IN
THE
WIND
P50
Gajser Wins MXGP of Portugal
T
im Gajser capped off a win-
ning weekend for Honda
when he claimed the overall
victory at the MXGP of Portugal,
May 19. With Ken Roczen winning
the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross
in California, Marc Marquez win-
ning the MotoGP round in France
(the 300th premier win for the
red brand) and Gajser winning
in Portugal, Honda racing had a
lot of celebrating to do Sunday
evening.
In Portugal and the Agueda
Circuit, Gajser made full use of
a couple of small mistakes by
MXGP points leader Antonio
Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) to take a
double-moto sweep.
Cairoli worked his way to the
front of the MXGP pack in the first
moto, while Gajser did the same
in second place.
Gajser chased the leader
Cairoli late in the race, turning the
pressure all the way up in the later
stages of the moto. Finally, Cairoli
cracked when he stalled his bike
in a turn, allowing Gajser to slip
past him.
Gajser had to fight off Cairoli
in the remaining two laps before
he could take the win. Gajser
crossed the finish line less than
two seconds ahead of Cairoli.
Swiss rider Arnaud Tonus
(Yamaha) took third 17 seconds
behind Cairoli.
Another Swiss rider Jeremy
Seewer (Yamaha) took fourth,
while Belgium's Julien Lieber (Ka-
wasaki) rounded out the top five.
In the second moto, Belgian
Clement Desalle (Kawasaki) led
the first seven laps before finally
giving way to both Cairoli and
Gajser.
Cairoli, the new leader, didn't
have much time to enjoy his time
out front before he lost the front
end in a turn and went down, giv-
ing Gajser the lead and dropping
to fourth.
Ten laps still remained, but
Gajser was able to cruise to the
finish, while Cairoli fought his
way back up to second. By the
time the Italian, Cairoli, got there,
Gajser was long since gone.
Gajser took the win nearly 11
seconds clear of Cairoli, with To-
nus again take third, followed by
Desalle and Frenchman Gautier
Tim Gajser
won both
MXGP motos
in Portugal.
PHOTO: HONDA HRC
