Tony Cairoli third in Russia

It was a good solid race in Russia for Tony Cairoli who grabbed his sixth podium in a row, managing to take the third step of the podium on a track that is certainly not one of his favorites! 

The slippery and hard pack soil of the circuit that’s situated looking out over the beautiful Black Sea, made the surface tricky and it was easy to make mistakes. The unusual schedule saw the riders out on track Monday and Tuesday for the sixth round of the 2018 MXGP. After struggling in the practice timed session, where he picked the tenth gate for the qualification race, Cairoli started in sixth place and managed to come back to third before losing two positions just two laps before the end. In race one Tony and his KTM 450 SX-F grabbed a fantastic hole-shot, immediately trying to pull away but the battle was on, and after 21 laps the Sicilian crossed the finish line second, a mere one and a half seconds behind the race winner. In race two the start wasn’t quite as good as his first and the KTM Red Bull Factory Racing Team rider was unable to join the fight for the top positions, taking home a fifth place for a third overall. Next round of the MXGP will be hosted on the sandy Latvian soil of the Kegums track.

Antonio Cairoli: “I’m ok with how my race went. This is definitely not one of my favorite tracks and I really struggled to find a decent speed during all sessions. I was quite a way back from the top guys in timed practice but I knew that in the race I could keep a good pace and close that gap. In the first moto I had a good start and then I kept a good second place position but Clement was faster today. He pulled away but at the end we got closer and closer and it was definitely a good result for me to finish second. In race two the start was ok but due to some mistakes I dropped to fourth. Unfortunately whilst following the group I crashed, losing some time, and Romain passed me. It’s a very difficult track to pass and I could only finish with fifth, which is really not what we expected. Still we were on the podium and that was the goal and now we look forward to the next race in Latvia, on a track that suites me much better than this one.”

Race 1

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

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

Grand Prix
1-C.Desalle 47p. 2-J.Herlings 45p. 3-A.Cairoli 38p. 4-R.Febvre 34p. 5-T.Gajser 34p.

MXGP Standings
1-J.Herlings 286p. 2-A.Cairoli 263p. 3-C.Desalle 212p. 4-R.Febvre 203p. 5-G.Paulin 180p.

Next Race: 13/05/2018 MGXP of Latvia, Kegums