Qualifying Report Germany
FIM MX World Champs 2014
While the first day of summer didn’t provide the hot, glorious, blue skied day most had dreamed of, all to do with weather was temporarily forgotten as round eleven of the FIM Motocross World Championship cracked off with a pair of thrilling qualifying heat races which saw Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Kevin Strijbos and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings take qualifying heat glory.
Also tearing up the track under the thick and gloomy cloud cover, round five of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship had their first race of the weekend which saw Fonta MX Yamaha Racing’s Chiara Fontanesi extend her points lead, winning over Bud Racing Kawasaki duo Meghan Rutledge and Marianna Balbi who is a SEL, Sport & Event Logistics, supported wild card entry.
The MXGP qualifying heat couldn’t have started any better for the German fans with their star Team HRC’s Max Nagl looking like he never left. Despite only just returning from injury where he had both hands operated on, the German snatched the holeshot from the reigning champ Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli, encouraging the crowd to fire up those famous German chainsaws.
Although the air was nippy, the racing was hot with the trio of Belgian’s not wasting anytime in moving forward. Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Kevin Strijbos was the first to make a move for the lead passing Cairoli out of turn one and scrubbing past Nagl to take over first. Before long the other two Belgians, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Clement Desalle and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Van Horebeek had merged into second and third which forced the local legend back to fourth.
While Cairoli seemed content in fifth, Van Horebeek was serving up pancakes in third throwing a huge scrub over the jump made most famous for American Eli Tomac’s crash during last year’s edition of the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, to pass his countryman Desalle for second.
Coming into the closing stages Nagl had found a way around Desalle who had appeared to have lost his rhythm. With three laps to go, both Van Horebeek and Cairoli decided to turn up the heat. Van Horebeek reeled in countryman Strijbos while Cairoli had his sights on Desalle for fourth. While both put in their best last minute effort, it all was too little to late which allowed Strijbos his third qualifying heat win of the season.
Van Horebeek dropped his head knowing he could have had it in the bag but a few sketchy moments on the last lap forced him to settle for second. Meanwhile Max Nagl took the title of most impressive performance, qualifying third on his return to MXGP. Desalle managed to hold on for fourth while Cairoli rode a conservative race for fifth.
With a chilly breeze swirling around the circuit of Teutschenthal, the gates dropped and the holeshot was snatched up by none other than the holeshot master himself KTM Silver Actions José Butrón. With Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings going second around turn one followed by Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser and CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Dylan Ferrandis, the Spaniard Butrón immediately had his work cut out for him.
Digging deep, Butrón led the first three quarters of a lap before having the red plate holder Herlings launch past him over the triple while he, Butrón, opted to double up rather than clear all three.
With Herlings taking over the lead Gajser and Ferrandis knew they had no time to waste and soon pushed past last years number three to take over the second and third positions. With Gajser and Ferrandis going through, Butron was dropped back to fourth and was forced to deal with a load of pressure from BikeIT Yamaha Cosworth’s Max Anstie who finally got off to a decent start.
Before long Anstie had taken over fourth, but only lasted a brief moment, for on lap four the Brit was nowhere to be seen leaving fourth to the Red Bull KTM Factory bike of Jordi Tixier. Meanwhile Kemea Yamaha Racing’s Petar Petrov was putting in a remarkable ride, keeping Tixier in striking distance in fifth.
Coming into the closing stages of the race, the flying Dutchman had already checked out, leaving the feud of the moto to Gajser and Ferrandis. While Ferrandis threw everything he could at Gajser in effort to push past, the hearty Slovenian wouldn’t relent and managed to hold on for his best qualifying heat finish. Ferrandis was forced to settle for third with Tixier and Petrov rounding out the top five.
As for CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Arnaud Tonus, bad luck has struck the super talented Swiss once again when a big nose-dive over the triple saw him crash and dislocate his shoulder in free practice this morning.
MXGP Qualifying Race top ten: 1. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 24:54.706; 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:02.165; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), +0:06.532; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:15.964; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:18.336; 6. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.766; 7. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:28.892; 8. Davide Guarneri (ITA, TM), +0:38.691; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:39.992; 10. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:40.770.
MX2 Qualifying Race top ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 24:47.554; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:19.575; 3. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:21.716; 4. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +0:32.092; 5. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +0:37.473; 6. Valentin Guillod (SUI, KTM), +0:37.854; 7. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:46.284; 8. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:48.752; 9. Mel Pocock (GBR, KTM), +0:50.705; 10. Damon Graulus (BEL, KTM), +0:52.220.
Click here to obtain the complete results.
All the photos of the MXGP of Germany will be available here
MXGP GERMANY – QUICK FACTS
Circuit length: 1565
Type of ground: Hard Pack
Temperature: 18°
Weather conditions: cloudy
