MX GP: Philippaerts and Cairoli make French podium

RACE REPORT 07/06/2009 Philippaerts and Cairoli grace French podium Ernee podium Yamaha filled two places on the podium in front of 38,000 spectators at a vibrant Ernee circuit for the Grand Prix of France. The eighth stop of fifteen on the FIM MX1-GP World Championship calendar. Reigning champion David Philippaerts picked up his fourth rostrum, and third appearance in succession, with the runner-up spot on the YZ450FM while Yamaha Red Bull De Carli's Tony Cairoli was third for his fifth trophy of the campaign. The Ernee course had last seen Grand Prix action in 2006 when Stefan Everts rounded off an incredible career and tally of records and achievements with victory on the steep French slopes. The course had benefitted from attempts to make the dirt softer but the quantity of stones and the loose top soil meant that it was slippery and forced riders to take risks in the pursuit of difficult overtaking chances. The opening sprint of 35 minutes and 2 laps took place under a shower in what was a case of 'four seasons in one day' as rain, sunshine, a thunder storm and even hail appeared throughout the afternoon. The rainfall caused the first moto to be the wettest and muddiest for the MX1-GP riders since the opening round at Faenza, Italy. Philippaerts Philippaerts, winner of his first GP of the season last week at Mallory Park, held off Clement Desalle for 2nd place in Moto1. He then recovered from a crash and another slip in a busy Moto2 (that was the most entertaining race of the day) to plot his way through the field to secure 4th. Cairoli had an average start and could not rise higher than 7th in the processional fare that was Moto1. He was more proactive in Moto2 after surviving a tangle with Josh Coppins and team-mate Tanel Leok and his speed around the rougher bumps lifted him to 2nd place by the end of the distance. Tanel Leok Estonian Leok had a better Grand Prix than in Britain last week and was 4th overall. The Italian Champion defied two crashes in Moto1 to score 8th and then chased Cairoli to 3rd spot later in the afternoon. Leok passed Josh Coppins to move into the top three (the first time since round four in Valkenswaard). The New Zealander managed 6th in the final classification, giving Yamaha four riders high up the leader-board, despite more fitness problems. After taking 6th in the first race he spent a sizeable part of Moto2 clinging onto a rostrum slot with 3rd but was powerless to resist the assaults of Cairoli, Philippaerts and Leok in the throes of the meeting. Yamaha representatives have been present on the podium at all eight rounds so far. With the injury and absence of Jonathan Barragan the world championship standings are beginning to narrow in its focus as to who will claim the '09 MX1-GP title. Cairoli leads by 30 points over Philippaerts in second; in total all four Yamaha riders fill the top seven positions with Coppins in fourth and Leok seventh. Thanks to YZ technology Yamaha also enjoy a 44 point lead in the manufacturer's standings. Now into the second half of the campaign the teams face a three week journey across northern Europe in two weeks time. Round nine will occur at Talkessel in Teutschenthal for the Grand Prix of Germany before travelling to Latvia and Sweden. David Philippaerts, Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team, 2nd: "I am happy with today because I had two crashes in the first moto but had some good lines and made a decent race to save a podium position. We had two different races. In the first the line wasn't very big and in the second there was more choice but it was rougher and more difficult. Max was very fast today but I want to push to be faster than him; for the last two GPs it has been us two at the front. We still have a lot of races to go in this championship and riders like Josh and Desalle will play a part yet. It was nice to race here in France with all the fans packed in the amphitheatre, when you jump past them you can see many faces." Cairoli Tony Cairoli, Yamaha Red Bull De Carli, 3rd: "I did not train this week and had some pain in my back after Mallory. I was quite scared last week that I had done some damage and was relieved when nothing showed up in the examination. I was looking forward to this GP even though I wasn't feeling 100%. It was a shame about the rain in the first moto because passing other riders was actually pretty dangerous and I needed to learn a bit more about riding an MX1 bike in these conditions; it was only Faenza at the start of the year when we raced in something similar. My confidence with the bike is good but I still need to get experience in weather like this." Tanel Leok, Yamaha Red Bull De Carli, 4th: "That was a bit better. The first race was difficult because it was muddy and slippery; I crashed twice. Coppins went down in front of me but because I could not see that well I hit him then Tony struck me and a few of us were having problems there! My goggles misted up after that and it was tricky to focus, but I did not want to throw them away. I was feeling good but was making mistakes and after another crash I chucked the goggles. The second race was good but did not start well because I touched Pichon on the start straight and lost a lot of ground. I attacked the first lap and passed a lot of guys, and I was happy with that because it is part of my riding that I have been working on. It was hard to overtake Josh for a while there but at the end I could push harder." Josh Coppins, Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team, 6th: "I got tired and didn't have any power at the end; there was nothing left in the tank. I still have the same problem as the last few GPs and I am not sure why because my strength is normally my strong point. So I am struggling a little bit at the moment and need to get it fixed." Crowd: 38,000 Weather: Changeable 2009 GP of France 07/06/2009 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 41'20.506 2 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'16.244 3 Ken De Dycker Suzuki BEL 0'47.406 4 Clement Desalle Honda BEL 0'58.202 5 Mickael Pichon Honda FRA 1'05.130 6 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 1'08.726 7 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 1'29.764 8 Tanel Leok Yamaha EST 1'50.119 9 Aigar Leok TM EST 2'12.353 10 Tom Church CCM GBR -1Laps 11 Manuel Priem Aprilia BEL -1Laps 12 David Vuillemin Kawasaki FRA -1Laps 13 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA -1Laps 14 Julien Bill Aprilia CHE -1Laps 15 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA -1Laps 17 Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED -1Laps Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 41'08.999 2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'12.302 3 Tanel Leok Yamaha EST 0'15.882 4 David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 0'19.173 5 Billy MacKenzie Honda GBR 0'22.343 6 Clement Desalle Honda BEL 0'24.320 7 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'32.330 8 Aigar Leok TM EST 1'12.048 9 Mickael Pichon Honda FRA 1'18.576 10 Jason Dougan CCM GBR 1'21.536 11 Manuel Priem Aprilia BEL 1'24.926 12 Julien Bill Aprilia CHE 1'32.363 13 Tom Church CCM GBR 1'35.771 14 David Vuillemin Kawasaki FRA 1'52.964 15 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 2'03.032 19 Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP -1Laps 20 Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED -1Laps Rider Standings 07/06/2009 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 291 2. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 261 3. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 248 4. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 238 5. Clement Desalle Honda BEL 237 6. Ken De Dycker Suzuki BEL 228 7. Tanel Leok Yamaha EST 223 8. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 215 9. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 120 10. Aigar Leok TM EST 118 11. David Vuillemin Kawasaki FRA 117 12. Billy MacKenzie Honda GBR 103 13. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 100 14. Kevin Strijbos Honda BEL 82 15. Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 80 24. Carlos Campano Yamaha ESP 36 29. Rob van Vijfeijken Yamaha NED 18 Manufacturer Standings 07/06/2009 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 352 2. KTM 308 3. Honda 272 4. Suzuki 243 5. Kawasaki 155 6. TM 118 7. Aprilia 98 8. CCM 66 RACE REPORT 07/06/2009 Larrieu in fantastic debut podium in France Larrieu The eighth round of fifteen in the MX2-GP World Championship saw Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci Motocross team's Loic Larrieu surprisingly take the first podium result of his career with third position at the Grand Prix of France at a windy, busy and loud Ernee circuit. 38,000 spectators crowded the steep hillside and braved some chilly winds and frequent showers to witness the latest action fare in this competitive series. Larrieu, in his first world championship campaign, benefitted from two good starts to capture 4th and 5th positions and become the first rookie in 2009 to scale the podium. An all-French top three drove the home crowd wild and Larrieu was at the centre of the celebrations. The teenager gave the YZ250FM its first trophy since Nico Aubin collected the first silverware for the Italian team at the GP of Benelux last month. Aubin, who entered the meeting with a sore shoulder as a consequence of his fall in the second moto last week at the British GP, was slightly disappointed to finish with 9th overall. The Frenchman did not collect the best of positions out of the gate and the first moto in particular was tricky, being run in a heavy shower that created very muddy conditions and a single racing line. He was 9th and 8th for his ranking. Guarneri Three places in front of Aubin was Davide Guarneri with 6th overall. The Italian had his worst race finish of the season in Moto1 with 14th after a bad start and needing to pit for more goggles. A better getaway in Moto2 saw the consistent championship runner a safe 3rd in another race that did not see much action in the way of overtaking. Guarneri is still 3rd in the standings and 29 points from Marvin Musquin at the peak of the table. Aubin is 7th and Larrieu has moved up to 11th. Italian Champion Manuel Monni is 8th and collected a decent second moto finish of 6th at Ernee. Round nine will take place at the fast and natural layout of Talkessel, Teutschenthal for the Grand Prix of Germany in two weeks time where Utag Yamaha.com Zach Osborne, winner of the Turkish round hopes to be circulating with his YZ250FM once more. Loic Larrieu, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 3rd: "This is a great result for me and an important point in my season. The starts were really important for me today and I think the second moto was tougher than the first one. I learned a valuable lesson today and that is how important it is to start with the leaders in order to find a good rhythm quickly. I could make some good laps and felt a bit tired because of the conditions but otherwise it was a memorable day. To do this in front of my home crowd is fantastic and a podium is a surprise for me; certainly at this round!" Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 6th: "The first moto was difficult because it started to rain heavily just before. I made a bad start and tried to pass some riders but had to take off the goggles and then stopped in the pits for more. I came back to twelfth but slipped off again two laps from the end. The track was really strange; only one line and away from that it was almost impossible to pass. I went to the outside of the gate and got a much better start in the second moto. I was third and felt a bit stiff on the first three laps but could then push to catch Roczen. I made three mistakes that almost caused me to crash and chose to finish the moto in the top three and not take more risks." Nico Aubin, Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team, 9th: "It was another difficult week. With some bad starts I could make 9th and 8th, and I don't really have that much to say. The speed was pretty good but the results not so much. My shoulder did not bother me too much; I just had to ride with some pain. There was only one good line for each corner so if you didn't get the holeshot it was very hard to win or make the podium." Crowd: 38,000 Weather: Changeable 2009 GP of France 07/06/2009

Race 1 - 19 Laps

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Total Time
1	Marvin Musquin	KTM	FRA	41'36.339
2	Anthony Boissière	KTM	FRA	0'10.784
3	Steven Frossard	Kawasaki	FRA	0'28.291
4	Loic Larrieu	Yamaha	FRA	0'52.210
5	Arnaud Tonus	KTM	CHE	1'03.251
6	Valentin Teillet	KTM	FRA	1'11.337
7	Loic Rombaut	Kawasaki	FRA	1'18.584
8	Gautier Paulin	Kawasaki	FRA	1'20.398
9	Nicolas Aubin	Yamaha	FRA	1'23.480
10	Rui Goncalves	KTM	POR	1'25.855
11	Joel Roelants	KTM	BEL	1'28.389
12	Evgeny Bobryshev	Yamaha	RUS	1'45.973
13	Xavier Boog	Suzuki	FRA	1'52.847
14	Davide Guarneri	Yamaha	ITA	2'18.686
15	Ken Roczen	Suzuki	GER	-1Laps
16	Cedric Soubeyras	Yamaha	FRA	-1Laps
17	Manuel Monni	Yamaha	ITA	-1Laps
18	Mel Pocock	Yamaha	GBR	-1Laps

Race 2 - 19 Laps

Pos.	Rider	Manu.	Nat.	Total Time
1	Marvin Musquin	KTM	FRA	40'24.450

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