After five rounds of the FIM World Motocross Championship it is still the Red Bull KTM Factory rider Antonio Cairoli who hold command of the World Championship points race. Defending Champion Cairoli has owned his opposition on most occasions, but several riders have shown glimpse of what they can do.
The standout at the moment in the MX1 class is Frenchman Gautier Paulin (Kawasaki). Having won in Bulgaria last weekend Paulin moves into second place in the MX1 points, and has looked the most consistent of the remaining MX1 riders.
While Clement Desalle (Suzuki) won the opening round of the series in Qatar his form has not been as consistent, although very close to the form of Paulin. Desalle could manage just 3-3 results in Bulgaria, and his 29 point haul in Valkenswaard was very unlike the tough Belgian. What you can say about Desalle though is that he has a lot to build on, and has shown many times before he has the measure of Cairoli.
Ken De Dycker (KTM), Kevin Strijbos (Suzuki) and Tommy Searle (Kawasaki) have all looked strong at times, and to think De Dycker is just 12 points of second place in the Championship after racing at his least favourite circuit (Bulgaria) then he is looking very solid.
After this group there are the guys, who are possible top five runners, but podiums until now have been hard to find and consistency has been their biggest problem. Rui Goncalves (KTM) who will enter his home Grand Prix in Portugal looked really good in the opening two rounds in Qatar and Thailand, but still couldn’t manage more than 23pts and 29 points from the two rounds. Normally strong at Valkenswaard his 21 point haul there was average at best.
Max Nagl (Honda) has missed a round due to sickness from Qatar, but even the German hasn’t shown the form of 2012. His best result being 30 points in Holland, after scoring to 6-6 results. His team-mate Xavier Boog (KTM) may miss Portugal due to injury, and he misses consistent results, too.
Evgeny Bobryshev (Honda) is probably the unluckiest rider, holding down a podium place in Valkenswaard and looking strong in Qatar the Russian was charging his way towards the top five until he injured himself after round three. He has missed Italy and Bulgaria and when he will be back seems a little unknown until now.
Then there are the guys who just haven’t been able to cope with this year’s series, all three having no luck due to injury. Joel Roelants (Yamaha), Steven Frossard (Yamaha) and Jeremy Van Horebeek (Kawasaki), all three factory riders, but positioned in 10th, 13th and 17th places in the series points. All three have suffered some type of injury this year and missed races because of it, and all three are capable of much more than what we have seen to date.
With Cairoli having had great success in Portugal, the question is can anyone match him around the technical circuit, or will he make an even bigger break in the MX1 points race.
By Geoff Meyer