MXGP of Portugal 2019

The sunny weekend of the sixth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship 2019 started well for Tony Cairoli, a rider who loves the Portuguese red soil.

TC222 has previously raced twelve times on the Agueda track , finishing on the box eleven times, so no surprises this year as the KTM Red Bull factory racing team rider again found his way to the podium with two second places finishes after two hard fought heats. This gave the Sicilian the 165th podium of his career, as well as retaining the red plate aboard his KTM 450 SX-F with a 34 point lead over second place.

After finishing second in both free practice and the timed session, Tony took victory in Saturday's qualifying race, getting himself a good first gate pick for Sunday’s motos. The nine time World Champion went well out of the gate in the first heat, taking the hole-shot and charging out in front for twelve laps until a small mistake saw him stall the bike, losing the lead in the process. During the remaining seven laps Cairoli tried everything to pass back but it wasn’t to be and he crossed the finish line in second, one second behind the winner. His second start was another good one and after a few corners the Italian was second, pushing hard for the lead, passing Desalle after several attempts on a track that didn’t favor overtaking at all. Unfortunately a crash made hopes of a victory vanish as he resumed the race in fifth, putting in an incredible effort to get back to second before passing under the checkered flag. Next round will be hosted in six days on the hard pack of St. Jean d’Angely, for the MXGP of France.

Antonio Cairoli: “On the one hand I’m happy because the goal is to always be on the podium and to always be consistent, and today we were, but on the other hand I’m disappointed because, particularly in the first moto, I made a silly mistake. I stalled the bike and then when I was in second I couldn’t really get past Tim, because he was pushing really hard and he was plenty fast enough. In the second moto I was trying to find a better line through the place that I crashed at earlier, I chose another one at the last moment but unfortunately I hit a little rock that moved the front wheel and threw the rear wheel out of the rut, causing me to crash. At the the end of the day I’m happy that I didn’t hurt myself but at that moment I was back in fifth and I tried to close the gap on Tim as soon as possible but the gap was too big and it was almost impossible to catch him. Of course I’m happy as I said and I’m focussed on the next round, trying to be consistent and to not make those mistakes again.”

MXGP Race 1

1-T.Gajser 2-A.Cairoli 3-A.Tonus 4-J.Seewer 5-J.Lieber

MXGP Race 2

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

MXGP Grand Prix
1-T.Gajser 50p. 2-A.Cairoli 44p. 3-A.Tonus 40p. 4-C.Desalle 33p. 5-J.Seewer 29p.

MXGP Standings
1-A.Cairoli 285p. 2-T.Gajser 251p. 3-G.Paulin 197p. 4-C.Desalle 175p. 5-A.Jasikonis 166p.

Next Grand Prix: 26/05/2019 St.Jean d'Angely (FRA