The FIM World Motocross Championship returns to the mountainous Arco di Trento in Italy, this weekend, where Antonio Cairoli will be hoping to repeat his last year’s performance and win in his home country.
Everyone knows the Italians love their Italian athletes, but none more than their very own Tony Cairoli who was voted late last year as the 2013 Sportsman of the year, even against the likes of other Italian greats such as Valentino Rossi, Francesco Totti, Mario Balotelli, just to name a few.
Cairoli won the MXGP round of Trentino last year ahead of his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team-mate Ken De Dycker who will be sitting it out this year as he recovers from injury. And Cairoli will be the hot favourite to win again this year after hitting the top step of the podium with four wins over the last two GPs.
Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s, Gautier Paulin and Yamaha Factory Racing’s, Jeremy Van Horebeek – who are tied second in the championship standings – will both be hoping to stop Cairoli in his tracks and steal the two wins of the round.
Only one point back from Paulin and Van Horebeek is Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Clement Desalle. The Belgian pilot missed a good chunk of riding and training in the winter while recovering from a broken left shoulder sustained at the 2013 Motocross of Nations, but the pilot pushed the world champion in Thailand and was second again in Brazil.
Meanwhile Team HRC’s Max Nagl is playing the consistent card since coming out firing on all cylinders in Qatar. It’s no secret that Nagl prefers to be 100% in routine, meaning he can eat his own food and train as he normally would. Now with the championship returning to European turf, it will be interesting to see what the German can pull out of the bag.
As DBR reported recently – fan favourite of the MX2 class – Alessandro Lupino, will make his 450cc racing debut this weekend at his home GP. Jean Jacques Luisetti – owner of CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy said: “We offered Alessandro the possibility to already start riding a 450. It’s a good opportunity for him to show what he can do in this class and I’m sure that his smooth riding style will suit our KXF450 perfectly.”
Getting ready to pierce the peace in Arco, and looking extremely odd without red plates on his number 84 KTM 250SX-F, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings will be riding extra determined after missing the Grand Prix of Brazil due to a shoulder injury. Herlings is now fourth in the points, trailing the points leader Arnaud Tonus by fifteen.
CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Arnaud Tonus has joined the very, very exclusive MX2 winners circle after round three of the MX2 world championship in Beto Carrero, Brazil. Now carrying the red plate as the MX2 Championship points leader, the target is on the back of the Swiss star as he has to deal with a very fired up Jeffrey Herlings, as well as two eager championship contenders, Coldenhoff and Ferrandis who have that coveted red plate right in their sites.
Another one with a fire in his belly this year, Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Glenn Coldenhoff has been showing excellent form. Although his game plan didn’t go exactly how he wanted in race one in Brazil, the young Dutchman bounced back in moto two to take home his first MX2 race victory of the year as well as the first of his career.
With only two points separating him and the MX2 championship point’s leader, Tonus, one race could hand him his first ever FIM MX2 World Championship red plate.
First impressions last forever, which is great news for CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Dylan Ferrandis, who won the opening race of the 2014 MX2 World Championship in Losail, Qatar fair and square. Ferrandis has proved he can win, and after his amazing performance in race one in Brazil where he moved from outside the top five to cross the line in second place, there is no counting out the flying Frenchman who sits only five points back from the championship lead.
CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy has certainly been the focus of attention this week in the mx media, not only is Lupino moving up to the MXGP class early, they have also signed a new recruit in the form of another young star and this one hails from Alabama… Thomas Covington is mostly recognised for his remarkable third place in race two at the season opener in Qatar. Although the last few rounds have been a learning curve, the rookie is a star student, willing to learn and do what it takes to progress.
It’s been a bright, albeit not perfect start to the MX2 series for Bike it Yamaha Cosworth’s Max Anstie. A mixture of machine issues and some bad luck has been mixed with a confident attitude and some good results, which included classifying third at a stifling Beto Carrero and the Thai GP. The British pilot has been testing out the 2014 Yamaha YZ250F bike but the team has yet to feel confident enough with it to park up the 2013 machine. Anstie is the highest placed British rider in the MX2 World standings on 77 points and is 35 points away from the top spot of Tonus.
Meanwhile Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s team of young guns Romain Febvre and Aleksandr Tonkov are inseparable, with some of the biggest battles throughout the MX2 race being between these two team-mates. Currently the duo, Febvre and Tonkov are sitting fifth and sixth in the championship respectively.
Also in attendance along side the premier MXGP and MX2 classes this weekend, the EMX125 European Championship series will kick off. The FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship will also be gracing the grid for their second round this year, with Meghan Rutledge flying in from Australia to defend the WMX red plate on her Bud Racing Kawasaki KXF250.
