Cairoli secured his first overall win of the year while Herlings continues to dominate MX2.
By Hayden Gregory
Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli scored a double victory in Teutschenthal impressing for his first victory of 2016. The multiple world champion was pushed to the limits in race one by Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser. The pair had an entertaining battle with Cairoli ultimately holding out the current championship leader.
In the second race Cairoli was once again the pick of the field finishing ahead of Evgeny Bobryshev and Romain Febvre. Gajser would finish just behind the leaders in fourth after an early incident with Bobryshev.
“I feel good for sure, although I still miss something,” said Cairoli. “The skills I have on this very difficult and technical track helped me to win today with a perfect score. Winning the qualification on Saturday and the two races today, it hasn’t happened often, but I gained some strength this week in my arm and I very happy about that. I feel better and when you feel better you can respond and go on the attack.”
A 2-4 result was enough for Gajser to take control of the championship lead. Febvre suffered from a poor first moto colliding with teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek to finish way back in tenth place. A third in the second moto salvaged some points for the round but he now drops eight points behind Gajser in the overall.
Evgeny Bobryshev would claim third overall for the GP despite nursing an injured shoulder.
“I had no time on the bike during the week because of my shoulder.” The Russian said. “The track was really tough today with all of the ruts and the square edge bumps so to be third on the podium, I am really pumped because if you knew what I have and the pain I was riding through, man it’s just really amazing.”
In MX2, Jeffrey Herlings continues to dominate, winning both motos for his 54th grand prix victory. The Red Bull KTM rider did have his work cut out for him however facing illness and an extremely fast Jeremy Seewer in moto two.
Herlings would prevail however remaining undefeated for the year. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Dylan Ferrandis finished second (2-3) while Seewer claimed third (4-2).
The World Championship will now head to Trentino, Italy on May 15th for round eight of the series.
