 Race 2 Top Ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34:14.548; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:01.424; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:03.496; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:05.292; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:27.111; 6. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:39.218; 7. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:46.169; 8. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:54.992; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:57.393; 10. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:58.765.

MX2 Overall Top Ten:

1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 42 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 38 p.; 4. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 38 p.; 5. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 30 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 27 p.; 7. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 25 p.; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 24 p.; 9. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 22 p.; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 22 p.

MX2 Championship Top Ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 398 points; 2. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 259 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 259 p.; 4. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 256 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 251 p.; 6. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 251 p.; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 246 p.; 8. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 210 p.; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 209 p.; 10. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 205 p.