Published On: 9 maart 2013

Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings won the qualifying heats in Si Racha today and will start from pole position tomorrow. This morning the beautiful circuit was flooded after a heavy tropical rain shower during the first free practice of the MX2 class.

It was immediately decided to cancel the free training sessions and wait until after the afternoon to see how the program would proceed. The sun came out again and temperatures rose again towards 40 degrees, causing the circuit to dry up quickly.

In MX2 qualifying Febvre took the fastest start ahead of Herlings and Butron. Herlings quickly slipped into the lead but was unable to immediately pull away from the JM KTM rider. However, Herlings controlled the match and won easily for the Frenchman. Nicholls slipped past Butron in the end and finished third ahead of Coldenhoff and Butron. Julien Lieber finished ninth and Kevin Fors finished 25th after losing a lot of time in a crash on the first lap.

Results MX2

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 24:08.946; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KTM), +0:35.143; 3. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:52.007; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), +0:54.261; 5. Jose Butron (ESP, KTM), +0:56.349; 6. Mel Pocock (GBR, Yamaha), +0:59.213; 7. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:08.116; 8. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +1:11.914; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, Suzuki), +1:17.307; 10. Dean Ferris (AUS, Yamaha), +1:25.351; 11. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:25.931; 12. Petar Petrov (BUL, Yamaha), +1:27.441; 13. Stefan Kjer Olsen (DEN, Honda), +1:28.775; 14. Max Anstie (GBR, Suzuki), +1:32.960; 15. Maxime Desprey (FRA, Yamaha), +1:33.656; 16. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:34.422; 17. Harry Kullas (FIN, Honda), +1:36.180; 18. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Kawasaki), +1:52.221; 19. Viacheslav Golovkin (RUS, Kawasaki), +2:04.618; 20. Toshiki Tomita (JPN, Honda), -1 lap(s); 21. Giacomo Del Segato (ITA, KTM), -1 lap(s); 22. Roberts Justs (LAT, Honda), -1 lap(s); 23. Kei Yamamoto (JPN, Honda), -1 lap(s); 24. James Dunn (GBR, KTM), -1 lap(s); 25. Kevin Fors (BEL, Yamaha), -1 lap(s); 26. Pascal Rauchenecker (AUT, KTM), -2 lap(s); 27. Elliott Banks-Browne (GBR, KTM), -5 lap(s); 28. James Cottrell (GBR, Honda), -7 lap(s); 29. Ivo Monticelli (ITA, TM), -11 lap(s);

In the MX1 class Cairoli was immediately in command ahead of Frossard and De Dycker. Ken quickly passed the Yamaha rider and settled into the wheel of the world champion. However, he stayed a short distance away and made KTM 1-2 today. Frossard finished in third place ahead of Bobryshev, Boog and Desalle, who had a bad start. Everyone tried to save their strength for tomorrow in this heat, so there were few duels to see. Jeremy van Horebeek finished 12th after a good start, Kevin Strijbos finished 16th and Joel Roelants crossed the line in 18th place. Jens Getteman fell in the first corner and finished 21st, just ahead of Kenny Vandueren.

MX1 qualifying

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 24:16.731; 2. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:10.579; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Yamaha), +0:22.971; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:30.426; 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, KTM), +0:36.875; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:38.971; 7. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), +0:39.699; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:40.277; 9. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:43.698; 10. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:46.011; 11. David Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +0:51.113; 12. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:51.790; 13. David Philippaerts (ITA, Honda), +0:54.267; 14. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, KTM), +0:58.593; 15. Shaun Simpson (GBR, TM), +1:02.362; 16. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +1:13.568; 17. Augustus Justs (LAT, Honda), +1:21.859; 18. Joel Roelants (BEL, Yamaha), +1:23.424; 19. Jason Dougan (GBR, Honda), +1:27.339; 20. Jamie Law (GBR, KTM), +1:43.238; 21. Jens Getteman (BEL, Honda), +1:48.825; 22. Kenny Van Dueren (BEL, KTM), +2:01.351; 23. Masanori Ito (JPN, Yamaha), -5 lap(s);

Cairoli: Really congratulations to what everyone did after the big rain shower this morning. I never thought the course would be so good after the heavy rain. The race itself went very well, I had a very good start but got into a mud spot and it almost went wrong. Tomorrow it will be important to get a good start. I want to finish every race at the front and that's why I need good starts. It will be an interesting match tomorrow.

Herlings: Fortunately I had a good start. It was very difficult to pass in places with the MX2 bike but luckily I had no problem with that. I quickly got into the lead and was able to control the race. The track looked very good and has a lot of grip. That's why it will be difficult against the MX1 bikes tomorrow in the super final because they can use a lot of power and the circuit is very fast. But we'll see, my leg is completely fine and I hope to finish in the top 5 in the super final this time.