MX1 Bellpuig: Tanel Leok surprises!
The Spanish GP seemed like a mandatory event for the Belgian MX1 pilots who were unable to achieve appealing results. Yet there was a Belgian team that could celebrate because LS Motors-Honda from Lier took the GP with Tanel Leok (7+1) ahead of David Philippaerts (2+5) and Max Nagl (1+9). For the first time this season, world champion Cairoli (6+3) finished next to the podium. With the same points as Cairoli, Clément Desalle (3+6) finished fourth and best Belgian. De Dycker finished sixth, Kevin Strijbos (11+8) had his best GP of the season with tenth place. Ramon (15+7) lost even more ground in the World Championship after a disastrous GP. Marc De Reuver also leaves Spain with a bitter feeling. The Beursfoon-Suzuki pilot scored no points in Catalunya. Sturm-JJS Motors-Kawasaki pilot Kevin Wouts can add two points to his total.
Nagl's disappearing act
In the first series, KTM's German master magician, Max Nagl, performed his great disappearing trick again. Nagl took the holeshot and won easily. Philippaerts briefly had to give up second place to fellow countryman Cairoli, but when the latter made a mistake he regained second place. Fast starter Boissière seemed to be heading for a good third place with his TM, but Desalle put things in order in the last three laps. The comeback of the match was achieved by Tanel Leok. Leok had started around 20th place, but managed to work his way up to 7th place where he was stranded in Cairoli's wheel. Steve Ramon fared even worse, with a disastrous 27th place after the opening round. Overtaking turned out to be no easy task and 'The bomb' had to be satisfied with a 15th place. Ken De Dycker rode too irregularly to claim a significant role and came in eighth.
Leok keeps a cool head
Max Nagl took the holeshot, but had two tough customers in his wheel with De Dycker and Leok. Until halfway through the match, the three were at a minimum distance from each other. Then De Dycker began to fade away. This allowed Nagl to lead by a few seconds, but the faster Leok followed suit. Although the German was a virtual GP winner, he killed himself and Leok advanced to the series victory and the GP. Kawasaki factory rider Xavier Boog came in a close second. Cairoli had a lot of trouble getting past Evgeny “J-Bob” Bobryshev. Yet he still managed to finish third ahead of De Dycker and Philippaerts. Desalle (sixth) was the first of a trio of Suzuki-Belgians with Ramon in seventh and an excellent Strijbos in eighth.
MX1 series 1: 1. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 40:45.406; ; 2. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:08.082; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:15.097; 4. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), +0:17.617; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:19.920; 6. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:22.043; 7. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), +0:24.025; 8. Ken De Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +0:42.355; 9. Nicholas Aubin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:43.148; 10. David Guarneri (ITA, Honda), +0:49.322; 11. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:50.510; 12. Alvaro Lozano Rico (ESP, Yamaha), +0:56.574; 13. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:01.757; 14. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), +1:06.012; 15. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +1:06.149; 16. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +1:07.552; 17. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), +1:46.681; 18. Matthew Bonini (ITA, Yamaha), +1:47.476; 19. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Suzuki), +1:50.154; 20. Filip Neugebauer (CZE, Kawasaki), +1:58.848;
MX1 series 2: 1. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), 39:32.274; ; 2. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:01.651; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:06.265; 4. Ken De Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +0:09.584; 5. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:13.111; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:15.946; 7. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:19.924; 8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:20.609; 9. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:24.243; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:44.403; 11. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Honda), +0:52.004; 12. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:53.341; 13. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), +1:01.462; 14. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), +1:01.848; 15. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), +1:16.487; 16. Alvaro Lozano Rico (ESP, Yamaha), +1:27.588; 17. Julien Bill (SUI, Aprilia), +1:31.260; 18. Philip Neugebauer (CZE, Kawasaki), +1:31.597; 19. Kevin Wouts (BEL, Kawasaki), +1:34.748; 20. Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM), +1:48.091; 21. Nicholas Aubin (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:55.156; 22. Marc de Reuver (NED, Suzuki), +2:02.769; 23. Mathias Bellino (FRA, KTM), -1 lap(s); 24. Matthew Bonini (ITA, Yamaha), -1 lap(s); 25. Rickard Sandberg (SWE, Kawasaki), -1 lap(s); 26. Philips Kempelis (LAT, Honda), -2 lap(s); 27. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), -12 lap(s); 28. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Suzuki), -13 lap(s); 29. Ivo Steinbergs (LAT, Honda), -13 lap(s).
GP of Spain final standings
1. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), 39 points; 2. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 38 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 37 p.; 4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 35 p.; 5. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 35 p.; 6. Ken De Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 31 p.; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 30 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 27 p.; 9. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), 25 p.; 10. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 23 p.; 11. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 20 p.; 12. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), 15 p.; 13. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 14 p.; 14. Alvaro Lozano Rich (ESP, Yamaha), 14 p.; 15. Nicholas Aubin (FRA, Kawasaki), 12 p.; 16. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), 11 p.; 17. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Honda), 10 p.; 18. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), 10 p.; 19. Julien Bill (SUI, Aprilia), 4 p.; 20. Philip Neugebauer (CZE, Kawasaki), 4 p.; 21. Matthew Bonini (ITA, Yamaha), 3 p.; 22. Kevin Wouts (BEL, Kawasaki), 2 p.; 23. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Suzuki), 2 p.; 24. Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM), 1 p.; 25. Marc de Reuver (NED, Suzuki), 0 p.; 26. Mathias Bellino (FRA, KTM), 0 p.; 27. Rickard Sandberg (SWE, Kawasaki), 0 p.; 28. Philips Kempelis (LAT, Honda), 0 p.; 29. Ivo Steinbergs (LAT, Honda), 0 p.; 30. Sebastian Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 0 p.; 31. Billy Laninovich (USA, Aprilia), 0
MX1 standings after 5 GPs
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 214 points; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 198 p.; 3. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 171 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 158 p.; 5. Ken De Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 145 p.; 6. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 144 p.; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 136 p.; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), 135 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 106 p.; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), 84 p.; 11. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), 78 p.; 12. Sebastian Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 75 p.; 13. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 70 p.; 14. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Honda), 67 p.; 15. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), 62 p.; 16. Jimmy Albertson (USA, Honda), 59 p.; 17. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 56 p.; 18. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), 46 p.; 19. Marc de Reuver (NED, Suzuki), 40 p.; 20. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 38 p.; 21. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), 26 p.; 22. Nicholas Aubin (FRA, Kawasaki), 19 p.; 23. Tom Söderström (SWE, Yamaha), 19 p.; 24. Alvaro Lozano Rich (ESP, Yamaha), 14 p.; 25. Tom Church (GBR, CCM), 11 p.; 26. Julien Bill (SUI, Aprilia), 7 p.; 27. Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM), 6 p.; 28. Kevin Wouts (BEL, Kawasaki), 6 p.; 29. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), 5 p.; 30. Philip Neugebauer (CZE, Kawasaki), 5 p.; 31. Yentel Martens (BEL, KTM), 4 p.; 32. Matthew Bonini (ITA, Yamaha), 3 p.; 33. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Suzuki), 3 p.;
Photos credit: CDS & Ray Archer
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