Tony Cairoli 6th. in Germany

The eighth round of the 2018 MXGP series was hosted this weekend at the Talkessen track in Teutschenthal, Germany, a longtime classic venue where Tony Cairoli has had plenty of success in the past. 

The weekend started well for the nine time World Champion as he finished third and second in both free and timed practice respectively. During the qualifying race the KTM Red Bull Factory Racing Team rider was riding in a comfortable third place before a stone hit his starting device, jamming the front forks in the process. Cairoli stopped on the side of the track and fixed the forks of his KTM 450 SX-F, losing four places before rejoining and eventually crossing the finish line in seventh place. Unfortunately both of Sunday’s starts didn’t go as well as planned and Tony was called upon to try and make a desperate recovery. In the first moto he spent 18 laps trying everything in his power to pass Desalle who was sat in front, even crashing in the process but thankfully without injury and without loosing positions. TC’s second start was worse than his first but the KTM man managed to claw back five positions ending the moto in fifth place, sixth overall at the GP.

Antonio Cairoli: "It wasn’t such a good weekend. I had a good feeling on the track yesterday but today, after two bad starts, it was quite difficult to make up much time. The race could have developed a little bit better for sure but here it seems that whoever crossed the finish line at the end of the first lap would also be the one to do it on the last! Today my starts were not what we are used to, and here when you’re at the back it’s like a war and it’s really difficult to pass anybody. For both motos I was behind Desalle, who is one of the toughest people to pass on any given day, and on this track, with this type of ruts it was almost impossible. I tried to close in a few times but I had loads of big stones smashing both my body and my bike, so I just tried to reduce the damage of the bad starts as much as possible. Now we go back home to train hard as usual and we look forward for the next race in Matterley Basin in two weeks.”

Race 1

1-J.Herlings 2-T.Gajser 3-G.Paulin 4-R.Febvre 6-A.Cairoli

Race 2
1-J.Herlings 2-T.Gajser 3-G.Paulin 4-C.Desalle 5-A.Cairoli

Grand Prix
1-J.Herlings 50p. 2-T.Gajser 44p. 3-G.Paulin 40p. 4-C.Desalle 34p. 6-A.Cairoli 31p.

MXGP Standings
1-J.Herlings 386p. 2-A.Cairoli 338p. 3-C.Desalle 278p. 4-G.Paulin 258p. 5-R.Febvre 255p.

Next Race: 03/06/2018 MGXP of Great Britain, Matterley Basin