In a blaze of air-horns, flags from countries around the World and amazing colour Antonio Cairoli holeshot the opening moto of the MX1 class and led a Belgian freight-train of Desalle, De dycker, Strijbos and Van Horebeek into the opening lap.  Click here for highlights of the racing

Cairoli went down though on lap two and handed the lead to Desalle, he was able to pick himself up in fourth place, but on this hard, fast circuit making up ground was not going to be easy. Searle went down with Guarneri, and both dropped back many places.

Cairoli was wasting no time though as he pushed up on the back wheel of Strijbos, looking for a way past the Belgian rider. The Italian crowd went into overdrive as Cairoli pushed up the inside of Strijbos in a tight corner, moving into third place in the process.

Searle passed Barragan in 16th position as Scotsmen, Billy Mackenzie and Shaun Simpson were riding well in 10th and 11th place. Paulin also passed Strijbos (who had lost a place to Van Horebeek) and was looking for a way past Van Horebeek.

Desalles was riding well up front, and his lead was six seconds over De Dycker with Cairoli a further five seconds back. Simpson passed Mackenzie to move into the top ten and Bobryshev was fighting through the pack in 22nd place. Roelants was also a long way back in 25th.

Nagl also went past Strijbos who was fading badly. A nice battle behind Mackenzie as the two other Italians Philippaerts and Guarneri fought for 13th and 14th places, but starting to put pressure on the Scotsman.

Philippaerts went down in a corner, losing his chance for a good home GP result as he retired from the moto. Cairoli made another mistake, going down in a corner and letting Paulin and Van Horebeek past.

The Italian was able to get back around Van Horebeek, although with Paulin three seconds ahead getting any further up the field, even with his countrymen’s support was going to be tough. Mackenzie dropped to 15th place, as Bobryshev moved up to 16th.

American Jeff Alessi held 23th position, although behind him were retire Jonathan Barragan and David Philippaerts, so in fact the American was in last spot. Searle was looking for
a way past Goncalves for 12th position.

Not a lot happened in the last part of this moto as riders didn’t change position and Desalles 10 second lead was never in doubt. Searle had moved up to 11th and was less than a second behind Simpson as the race closed down. Desalle won, from De Dycker, Paulin, Cairoli, Van Horebeek, Nagl, Strijbos and Boog.

Second MX1 moto and its Paulin with the holeshot from Cairoli, Boog, Van Horebeek, Nagl, Mackenzie, De Dycker, Searle, Bobryshev, and Guarneri in 10th. Further back are Desalle in 11th, Simpson 12th, Strijbos 17th and Jeff Alessi in 23rd.

Paulin made a quick break and Boog passed Cairoli, much to the displeasure of the crowd. De Dycker was on the charge passing Mackenzie and Nagl. Desalle was up to 8th on the first lap. Mackenzie then made a mistake and dropped to 18th place.

De Dycker also passed Van Horebeek, and Desalle passed Bobryshev. Cairoli passed Boog and the Frenchman went down from the move. Desalle quickly moved into sixth place, and was chasing down Nagl for fifth. Mackenzie dropped to 19th place, Strijbos moved up to 10th, passing Simpson.

Bobryshev was having a nightmare as he dropped down to 15th position, while Searle was in 6th and Simpson 10th. The battle for second was heating up as Cairoli latched onto the back of the De Dycker, Van Horebeek battle. Cairoli got by Van Horbeek on lap 10 and set out after second placed De Dycker. Paulin with a lead of four seconds was not out of the question for the amazing Italian rider.

Cairoli disposed of De Dycker for second and suddenly got a burst of speed and within a short time made up a lot of ground on leader Paulin. With this the crowd started coming into play as the air-horns and screamed had been silent were now very evident.

Paulin though is not the same rider who might have conceded defeat at this stage last year knows his speed is the match of his Italian rival and also put an extra burst. Five minutes and two laps and this GP would be decided.

As the riders came to the lapped traffic Cairoli seemed to get the upper hand and pulled back a couple of seconds. With time running out this GP was suddenly turning into a classic as the Frenchman and Italian tried to deny the other victory.

Despite the calls from the crowd and the always late charge by Caroli Paulin held on for a great moto win and GP victory. A classic Grand Prix at a classic old school GP facility.

FIM World MX1 Championship results / Grand Prix of Italy

MX1 Moto one: 1. Desalle, 2. De Dycker, 3. Paulin, 4. Cairoli, 5. Van Horebeek, 6. Nagl, 7. Strijbos, 8. Boog, 9. Guarneri, 10. Searle, 11. Simpson, 12. Karro, 13. Goncalves, 14. Potisek, 15. Bobryshev

MX1 Moto two: 1. Paulin, 2. Cairoli, 3. De Dycker, 4. Van Horebeek, 5. Searle, 6. Nagl, 7. Strijbos, 8. Guarneri, 9. Boog, 10. Potisek, 11. Bobyshev, 12. Barragan, 13. Ullrich, 14. Mackenzie, 15. Karro

MX1 O/A: 1. Gautier Paulin 45pts, 2. De Dycker 42pts, 3. Cairoli 40pts, 4. Van Horebeek 34pts, 5. Nagl 30pts, 6. Strijbos 28pts, 7. Searle 27pts, 8. Guarneri 25pts, 9. Boog 25pts, 10. Desalle 25pts

MX1 Championship points: 1. Cairoli 417pts, 2. Paulin 366pts, 3. Desalle 334pts, 4. De Dycker 319pts, 5. Strijbos 271pts, 6. Searle 266pts, 7. Nagl 220pts, 8. Van Horebeek 205pts, 9. Goncalves 180tps, 10. Philippaerts 145pts