Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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IN THE WIND P54 Cairoli Takes Over MXGP Points Lead; Herlings Injured M XGP wrapped up its triple- header in Faenza, Italy, September 13. The Faenza circuit hosted three GPs in eight days, the first taking place with the MXGP of Italy, Sunday, Septem- ber 6 (which we reported in last week's issue), the second taking place Wednesday, September 9, with the MXGP of Citta di Faenza, and the final race taking place Sunday, September 13, with the MXGP of Emilia Romagna. When all was said and done, former MXGP champ Antonio Cairoli emerged as the new points leader. Part of that had to do with the departure of his Red Bull KTM teammate Jeffrey Herlings, who crashed out during free practice at Wednesday's MXGP of Citta di Faenza. Herlings took a hard blow to his upper torso (head and neck) area. After an MRI, his doctor recommended that he take some time off to heal. At the time of the crash, Herlings had won four of the seven rounds this year and was perched at the top of the champi- onship leaderboard. After sitting out Wednesday's and Sunday's MXGPs, Herlings will also watch the upcoming tripleheader races at the Mantova circuit from the side- lines before returning to racing. Wednesday's race (the MXGP of Citta di Faenza) saw Red Bull KTM's Jorge Prado win his first career GP in the premier class. The Spaniard went winless on the day in the motos, but his 2-2 was good enough to land the former MX2 champ on the top step of the MXGP podium for the first time. Swiss rider Jeremy Seewer (Yamaha) and defending MXGP Championship Tim Gajser (Hon- da) traded moto wins, with Gajser securing second overall with a 5-1 and Seewer third overall with a 1-7. (Seewer had a bad start and fell once in the second moto.) Cairoli was fourth overall and Ro- main Febvre (Kawasaki) was fifth. Despite not racing, Herlings still held the lead in the champi- onship, 263-241, over Cairoli at the end of the day. Gajser was third with 237. "A podium in Latvia was al- ready a big achievement for me after a rough start to the year and now getting this win," said Prado. "I had two good starts, just two mistakes in both races, which maybe cost me a race win. I'm still very happy because that last race was a very tough one, I was pushing very hard, and I really wanted to get that win, but I'm super happy." In MX2, Tom Vialle gave KTM a GP sweep on the day. Vialle won both MX2 motos to extend his championship lead to 21 over Belgian Jago Geerts (Kawasaki), who finished fourth overall on the day with a 3-9. Frenchman Maxime Renaux (Yamaha), Dutch rider Thomas The veteran, Antonio Cairoli, emerged from the Faenza tripleheader as the new MXGP points leader. PHOTOS: RAY ARCHER