Cairoli Impressive in 450 Debut

Antonio Cairoli made a huge change prior round 6 of the FIM World Motocross Championship at Talavera de la Reina in Spain. The longtime 350F rider, abruptly changed to the 450F. Prior to qualifying in Spain, Cairoli told On-Track Off-Road that they tested the 450 this winter and he felt the bike was a lot better than in previous years.

“I think we tested more with that bike than with the 350,” he said. “In the end I chose the 350 to start the season because I was not 100% fit after the injury at the Motocross of Nations and my sensation was obviously good with that bike. It was a difficult choice because I was already thinking a lot about the 450 but in the end I went with the engine that I knew already for many years.”

Early on, the switch has proved to work. Cairoli topped qualifying today in Spain over Clement Desalle and Evgeny Bobryshev. Current MXGP points leader Max Nagl finished fourth.

As we reported this week, Ryan Villopoto is out for the second consecutive round due to a broken tailbone. Villopoto is working with Aldon Baker in an effort to return, but our own Davey Coombs says it could be a while.

“Alas, the American is back home, healing that broken tailbone and likely not getting back on a race back for some time—like maybe the next month or more.”

In MX2, Jeffery Herlings won, but not in the fashion we’ve seen previously from the Dutch phenom, as Max Anstie keep him honest in qualifying. American Thomas Covington took third ahead of Herlings’ teammate Pauls Jonass.

MXGP Qualifying Results

1. Antonio Cairoli
2. Clement Desalle
3. Evgeny Bobryshev
4. Max Nagl
5. Romain Febvre
6. Gautier Paulin
7. Steven Frossard
8. Tommy Searle
9. Kevin Strijbos
10. David Phillippaerts
11. Todd Waters
12. Ken de Dycker
13. Dean Ferris
14. Jose Butron
15. Xavier Boog
…
16. Tyla Rattray
17. Shaun Simpson
23. Glenn Coldenhoff
25. Rui Goncalves

MX2 Qualifying Results

1. Jeffrey Herlings
2. Max Anstie
3. Thomas Covington
4. Pauls Jonass
5. Tim Gajser
6. Petar Petrov
7. Juilen Lieber
8. Dylan Ferrandis
9. Jeremy Seewer
10. Jordi Tixier
11. Valentin Guillod
12. Brian Bogers
13. Ivo Monticelli
14. Aleksandr Tonkov
15. Benoit Paturel

Full results here.