Italian Antonio Cairoli has rocketed to the top of the MX1 standings after winning the Italian Motocross GP at Mantova on Sunday.

Cairoli beat Belgian Clement Desalle (Suzuki) and German Max Nagl (KTM) to the top of the podium — the victory putting the defending champion one point ahead of first-round winner Nagl at the top of the table.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Josh Coppins (Aprilia) finished 17^th and 11^th in his two outings and has dropped one position, to 10^th in the overall championship standings.

Coppins got off to a rough start when he collided with Frenchman Greg Aranada in mid air and was lucky to escape without any serious injuries during the Saturday qualifying race. Despite the huge crash, Coppins  still managed to qualify his mangled machine to 24th place.

With weather conditions much cooler for Sunday’s GP, Coppins rolled onto the start line bruised and stiff.  Being placed on a wide gate resulted in a poor start, but things got worse as another crash left Coppins on the deck and in 33rd position. Pushing hard, the Kiwi hero salvaged 17th spot by the end of a gruelling moto.

Rough track conditions made for a difficult final second race, however Coppins grabbed a great start and was placed inside the top 10. Battling back and forth with some of the competition, Coppins lost some ground at the mid-way point, but with just 10 minutes left on the clock he put in a furious charge and salvaged a few positions to cross the finish line in 11th position.

“The weekend started off with a scare. Aranda got cross-rutted on the take-off and came across me in mid air and we hit the ground really hard.

“I was lucky to get away with only a few bruises and a slight concussion.  Considering the poor gate pick, and related starts, I was relatively happy with the results, but, if I am totally honest, I will be happy to forget this GP.”

In the MX2 class, Frenchman Marvin Musquin (KTM) took his fourth consecutive heat win to dominate the class ahead of Germany’s Ken Roczen (Suzuki) and Dutchman Jeffrey Herlings (KTM).

Mats Nilsson dominated round one of the FIM Veterans’ World Cup by winning both heats. Hendrickx and Lheriteau completed the podium.

The maiden edition of the EMX 125cc European series kicked off at Mantova and saw the victory go to French rider Jordi Tixier.

French rider Dylan Ferrandis, who so impressed when he raced in New Zealand at the Junior Motocross World Championships last year, took his Kawasaki to seventh overall after finishing 7^th and 9^th in the two motos.

Also familiar to Kiwi race fans following their racing at the Junior Motocross World Championships at Taupo last August, Italian Samuele Bernadini (KTM) finished fifth overall in the EMX 125cc class, and Swiss rider Jeremy Seewer (Suzuki) placed 28^th overall.

MX1 CLASS

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1’s Cairoli walked away from Mantova with his first GP win of the season and with the MX1 red plate which he snatched from team-mate Nagl, winner in Bulgaria last weekend.

Cairoli’s success marked the first ever triumph in a Motocross GP of a 350cc bike, the KTM 350 SX-F. The Italian recovered to second in moto one after a bad start but rode an impressive final heat, dominating from the start to the flag.

Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Desalle took victory in the opening heat which he started leading after previous leader David Philippaerts (Yamaha) made a mistake and crashed. In the second moto instead he had to recover from the bottom of the top ten to a final fourth to secure the podium.

Third man on the rostrum was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1’s Nagl who dropped down to second in the Championship. The German was third both times.

Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci’s Ken De Dycker ended fourth overall ahead of a surprising Xavier Boog, of Kawasaki Racing. The French MX1 debutant even took the holeshot in the second race.

Philippaerts ended a bitter eight. He was second in heat two but a penalty in the first heat, where he crashed and broke his exhaust pipe, saw him drop down to 19th.

MX1 Race 1 top 10:

1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 40:13.247; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:04.718; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:14.341; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +0:27.404; 5. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:29.853; 6. Jimmy Albertson (USA, Honda), +0:33.123; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:35.055; 8. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:37.764; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), +0:43.058; 10. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:54.348.

MX1 Race 2 top 10:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 39:50.854; 2. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:08.843; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:17.627; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:32.466; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +0:39.633; 6. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:41.226; 7. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:48.453; 8. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:55.507; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:58.109; 10. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), +1:00.706.

MX1 Overall top 10:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 47 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 43 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 40 p.; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 34 p.; 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 29 p.; 6. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 26 p.; 7. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 25 p.; 8. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 24 p.; 9. Jimmy Albertson (USA, Honda), 23 p.; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 19 p.

MX1 Championship top 10:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 88 points; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 87 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 79 p.; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 65 p.; 5. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 60 p.; 6. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 59 p.; 7. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 56 p.; 8. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 54 p.; 9. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 37 p.; 10. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), 37 p.

MX2 CLASS

Musquin (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2) rolled to his fourth consecutive heat win to take another Grand Prix win. The defending MX2 Champion has been incredible through the first two Grands Prix of 2010 and has only missed out on taking a pole so far.

Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s Roczen took a solid second place finish as he gave his best to chase Musquin for the overall win in heat one. Towards the last part of the race the German came close to Musquin but could not move past him despite a dramatic last lap.

In the final moto instead it was team-mate Herlings to worry Musquin.

The 15-year-old Dutch rider made up for his first heat crashes with a solid ride in the final heat, leading from the start to the penultimate lap, but made a mistake in the last lap due to tiredness. Musquin then passed and left Herlings in second, which was enough to secure the Dutchman his first career podium at only the second GP of his career.

Bike-it Cosworth Yamaha UK’s Zach Osborne was fourth overall courtesy of two good rides and Kawasaki CLS’ Steven Frossard was fifth. The French rider was third in moto one despite a crash –due to a sudden stop of his engine- but crashed at the opening lap of the final heat.

MX2 Race 1 top 10:

1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 39:58.049; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:00.370; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:50.697; 4. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:54.481; 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), +0:56.927; 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:57.314; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +1:19.818; 8. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +1:21.141; 9. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), +1:24.840; 10. Marcus Schiffer (GER, KTM), +1:27.785.

MX2 Race 2 top 10:

1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 39:35.506; ; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:04.177; 3. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:23.515; 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), +0:45.327; 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), +0:58.516; 6. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:03.613; 7. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:14.406; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +1:30.422; 9. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, KTM), +1:31.289; 10. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:37.646.

MX2 Overall top 10:

1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 50 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 42 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 37 p.; 4. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 32 p.; 5. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 31 p.; 6. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), 28 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 23 p.; 9. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 21 p.; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 20 p.

MX2 Championship top 10:

1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 100 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 86 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 72 p.; 4. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 69 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), 62 p.; 6. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 59 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 53 p.; 8. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 52 p.; 9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 47 p.; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 39 p.

VETERANS CLASS

Defending Champion Mats Nilsson, of Sweden, dominated the opening round of the Veterans’ World Cup held on Mantova’s sand, which he mastered in both heats to take a double win. After Saturday’s second placing, Frenchman Christophe Lheriteau tried to chase Nilsson but he was an eventual third after Erwin Hendrickx moved past. The later took second on the podium –courtesy of Saturday’s third place- while French rider Lheriteau was third overall. Dutchman Hans Berendsen and Belgian Pascal Bal completed the top five overall.

EMX 125 CLASS

French rider Jordi Tixier took the first round of the UEM EMX 125 series at Mantova. The KTM mounted rider took victory in both motos and topped the podium from Austrian rider Pascal Rauchenecker who finished third twice. Italian Dawid Ciucci was third on the podium. Second in moto one, he dropped down to sixth in moto two. Yohan Lafont and Samuele Bernardini completed the top five with the latter taking runner-up spot in the final moto.