MX GP: Cairoli extends lead after Latvia success

RACE REPORT 28/06/2009 Cairoli extends lead with first Latvian win Cairoli Yamaha Red Bull De Carli's Tony Cairoli claimed his second MX1-GP event in the space of a week to extend his lead in the FIM World Championship to 57 points - more than one Grand Prix - with just five meetings left to run in the 2009 contest. The first ever trip to Latvia took place at the Kegums circuit and saw the stylish Sicilian race to 2nd and 1st positions in two sweaty but cloudy motos and watched by 32,000 spectators. The tenth round of fifteen in the '09 schedule and the second of three GPs inside three weeks occurred within a presentable and well-structured circuit, 50km south-east of the capital city of Riga. A long, loose-soiled and technically difficult track awaited the protagonists of the MX1-GP category. The soft surface quickly became rough with many deep ruts and bumps littering the jumps, waves and rollers. Kegums podium Cairoli opted for a different tyre profile choice to his peers which hindered his launch from the start gate slightly but the 23 year old claimed worked better for him across the course. With inventive and effective lines through the whoops section and ripping through the long uphill waves, Cairoli made time and positions from inside the top ten in both races. He pushed leader Clement Desalle all the way to the line in the first moto in what was yet another exciting finale. The De Carli representative just missed the chequered flag by two tenths of a second and incredibly set his quickest lap on that circulation after almost forty minutes of racing. In the second outing he again built up his speed to pass riders such as Leok, Coppins, De Dycker, Philippaerts and Nagl to reach Desalle and sprint ahead with three laps remaining. Cairoli has now won 8 motos from 20 and 4 grand prix from 10 in his first season in MX1-GP. He has 29 career victories and enjoys a gap of 57 points over Nagl in the standings with just 250 left to win. Coppins Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team's Josh Coppins returned to the podium for the first time since his win in Bulgaria at round two. The New Zealander picked up his second piece of silverware this term thanks to his strength and resilience around the course; traits that he has not been able to call on in recent GPs. He took 4th place in the first race but it was his late charge to 2nd, equalling his best finish of the year, that really caught the eye and confirmed the 32 year old's presence on the podium, continuing his recent spurt of good form. Team-mate David Philippaerts, who had made some suspension tests during the week, was 6th overall but was suffering in the wake of two days of illness in the lead-up to Latvia. The world champion started well in both motos but faded away from the battle for the top three in the second half of the races. He was 5th and 7th for his ranking. Yamaha Red Bull De Carli's other rider Tanel Leok was competing at 'almost' a home Grand Prix and a decent section of the crowd certainly voiced their support for the determined Estonian. Sadly a reasonably-secure 4th position was lost two-thirds of the distance into Moto1 when the 24 year old crashed and lost three laps restarting his bike. A more assured performance in the second half of Moto2 dragged him up to 4th for 11th overall. After Cairoli increased his margin in the table by 16 points in Latvia, Philippaerts needs to reduce a deficit of 58 points to catch his countryman and fellow 2009 Motocross of Nations team member. Coppins is 4th and 13 points behind the reigning number one. Leok is 7th. Yamaha can count on a 58 point lead in the Manufacturers standings with the YZ450F. Round eleven, and the third race in succession, will take place next week at Uddevalla for the Grand Prix of Sweden and precedes a summer break for the rest of July. Tony Cairoli, Yamaha Red Bull De Carli, 1st: "I am really happy with this GP, for sure. When I first saw the track I thought it would be hard to win because I still need to learn how to ride forty minutes in the sand with the 450 but my technical ability was good here and my lines also so I did not get as tired as I thought I would. I did not start so well but I took it easy in the first few laps and slowly pushed more and more. I worked really hard this winter so I know I am in good shape and that helped me make that fastest lap at the end of the first moto and also win a lot of time in the second. I am making good results at an important part of the season." Josh Coppins, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team, 3rd: "I was close to the podium last week in Germany so I knew it was possible here. For the six or so GPs before Teutschenthal I was struggling but I think I have fixed the problem and now I expect to be fighting up here for the rest of the season. I enjoyed the Grand Prix here and thought the track was pretty good." DP David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team, 6th: "My body is not 100% and today was difficult because it was hot and the track was very hard. I had good starts, good first laps and tried to push on from those but after the first half there was nothing left in the arms. I am not happy with the result but it is acceptable considering the week I have had. I should be better for Sweden." Tanel Leok, Yamaha Red Bull De Carli, 11th: "In the first heat I was not pushing hard and was just trying to stay consistent but I came to that corner and the rut was broken and I had lost a bit of concentration under braking. I turned into the corner and the front wheel went over the berm and I crashed. I couldn't restart the bike. I tried many times and it made me so tired. At the start of the second race the air felt different, harder to breathe. I could not find my rhythm easily but things were going better towards the end of the race. It was nice to race here with many fans from Estonia coming to watch; I just wish that first moto could have been different." Circuit Length: NA Crowd: 32,000 Weather: Cloudy 2009 GP of Latvia 28/06/2009 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Clement Desalle Honda BEL 40'05.568 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'00.258 3 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'23.770 4 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'44.151 5 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 1'17.536 6 Aigar Leok TM EST 1'27.503 7 Ken De Dycker Suzuki BEL 1'38.978 8 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'41.537 9 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'46.161 10 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 1'49.773 11 Manuel Priem Aprilia BEL 1'54.333 12 Tom Church CCM GBR -1Laps 13 Johan Carlsson Suzuki SWE -1Laps 14 Ivo Steinbergs Honda LVA -1Laps 15 Shannon Terreblanche Kawasaki RSA -1Laps 16 Lauris Freibergs Yamaha LVA -1Laps 18 Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED -1Laps 19 Davis Livs Yamaha LVA -1Laps Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'10.586 2 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'05.777 3 Ken De Dycker Suzuki BEL 0'14.985 4 Tanel Leok Yamaha EST 0'17.525 5 Clement Desalle Honda BEL 0'32.897 6 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'51.444 7 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 1'00.833 8 Aigar Leok TM EST 1'05.582 9 Manuel Priem Aprilia BEL 1'15.691 10 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 1'29.377 11 Jason Dougan CCM GBR 1'35.663 12 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'38.606 13 Bryan Mackenzie Honda GBR 1'39.695 14 Lauris Freibergs Yamaha LVA 1'40.417 15 Loic Leonce Aprilia FRA -1Laps 16 Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED -1Laps 19 Davis Livs Yamaha LVA -1Laps Rider Standings 28/06/2009 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 385 2. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 328 3. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 327 4. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 314 5. Clement Desalle Honda BEL 309 6. Ken De Dycker Suzuki BEL 298 7. Tanel Leok Yamaha EST 270 8. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 215 9. Aigar Leok TM EST 167 10. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 151 11. David Vuillemin Kawasaki FRA 137 12. Manuel Priem Aprilia BEL 117 13. Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 104 14. Billy MacKenzie Honda GBR 103 15. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 100 19. Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 63 27. Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED 27 37. Lauris Freibergs Yamaha LVA 12 42. Davis Livs Yamaha LVA 4 Manufacturer Standings 28/06/2009 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 446 2. KTM 388 3. Honda 344 4. Suzuki 313 5. Kawasaki 197 6. TM 167 7. Aprilia 141 8. CCM 99 RACE REPORT 28/06/2009 Guarneri 5th at first Latvian Grand Prix Guarneri The Grand Prix of Latvia at the Kegums circuit represented the tenth round of fifteen in the FIM MX2-GP World Championship and Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team's Davide Guarneri took yet another top five finish (his fifth of the year) to keep pace with the front runners in the 2009 series. The sandy track, not so far from Riga and the Baltic Sea, was physical, technical and very demanding thanks to the many bumps and deep ruts carved into the terrain. Stuffy conditions also made the going difficult for the riders. Guarneri, who along with fellow countrymen Tony Cairoli and David Philippaerts was presented to the press as the representatives of Italy in the 2009 Motocross of Nations, wasn't able to banish his trend of posting one decent and then one average result across both motos. A mediocre start saw the 24 year old edging through from 13th to 7th place. A more determined and competent getaway in Moto2 saw him circulate mostly on his own in 4th for the duration. Guarneri has yet to finish outside the top seven this year on his YZ250FM but the podium still eludes him in 2009. Team-mate Nico Aubin had a weekend to forget with mistakes in both motos leaving him with a DNF on his scorecard. The Frenchman was buried in the second half of the field in both starts and although a recovery from almost last to 11th was promising in Moto1 a crash in the second affair dumped him far behind his peers and forced his retirement. The third member of the team Loic Larrieu was riding with a weak right wrist after his incident in Germany last week. The French teenager negotiated his second GP in sandy terrain and was 18th overall with 9 points in total. Bobryshev Performing in front of some fans and friends Evgeny Bobryshev enjoyed his best meeting of the season so far for the Yamaha Van Beers team to finish 8th overall. The Russian was 10th and 9th. After completing four days of riding this week Utag Yamaha.com's Zach Osborne attempted another comeback to GP action after suffering his broken left wrist in Portugal in May. The American felt uncompetitive after pushing to the maximum for 23rd position in the qualification Heat and will now restart his preparation and training and only return to world championship duty when he feels capable of making a difference to the MX2-GP pack. In the championship standings Guarneri remains Yamaha's best hope of title success and keeps in 4th position, 5 points from the top three and 75 from the lead. Round eleven will take place next week at Uddevalla for the Grand Prix of Sweden. Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Motocross Team, 5th: "This track was sandy but not really that deep and you could use your normal style. It was difficult out there because it was so rough with many square-edged bumps and holes. I felt fast and the podium should have been possible if I had made a better start in the first moto. I took some iron supplements this week and I feel the results. I believe I will be strong in Sweden also and I really want to fight for the win there. It is a good and competitive championship and now I am fourth. On the hard tracks I think I can beat Rui so a top three is for sure the goal." Nico Aubin, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Motocross Team, 17th: "I made two bad starts and in the first moto I made a mistake on the second corner and everybody passed me. I restarted 37th and came back to 11th, which was a good race but not where I wanted to be. In the second one I was in the second half of the group again and after three laps had a crash. I lost maybe one minute recovering and restarting the bike. I came back to the pits and then re-entered the race to try and make a rhythm before stopping again; not a good weekend." Loic Larrieu, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Motocross Team, 18th: "This track is not like Ernee! It was hard work out there. My wrist is a little bit sore but did not bother me too much. I still have to learn about GP speed at places like this." Zach Osborne, Utag Yamaha.com: "I did my best yesterday to get a result. I went out in the first practice and it was OK because the track was still smooth and I felt alright. As it began to get rougher then it got worse and worse for me. I slipped off in the qualifier and it did not affect my wrist but I could see that I was not ready to run at that pace with the strength I have in the wrist. It is a big disappointment for all of us because we are all paying for something that was not our fault. I was fifteen points down from the guy who now has the red plate when we had the accident and that is disheartening. Now we are just going to wait until I am 100% and we know I can win another race." Circuit Length: NA Crowd: 32,000 Weather: Cloudy 2009 GP of Latvia 28/06/2009

Race 1 - 20 Laps

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Total Time
1	Marvin Musquin	KTM	FRA	39'56.178
2	Rui Goncalves	KTM	POR	0'05.504
3	Ken Roczen	Suzuki	GER	0'05.765
4	Steven Frossard	Kawasaki	FRA	0'12.918
5	Gautier Paulin	Kawasaki	FRA	0'16.400
6	Joel Roelants	KTM	BEL	0'17.077
7	Davide Guarneri	Yamaha	ITA	0'35.406
8	Dennis Verbruggen	Honda	BEL	0'35.870
9	Manuel Monni	Yamaha	ITA	0'36.058
10	Evgeny Bobryshev	Yamaha	RUS	0'59.012
11	Nicolas Aubin	Yamaha	FRA	1'02.638
12	Marcus Schiffer	KTM	GER	1'09.039
13	Matiss Karro	Suzuki	LVA	1'11.486
14	Anthony Boissière	KTM	FRA	1'22.286
15	Jose Antonio Butron	Suzuki	ESP	1'26.538
18	Loic Larrieu	Yamaha	FRA

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