Qualifying for round two of the FIM World Motocross Championship took place this morning at Suphan Buri, Thailand.
Ben Townley, who came out of retirement to contest the 2016 season, topped MXGP qualifying over Romain Febvre and Antonio Cairoli. It was only the second time in his career that the New Zealander won qualifying and first since 2005 at Matchams Park in Great Britain.
MXGP rookie Tim Gajser, who won the opening round in Qatar last week, finished fifth.
No surprises at the top of MX2 where Jeffrey Herlings took the win. Benoit Paturel finished second ahead of Max Anstie.
Dylan Ferrandis, who was expected to challenge Herlings for the championship and finished second last weekend, injured his shoulder and will miss round two. The Frenchman expressed his disappointment on Facebook saying, “I dislocated my right shoulder in the waves section without crashing. I will fly back in France tomorrow to visit my doctor as soon as possible, and hope to be back for Valkenswaard”.
American Thomas Covington finished tenth.
MXGP Qualifying Results
1. Ben Townley
2. Romain Febvre
3. Antonio Cairoli
4. Jeremy Van Horebeek
5. Tim Gajser
6. Kevin Strijbos
7. Max Nagl
8. Gautier Paulin
9. Shaun Simpson
10. Glenn Coldenhoff
11. Evgeny Bobryshev
12. Tommy Searle
13. Valentin Guillod
14. Alessandro Lupino
15. Kei Yamamoto
16. Christophe Charlier
17. Alex Snow
18. Chaiyan Romphan
19. Thanarat Penjan
20. Milko Potisek
21. Jose Butron
22. Tanel Leok
23. Clement Desalle
MX2 Qualifying Results
1. Jeffrey Herlings
2. Benoit Paturel
3. Max Anstie
4. Aleksandr Tonkov
5. Jeremy Seewer
6. Pauls Jonass
7. Petar Petrov
8. Samuele Bernardini
9. Vsevolod Brylyakov
10. Thomas Covington
11. Roberts Justs
12. Brian Bogers
13. Jorge Zaragoza
14. Alvin Ostlund
15. Freek van der Vlist
…
26. Dylan Ferrandis
