| August 7, 2016
A lot has been made of the return to Switzerland for the World MX Championships and specifically, the decision to host the race at a brand new “man-made” facility in Frauenfeld, August 7, rather than one of their classic natural old-school tracks like Roggenburg. Beforehand, the critics pointed to how a country as mountainous as Switzerland shouldn’t have to resort to using a relatively flat field in an industrial estate but after a weekend filled with awesome racing in all classes, there really can’t be any complaint from riders, fans or anyone involved because on top of great action, the facility was world class.
Antonio Cairoli scored a hard-fought win in Switzerland. Photography Ray Archer/KTM Images
In the MXGP class, Antonio Cairoli continued his mini-revival by taking the overall ahead of his two biggest rivals, Tim Gajser and Romain Febvre. He convincingly won the first moto but struggled to keep up with Gajser and Febvre in race two and even uncharacteristically dropped two places to Bobryshev and Coldenhoff on the final lap with a small mistake. He wasn’t the only one who made mistakes though, as the whole field struggled to put together two clean races. Gajser and Febvre both made errors in the first race, while Gautier Paulin, Jeremy van Horebeek and Clement Desalle missed out on a podium spots because their second motos weren’t good enough on this tricky track.
In terms of the championship standings, Cairoli now sits 99 points behind Gajser which means the Italian has to finish in front of the Slovenian at the next round in Assen on August 28 in order to keep his title hopes alive before they head to America.
Without Jeffrey Herlings once again in MX2, we were treated to a fantastic duel between Max Anstie and hometown hero Jeremy Seewer. In the end, much to the disappointment of 22,000 Swiss fans, it was Anstie who prevailed after ding-dong moto two that saw both riders leading at various stages of the race. With Anstie winning the first race ahead of Seewer, the overall was going to be decided by whoever won the second race and both riders gave everything to make it happen in their favour. For Seewer, who still hasn’t won a race in his career, he closed the gap to Herlings to 43pts in the championship with three rounds remaining.
Third place on the podium went to Benoit Paturel, who’s 3-3 results were good enough to see him moved up to third place in the championship. He’s also likely to be promoted to the French MXoN team as MX2 pick Dylan Ferrandis broke his arm yesterday in an accident involving Thomas Covington over the finish line jump.
The American actually had his second best points tally of the season with 8-10 results good enough for 24 points and seventh overall, on a track he described as being a mix between Loretta Lynn’s and Daytona.
This may have been why Darian Sanayei did so well, beating everyone in the last round of the EMX250 class comfortably on his way to 1-1 results. The Washington state native has won plenty of motos down at the ranch and had no problems on the rutty track, winning by a combined 43 seconds over the rest of the field. He later confirmed he’ll be racing the two USGPs and then be moving up to the MX2 class for 2017.
Grand Prix of Switzerland
Frauenfeld, Switzerland
RESULTS: August 7, 2016
MXGP
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 35:08.501; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:07.545; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:10.443; 4. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:12.257; 5. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:19.403; 6. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.488; 7. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:25.625; 8. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:28.295; 9. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:31.260; 10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:31.694.
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:24.265; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:11.791; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:20.333; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:22.574; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:23.071; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:24.626; 7. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:37.348; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:42.562; 9. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:49.442; 10. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:54.840.
MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 41 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 37 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 35 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 32 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 30 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, KAW), 29 p.; 7. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 29 p.; 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 29 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 27 p.; 10. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 25 p.
MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 644 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 545 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 509 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 499 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 472 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 446 p.; 7. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 308 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 307 p.; 9. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 298 p.; 10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 279 p.
MXGP Manufacturers: 1. Honda, 667 points; 2. Yamaha, 596 p.; 3. KTM, 567 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 524 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 409 p.; 6. Suzuki, 317 p.
MX2
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), 35:18.680; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:10.590; 3. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:32.037; 4. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +0:47.010; 5. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, Husqvarna), +0:54.752; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), +0:57.350; 7. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +1:04.853; 8. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +1:07.385; 9. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +1:07.965; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +1:09.352.
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Max Anstie (GBR, Husqvarna), 34:19.959; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:01.470; 3. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:43.141; 4. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:47.204; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), +0:58.480; 6. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), +1:11.612; 7. Ivo Monticelli (ITA, KTM), +1:15.345; 8. Conrad Mewse (GBR, Husqvarna), +1:17.906; 9. Michele Cervellin (ITA, Honda), +1:21.132; 10. Thomas Covington (USA, Husqvarna), +1:22.073.
MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 50 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 44 p.; 3. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 40 p.; 4. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 33 p.; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, KTM), 31 p.; 6. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Thomas Covington (USA, HUS), 24 p.; 8. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 24 p.; 9. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, HUS), 24 p.; 10. Ivo Monticelli (ITA, KTM), 23 p.
MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 597 points; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 554 p.; 3. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 433 p.; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, HUS), 416 p.; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 403 p.; 6. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 378 p.; 7. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 340 p.; 8. Samuele Bernardini (ITA, TM), 327 p.; 9. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, YAM), 320 p.; 10. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 309 p.
MX2 Manufacturers: 1. KTM, 693 points; 2. Suzuki, 554 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 548 p.; 4. Yamaha, 524 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 506 p.; 6. TM, 327 p.; 7. Honda, 283 p.
BY DAVID BULMER
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