every single lap on his way to the
win, followed by Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Clement Desalle,
Honda teammates Gajser and
Evgeny Bobryshev, Monster
Energy Yamaha's Romain Febvre
and Rockstar Energy Husqvar-
na's new hire Gautier Paulin.
Yamaha's 2015 MXGP World
Champion Febvre fell while mov-
ing forward from a poor start and
ended up battling to the end with
Desalle's teammate Jordi Tixier.
It was a battle Tixier managed to
win, finishing ninth, just in front
of Febvre in 10th.
Moto two started with Gajser
stealing the early lead, but Cai-
roli was on him right away and
pressured Gajser for the entire
moto until finally finding his way
past with two laps to go to take
the win and the overall. Gajser,
who was feeling the affects of
the flu, finished second in front
of Febvre, Desalle, Paulin, Van
Horebeek, Bobryshev, Glenn
Coldenhoff, Tixier and Husqvar-
na's Max Anstie.
Cairoli takes the overall win
and points lead heading into
round two this weekend in Indo-
nesia, while Herlings struggled
all weekend, putting in a time of
12th overall in timed qualifying,
finishing 16th in Friday's qualify-
ing race, and then going 18-11
for 15th overall in his full-time
premier-class debut. Herlings
was, however, dealing with a
wrist injury that he suffered rac-
ing in Italy just prior to the MXGP
opener.
MX2
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's
Pauls Jonass had big shoes to
fill with Herlings moving up to the
MXGP class this year, and so
far he has filled them just fine,
VOL. 54 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 28, 2017 P35
(Left) Antonio
Cairoli (222)
proved that he still
has what it takes
to win. The former
MXGP World
champ and Red
Bull KTM Team
rider won both
MXGP motos at
the 2017 opener
in Qatar.
(Right) Latvia's
Pauls Jonass (Red
Bull KTM) fought
off Benoit Paturel
in both MX2 motos
to take his first
career GP win.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
RAY
ARCHER/KTM
IMAGES
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
RAY
ARCHER/KTM
IMAGES
