IN
THE
WIND
P46
CAIROLI TO MOTOGP?
Y
es, at least for a day.
Nine-time motocross
world champion Antonio
Cairoli recently got to see
how the other half lives
when he joined the Red
Bull KTM MotoGP Team for
their test at Valencia. The
2017 MXGP World Champi-
on, Cairoli, of the Red Bull
KTM MXGP Team, got the
chance to spin a few laps
on KTM's RC16 MotoGP
bike.
"I am grateful to KTM for
the fantastic opportunity
it has given me today and
I would like to especially
thank the guys in the test
team who did a great job for me,"
Cairoli said. "Trying a MotoGP
bike was always going to be
hugely exciting and the adrena-
line rush was enormous! I was
surprised at how much the grand
prix motorbike has evolved in 10
years and how much has been
improved in how it can corner.
The brakes and acceleration are
impressive and it's hard to find
the limit on such a perfect bike.
On the last run, I started to have
some serious fun after spend-
ing a few laps adapting myself,
especially to the gearbox which
is backwards compared to any
other bike. Having Mika Kal-
lio ride in front of me was very
important as I could follow his
lines, allowing me to improve lap
after lap, finding the best trajec-
tories. Riding at more than 300
km/h [180 mph) is really exciting,
but it is very different to moto-
cross as in MotoGP the lines are
well established and don't really
change during a race….com-
pletely opposite to how the lines
develop in motocross throughout
the course of a race. Anyway I
hope to have again soon another
opportunity to ride this fantastic
bike." CN
MXGP World Champion Antonio Cairoli spun a few laps on
KTM's RC16 MotoGP bike at Valencia.
