The FIM World Motocross Championship’s 12th round in Portugal is in the books and it was a challenging one, although it featured repeat wins for the men who had also won the previous GP in Italy last week.

Lap after lap of bar-to-bar racing led to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli and Suzuki World MX2’s Jeremy Seewer claiming victories via second race tiebreakers.

Cairoli has proved he is one of the fittest riders out on the track for the second time in two weeks. Cairoli took the holeshot in race one but was eventually passed for the lead by his Red Bull KTM team-mate Jeffrey Herlings.

Herlings was keen to make a statement after coming up short in Ottobiano and did so in the opening race. However race two was all Cairoli, the eight-time champion took the lead early and gapped Herlings, giving himself the opportunity to focus on the task at hand.

Cairoli won race two taking the overall, grabbing the fifth GP win in Portugal of his career but the first on a KTM.

“I feel good, this is the first time I have won on a KTM in Agueda,” said Cairoli.

“I have won many GPs here but lately I struggled. It’s a nice track with a new layout and also the surface is different so I am happy about the win. I’m happy about the championship at the moment and I’m looking forward to every race.”

Herlings made a charge though, even putting in the fastest the lap of the race on his way to his third 2nd place finish in the last three races. Herlings in the press conference stated: “It’s frustrating but Tony was really good and I think at the beginning there were just too many guys in between us. At one point I started to catch him but I made some small mistakes. Second race I just couldn’t close the gap. I’m still happy scoring 47 points in the championship.”

Suzuki World MXGP’s Arminas Jasikonis put in the best weekend of his career so far, first winning Saturday’s qualifying then following it up with his first ever overall podium. The young Lithuanian is also the first rider for his country to podium in the history of the Motocross World Championship. Jasikonis in the press conference said: “A year ago I was only dreaming about a podium and now I have one, the hard work really pays off. The race was really good you know, I’m better in the sand but now I’ve proved I can do well on the hard pack as well.”

2015 MXGP World Champion, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Romain Febvre, is turning his season into the right direction with a 4th overall in Portugal.

Febvre has struggled this year but had a good start in race one scored him 5th. It was a different story in race 2 as he was 11th on lap one he put his head down and by the final laps found himself just behind Team HRC’s Tim Gajser in 5th.

Febvre not only passed Gajser but he made a pass on Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl one lap later. The pass on Nagl tied the two in points after Nagl’s 5th in race 1, but the better race 2 took the better overall result of 4th for Febvre.

Meanwhile Gajser continued to improve his result after returning from injury, aside from 8th and 6th for 6th overall the Slovenian also took the race 2 Fox Holeshot.

Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Clement Desalle had a hard fought battle in race one against Febvre where in the end Febvre prevailed. Race two started with a crash for Desalle but he managed to come from near last to finish 10th for 8th overall.

The next round of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place in Loket, in the Czech Republic, on July 23.

Photo by Ray Archer

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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:

MXGP Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:13.457; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:01.280; 3. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Suzuki), +0:29.696; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:35.385; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:43.826; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:46.739; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:48.261; 8. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:49.745; 9. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:50.982; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +1:01.698.

MXGP Race 2 Top Ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 35:28.572; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:01.768; 3. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, Suzuki), +0:38.744; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:44.893; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:46.220; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:48.694; 7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:54.499; 8. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), +0:56.119; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +1:00.122; 10. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +1:01.602.

MXGP Overall Top Ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 47 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 47 p.; 3. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, SUZ), 40 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 34 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 34 p.; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 28 p.; 7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 26 p.; 8. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 26 p.; 9. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 24 p.; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 22 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten:

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 478 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 387 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 383 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 382 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 310 p.; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 309 p.; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 289 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 267 p.; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 267 p.; 10. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, YAM), 253 p.

MX2 Race 1 Top Ten:

1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 34:12.844; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:01.767; 3. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +0:02.700; 4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:34.420; 5. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), +0:38.345; 6. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:40.144; 7. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:44.133; 8. Ben Watson (GBR, KTM), +0:51.100; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:53.761; 10. Anthony Rodriguez (VEN, Honda), +0:58.934.

MX2 Race 2 Top Ten:

1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), 34:25.343; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:03.900; 3. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +0:23.396; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:27.102; 5. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0:39.413; 6. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:48.293; 7. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:52.955; 8. Anthony Rodriguez (VEN, Honda), +0:57.398; 9. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +1:04.117; 10. David Herbreteau (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:05.952.

MX2 Overall Top Ten:

1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 47 points; 2. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 47 p.; 3. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 40 p.; 4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 34 p.; 5. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 33 p.; 6. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 26 p.; 8. Anthony Rodriguez (VEN, HON), 24 p.; 9. David Herbreteau (FRA, KAW), 20 p.; 10. Iker Larranaga Olano (ESP, HUS), 20 p.

MX2 Championship Top Ten:

1. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 501 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 463 p.; 3. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 377 p.; 4. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 363 p.; 5. Julien Lieber (BEL, KTM), 355 p.; 6. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 303 p.; 7. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 241 p.; 8. Jorge Prado Garcia (ESP, KTM), 233 p.; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 221 p.; 10. Hunter Lawrence (AUS, SUZ), 199 p.; 11. Michele Cervellin (ITA, HON), 187 p.