It’s difficult to imagine a better home GP for a rider than the one that Tony Cairoli experienced at the weekend in Ottobiano, in Italy, in front of thousands of his adoring fans all cheering loudly for their hero.

The Sicilian was first in both free and timed practice and then won the qualifying race after a dramatic start that saw him almost crash at the first corner and exit the second in fifteenth.

The KTM Red Bull Factory Racing Team rider was able to battle back through the pack and take the lead with only two laps left to run, grabbing his fifth pole position of the year, under a viciously hot sun that saw the mercury hitting 36°.

Sunday’s first race was like a victory parade for the eight time World Champion as he led from the first to the last corner, leaving his rivals to battle for the lower positions.

In the second moto Cairoli again grabbed the hole-shot, on his KTM 450 SX-F, and battled for half the race with his team mate Herlings, before taking charge at the front and opening up a 30 second advantage that he took to the flag for win number two, in very warm and humid conditions.

With the 81st GP victory, Cairoli extends his lead in the standings to 67 points over second position and 70 on the third, with only a week to wait before the twelfth round of the MXGP 2017 hosted at Agueda, in Portugal.

“It’s always very special to win your home GP but it can be quite stressful!,” said Cairoli.

“It’s very tough because I think that pretty much every fan I spoke to asked me to do it so you feel all this extra pressure and you’re always busy with sponsors and events. Thankfully it all came good, I’m pleased and I hope the fans were too.

“We’ve made it two home GP wins from two this year and this makes me proud, even more so today because I’ve heard a lot of people saying: ‘Cairoli is finished’ in the past two years. To win here, on this technical and rough track, in these tough conditions wasn’t easy but I’m still here in front. I don’t say this because I won but because I know my value, I know how much I’ve struggled during the past two years with injury and how much we’ve worked to be where we are today.

“I think that today the public was happy with some decent races and good battles. This year I feel good with myself and with the bike, I’m not here to win all the races but for the bigger goal, that of the Championship. I’m happy to see that so many people still come to see me racing after more than 10 years and I give 100% for them to pay back their support.”

MX2 CLASS

Coming into the weekend Suzuki Word MX2’s Jeremy Seewer struggled in qualifying but turned his luck around to take the GP overall. In race 1 after a top five start the Swiss rider passed his way into the lead and by the end he won with a lead of over 12 seconds.

Seewer has succumbed to the heat before but in race 2 managed to fend off the challenge taking 2nd and winning his 3rd overall of the year.

“It is always nice to win, but this is only my third GP win,” said Seewer.

“I tried to save as much energy as possible and it eventually worked out, it feels awesome to win a GP. It’s always good to gain points back but there is still a lot of racing left to go.”

© Photo courtesy Ray Archer

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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:

MXGP Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 35:16.580; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:18.376; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:35.788; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:40.227; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:42.471; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:43.912; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:50.960; 8. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:52.229; 9. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:52.620; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:57.487.

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 35:31.111; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:32.821; 3. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:37.107; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:46.221; 5. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Suzuki), +0:47.845; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:54.255; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:56.107; 8. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +1:10.955; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Honda), +1:16.702; 10. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +1:34.478.

MXGP Overall Top Ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 36 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 33 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 32 p.; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 31 p.; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 27 p.; 8. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 23 p.; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 21 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 431 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 364 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 361 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 335 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 282 p.; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 275 p.; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 261 p.; 8. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 255 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 245 p.; 10. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 227 p.

MX2 Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), 34:07.314; 2. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:12.304; 3. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), +0:25.676; 4. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +0:27.353; 5. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:30.597; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:31.165; 7. Bas Vaessen (NED, Suzuki), +0:50.633; 8. Alvin Östlund (SWE, Yamaha), +0:53.425; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:56.816; 10. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +1:01.479.

MX2 Race 2 Top Ten:

1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 34:31.700; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:11.335; 3. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +0:15.865; 4. Bas Vaessen (NED, Suzuki), +0:36.265; 5. Alvin Östlund (SWE, Yamaha), +0:43.412; 6. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:46.871; 7. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:51.253; 8. Ben Watson (GBR, KTM), +1:00.804; 9. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +1:02.948; 10. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), +1:04.931.

MX2 Overall Top Ten:

1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 47 points; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 40 p.; 3. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 38 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 36 p.; 5. Bas Vaessen (NED, SUZ), 32 p.; 6. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 31 p.; 7. Alvin Östlund (SWE, YAM), 29 p.; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 28 p.; 9. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 26 p.; 10. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 21 p.

MX2 Championship Top Ten:

1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 454 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 416 p.; 3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 343 p.; 4. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 339 p.; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 330 p.; 6. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 263 p.; 7. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 233 p.; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 212 p.; 9. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, SUZ), 199 p.; 10. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 195 p.