MX1: Cairoli takes Latvian win and championship stranglehold

Yamaha’s Red Bull De Carli rider might have been the man to beat come race day but Saturday’s qualifying performance was anything less than special, the Italian crashing twice to end up seventh.

That poor grid slot was compounded further by a bad start to the opening moto which saw Cairoli drop out of the top ten. It wasn’t long before he re-established himself though and was able to pick off those ahead one by one until reaching race leader Desalle. With just a lap to go Cairoli gave it everything but ultimately had to settle for second behind the Belgian just 0.2secs adrift.

The second moto began in similar fashion with Cairoli struggling to make a clean getaway. Once up to speed though there was no stopping the Yamaha which crossed the line nearly six seconds ahead of Josh Coppins. The New Zealander’s runners-up spot helped him take third overall, behind Desalle who did well to finish fifth after his LS Motors Honda suffered from mechanical woes.

Fourth overall went to Max Nagl who could not repeat his third place from heat one after slipping to sixth in the second, bringing an end to his run of three straight rostrums. Pole sitter Ken de Dyker was fifth, ahead of reigning champion David Philippaerts whose poor result allowed Nagl to snatch second in the standings.

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MX1 Race 1 top ten: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Honda), 40:05.568; ; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, Yamaha), +0:00.258; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:23.770; 4. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Yamaha), +0:44.151; 5. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +1:17.536; 6. Aigar Leok (EST, TM), +1:27.503; 7. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Suzuki), +1:38.978; 8. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:41.537; 9. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Kawasaki), +1:46.161; 10. Carlos Campano (ESP, Yamaha), +1:49.773;

MX1 Race 2 top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, Yamaha), 39:10.586; ; 2. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Yamaha), +0:05.777; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Suzuki), +0:14.985; 4. Tanel Leok (EST, Yamaha), +0:17.525; 5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Honda), +0:32.897; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:51.444; 7. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +1:00.833; 8. Aigar Leok (EST, TM), +1:05.582; 9. Manuel Priem (BEL, Aprilia), +1:15.691; 10. Carlos Campano (ESP, Yamaha), +1:29.377;

MX1 Overall top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, Yamaha), 47 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Honda), 41 p.; 3. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Yamaha), 40 p.; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 35 p.; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Suzuki), 34 p.; 6. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 30 p.; 7. Aigar Leok (EST, TM), 28 p.; 8. Manuel Priem (BEL, Aprilia), 22 p.; 9. Carlos Campano (ESP, Yamaha), 22 p.; 10. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Kawasaki), 21 p.;

MX1 Championship top ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, Yamaha), 385 points; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 328 p.; 3. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 327 p.; 4. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Yamaha), 314 p.; 5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Honda), 309 p.; 6. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Suzuki), 298 p.; 7. Tanel Leok (EST, Yamaha), 270 p.; 8. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, KTM), 215 p.; 9. Aigar Leok (EST, TM), 167 p.; 10. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Kawasaki), 151 p.;

MX1 Manufacturers: 1. Yamaha, 446 points; 2. KTM, 388 p.; 3. Honda, 344 p.; 4. Suzuki, 313 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 197 p.; 6. TM, 167 p.; 7. Aprilia, 141 p.; 8. CCM, 99 p.; 9. Husaberg, 0 p.; 10. Husqvarna, 0 p.;


Tom Hornsby