Cairoli superfinal win heralds new GP era

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Six times world champion Tony Cairoli ushered in a new era of GP motocross by winning the first ever combined superfinal race, in the first ever Middle Eastern GP, held for the first time under floodlights.

The Italian romped away with the win in the 35-minute superfinal which was made up of the top 20 MX1 and 20 MX2 riders from the individual races earlier in the evening at the Losail circuit in Qatar.

He headed home Suzuki’s Clement Desalle and Kawasaki’s Gautier Paulin and was handed his trophy on the podium, much to the displeasure of Desalle.

Desalle took the overall GP win and the lead in the championship, after winning the first MX1 heat and coming second in the superfinal. So thought he should have been top of the podium.

I don’t like it one bit,” he said. “I had to ask whether I’d actually won overall as I was given the second place trophy.

Also missing out on a podium visit was Honda’s Evgeny Bobryshev. He was third overall in the GP behind Desalle and Cairoli.

The superfinal saw Jeffrey Herlings as top MX2 rider, settling for a safe place behind Tommy Searle.

“I could have tried to keep up with Tommy but I’ have to have ridden at 110%,” said Herlings. ‘”here was no point risking things.”

Herlings cleared off to an easy win in the first MX2 race despite still claiming to struggle with the knee he injured last week.

A shock runner-up overall was Cosworth Yamaha’s new Aussie signing Dean Ferris. “I’m the first Aussie on the podium for eight years, since Andrew McFarlane,” he said. “And he was also riding for Steve Dixon’s team. So it’s very special.”

Third overall was Frenchman Romain Febvre in his first ever race outside Europe. The former supermoto champ said: “I didn’t even contest the whole GP series last year, so this is a big surprise.”

Photo Cred Adam Duckworth

Results

MX1 Championship top ten: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 47 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 38 p.; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 36 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 34 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 30 p.; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 30 p.; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 23 p.; 9. Steven Frossard (FRA, Yamaha), 22 p.; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, TM), 20

MX2 Championship top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), 38 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 36 p.; 5. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 33 p.; 6. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), 25 p.; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, Suzuki), 24 p.; 10. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 21

Source: http://moto.mpora.com/featured-box/cairoli-superfinal-win-heralds-new-gp-era.html

Gordon Crockard Craig Dack Roger De Coster Ken De Dycker Yves Demaria