The 2021 MXGP season continues to offer surprises and on a Wednesday in autumn another ring from Tony Cairoli arrived a few weeks after retirement. At 36, still not in perfect shape after the double retirement on Sunday, the Sicilian of KTM went to take the 94th success of his amazing career in the Pietramurata Grand Prix, the second of three events on the Trentino circuit.
The Tonino Nazionale finished in third place in the first fraction, detached from the leading tandem, but it is in Race 2 that he built his masterpiece: he started very well at the opening of the starting gate, he commanded from start to finish, taking the wide on his pursuers and managing to give himself still a great satisfaction before going to hang up his helmet.
For us Italians, of course, Cairoli’s feat stole the show, but we must also speak of a World Championship that is now truly open to any result when only three appointments are missing, given that now the three contenders for the crown are all enclosed in the space of as many points.
The first twist was at the start of Race 1, with Jeffrey Herlings who was involved in an accident from which his KTM came out battered, forcing him to retire. A hard blow for the Dutchman, who had just returned from three consecutive victories that had allowed him to build a margin of 24 points. A gap that has disappeared. Indeed, it was overturned by Romain Febvre, who won in the duel with Tim Gajser for the victory, thus also taking the world leadership.
In the second heat, the three title contenders were the protagonists of a bad start and in the end the one who managed the best comeback was Gajser. The Honda rider finished third, behind an excellent Jeremy Seewer, but fourth place was enough for Herlings to regain the top of the World Championship with a point of margin on Febvre, fifth with his Kawasaki. The reigning world champion, on the other hand, follows them, as mentioned, at -3.
Compared to Sunday we must also report the step forward shown by Jorge Prado, fresh from an injury remedied last week in training: the Spaniard finished fifth in the first fraction, then in the second he was battling for the podium positions, but was forced to raise the white flag due to contact with Pauls Jonass.
MX2: surprisingly Hofer wins, Guadagnini immediately off the podium
Surprises were not lacking even in MX2, with the world leader Maxime Renaux who lived a more complicated day than usual, remaining involved in contacts in both heats: in the first with Kay de Wolf, in the second instead with his compatriot Tom Vialle, then forced to retire.
In any case, the Yamaha rider must be given credit for never giving up and for having been able to pull off two good comebacks, which led him to finish in seventh and fourth place respectively. In this way he still guaranteed a margin of 87 points over Jago Geerts, an excellent second in Race 1, but sixth and disappointing in the final race.
The two victories of the day went to Vialle and to an incredulous René Hofer, who in addition to Race 2 also took the top step of the podium of the Grand Prix, having also closed the first stage in fourth place. Mattia Guadagnini’s GP was two-faced, also slowed down by a bad start and contacts in Race 1, but then able to take the place of honor in Race 2. Result that allowed him to reduce the gap to 17 points from Vialle, with whom he must try to compete for the world podium, but who kept him down from that of Pietramurata.
It should be noted that in Race 1 there was also a bad accident at the start, with Stephen Rubini and Thibault Benistant colliding before the corner. The first unfortunately was hit by some bikes that were behind him and was taken off the track on a stretcher.
MXGP rankings
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 34: 48.910; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0: 01.008; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0: 25.488; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0: 34.807; 5. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), +0: 44.780; 6. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0: 45.729; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0: 54.647; 8. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0: 56,661; 9. Henry Jacobi (GER, Honda), +0: 59.380; 10. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Beta), +1: 00.160;
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 35: 08.916; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0: 02.601; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0: 04.915; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0: 07.054; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0: 10.463; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0: 15,671; 7. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, Husqvarna), +0: 46.087; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, GASGAS), +0: 51,388; 9. Ben Watson (GBR, Yamaha), +0: 52.602; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, GASGAS), +1: 04.312;
MXGP – GP Top 10 Classification: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 45 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 42 p .; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 41 p .; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 40 p .; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 29 p .; 6. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 27 p .; 7. Ben Watson (GBR, YAM), 27 p .; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, GAS), 23 p .; 9. Henry Jacobi (GER, HON), 22 p .; 10. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, BET), 20 p .;
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 573 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 572 p .; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 570 p .; 4. Jorge Prado (ESP, KTM), 473 p .; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 464 p .; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 451 p .; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, GAS), 391 p .; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 369 p .; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, KTM), 266 p .; 10. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN, HUS), 266 p .;
MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 707 points; 2. Honda, 579 p .; 3. Kawasaki, 577 p .; 4. Yamaha, 501 p .; 5. GASGAS, 437 p .; 6. Husqvarna, 293 p .; 7. Beta, 185 p .;
MX2 rankings
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 34: 41.767; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0: 03.130; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0: 24.303; 4. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), +0: 34.007; 5. Isak Gifting (SWE, GASGAS), +0: 47,625; 6. Wilson Todd (AUS, Kawasaki), +0: 52.367; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0: 56.819; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +1: 09.296; 9. Simon Längenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +1: 13,583; 10. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Kawasaki), +1: 14,997;
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 34: 01.864; 2. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, KTM), +0: 03.794; 3. Jed Beaton (AUS, Husqvarna), +0: 06.959; 4. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0: 15,281; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0: 19,676; 6. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0: 26.530; 7. Simon Längenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0: 27,819; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, GASGAS), +0: 37.666; 9. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0: 42.146; 10. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Kawasaki), +0: 44.194;
MX2 – GP Top 10 Classification: 1. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 43 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 37 p .; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 36 p .; 4. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, KTM), 32 p .; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 32 p .; 6. Simon Längenfelder (GER, GAS), 26 p .; 7. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 25 p .; 8. Wilson Todd (AUS, KAW), 25 p .; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 25 p .; 10. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, KAW), 22 p .;
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 595 points; 2. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 508 p .; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, KTM), 492 p .; 4. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, KTM), 475 p .; 5. Jed Beaton (AUS, HUS), 454 p .; 6. Rene Hofer (AUT, KTM), 436 p .; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 384 p .; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 384 p .; 9. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 364 p .; 10. Simon Längenfelder (GER, GAS), 271 p .;
MX2 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 676 points; 2. Yamaha, 662 p .; 3. Husqvarna, 510 p .; 4. Kawasaki, 423 p .; 5. Honda, 405 p .; 6. GASGAS, 365 p .; 7. TM, 14 p .;
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