Text: Peter Reitbauer Photos: Irina Gorodniakova

MX2

Starting from pole position Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis led the MX2 guys on the first lap. Italians own Samuele Bernardini on the Italian Factory TM bike followed while the big crowd cheered him on. Championship leader Jeffrey Herlings on the Red Bull Factory KTM started in 3rd and it took him a few laps to pass a fully motivated Bernardini. Right after half way of the race Herlings reached the tail of Ferrandis and the battle was on. After several attacks Herlings passed Ferrandis, but the French responded immediately and took back the lead one corner later. After that Herlings regrouped, but all his attacks until the checkered flag stayed without success and so he had to accept that the dream of a “perfect season” has ended in the first moto of Trentino. Pauls Jonass came home with a quiet third place, followed by Swiss Jeremy Seewer on the Suzuki World MX2 bike who seemed not a 100% after two crashes in the morning warm up session. Bernardini in 6th lost the top 5 spot at the end of the race to Brit Max Anstie (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Team).

It seemed to be business as usual in moto 2 of the MX2 class: Jeffrey Herlings took the lead on the first lap and checked out, wasn’t seen anymore by his competitors. Dylan Ferrandis made his life complicated by himself, due wheeling all over the starting straight he lost valueable meters at the start and had to work his way forward from the lower end of the top 10. It took him some laps to get into 3rd, but from then on he got stuck behind Red Bull Factory KTM’s Pauls Jonass. Some great racing happend behind the top 3. From 4th to 13th place several riders switched positions each lap. By the time the checkered flag fell, HSF logistics KTM rider Brian Bogers clinched 4th place after a great start. On the other hand Kemea Yamaha’s Benoit Paturel claimed 5th after passing several riders. Jeremy Seewer had a heat to forget. He crashed in the second corner, had another fall on the first lap and after a hard charge through the field and already in 6th place, he crashed again just three corners before the finish line. He finished 12th.
A satisfied Herlings mentioned after the race that on Thursday he almost wanted to admit that he will miss Trentino due to sickness and a reinjured ankle from Teutschenthal, but finally decided to give it a try in Trentino. “Coming out with the GP victory under this circumstances feels good!”

MXGP

It became loud around the Ciclamino circuit when Tony Cairoli (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team) grabbed another holeshot. In one spot of the track it became fully silent- the Gajser fans were shocked as their Slovenian favourite tangled with some riders in the second corner and began moto 1 outside the top 20. Cairoli led, behind him the freight train with German Max Nagl (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Team) and the Belgians Kevin Strijbos (Team Suzuki World MXGP) and Jeremy van Horebeek (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team). These four riders stayed close all race long, but no one of them was able to make a pass stick. Gajser was on fire, so was Romain Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team) who also crashed in the second corner and came from the end of the pack. Both during the race suffered another fall. This crash didn’t stop Gajser to take over 4th from van Horebeek a few laps before the end, but finally seemed to run out of steem a bit to pass Strijbos and Nagl. Cairoli won to the delight of the Italian fans, Nagl in 2nd, Strijbos stayed 3rd, then Gajser and van Horebeek. Romain Febvre did damage control and crossed the finish line in 6th.

Honda Gariboldi rider Tim Gajser wasn’t really happy about his result in moto 1. For 17 minutes in the second moto it all looked like a Gajser-revenge: He took the holeshot and led solid over Cairoli, Febvre, Bobryshev and van Horebeek. Then Gajser crashed and the action got alive. He dropped back to 6th and on his body language you could see the sence of urgency. Meanwhile Romain Febvre was out to bounce back too after a not satisfying first heat. It took him eternity to pass Gautier Paulin (Team HRC), but after that he rode with tremendous pressure, which no one, including leader Cairoli could resist. Evgeny Bobryshev (Team HRC) also pushed hard in the middle of the race, but looked like dealing a little bit with fatigue in the late stages of the race. Gajser kept pushing until the flag, but 4th place was all he could do after his crash. Results over the line: Febvre, Cairoli, Bobryshev, Gajser, van Horebeek. The 2nd place of Cairoli gave him the overall victory, to the delight of a big Italian crowd. Febvre finished 2nd in the GP, obviously happy with his performance in moto 2. A frenetic Slovenian crowd celebrated the 3rd place of Tim Gajser like a victory, Tim himself looked very dissapointed about his day, everbody including himself knows that he can do better. Cairoli was very pleased with the victory in his home GP: “I’m very happy about today, this is not my favourite track and I feel that I’m still missing some speed, but it’s getting better every week. My goal is the red plate and with performances like today slowly we are getting closer to it step by step.”