VOL. 55 ISSUE 24 JUNE 19, 2018 P29
then passed one rider per lap un-
til retaking the lead from Honda's
Tim Gajser on lap five, then held
that lead to the finish.
Cairoli won the moto by three
and a half seconds over Gajser,
who was followed home by
Paulin, Anstie, Monster Energy
Yamaha's Jeremy Seewer, his
teammate Febvre and Strijbos.
Overall, Cairoli's 1-1 gave him
the win over the 4-3 of Paulin,
the 3-4 of Anstie, the 6-2 of
Gajser, and the 5-6 of Febvre.
Opening-moto runner-up Desalle
went down hard in the early go-
ing and had to pull into the pits
to get his motorcycle repaired,
eventually re-entering the race
and grabbing 1 point for 20th
place.
Cairoli now trails Herlings
by only 12 points, but with two
weekends—three weeks—off
between the MXGP of Lombar-
dia and the next two rounds in
Indonesia on July 1 and 8, it's
possible—even probable—that
Herlings will be there to at least
attempt to race.
"Overall it was a good weekend.
I'm taking home 50 points which is
very important for the champion-
ship," Cairoli said. "We are looking
forward to Indonesia, it will be a
hot race, which I like, so hopefully
we will be back on the podium
which is always the goal."
As the two KTM pilots duke
it out at the top of the points
leaderboard, third in points,
Desalle, now trails Cairoli by fully
100 points with nine rounds left
to run.
In the MX2 class, American
Thomas Covington (Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna) again quali-
fied first by winning the qualifying
race on Saturday in dominant
fashion. In the opening moto,
Covington gated second behind
Red Bull KTM's Jorge Prado and
studied the young Spaniard's
lines until an error gave Coving-
ton the window to move by for
the lead. At that point, Covington
ran away with the moto, win-
ning by almost six seconds over
Prado, points leader and defend-
ing champ Pauls Jonass, Ya-
maha's Ben Watson and Thomas
Kjer Olsen.
Prado got the start again in
moto two with Covington again
giving chase, but this time Cov-
ington eventually started losing
ground instead of gaining it, first
being passed by teammate Ol-
sen and then by Jonass to finish
fourth, while Prado led the moto
from start to finish.
Prado took the overall win with
his 2-1 over Covington's 1-4 and
Jonass's 3-3. Then came Olsen
in fourth (5-2) and Watson in fifth
(4-5).
Jonass continues to lead the
championship, now by nine points
over Prado, while Covington has
moved up to sixth in points.
"The weekend overall felt re-
ally good starting on Saturday,"
Covington said. "I just had a nice
flow around the track and I felt
really comfortable with the bike.
It was awesome." CN
MXGP
1. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 1-1
2. Gautier Paulin (Hus) 4-3
3. Max Anstie (Hus) 3-4
4. Tim Gajser (Hon) 6-2
5. Romain Febvre (Yam) 5-6
MX2
1. Jorge Prado (KTM) 2-1
2. Thomas Covington (Hus) 1-4
3. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 3-3
4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (Hus) 5-2
5. Ben Watson (Yam) 4-5
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
RAY
ARCHER/KTM
IMAGES
