Sprint to the World Cup, what happened this weekend.
Every World Championship pilot is in the final stretch to the start of the World Championship that starts on February 28 in Losail, Qatar. This last straight line includes the 'preparatory matches' used, which have included the Italian championship for several years now.
In the Italian championship we had some surprising results, partly because of the muddy course. The fact that the course was treacherous made Davy Pootjes and Pauls Jonass decide not to start. This left the way completely open for Tim Gasjer to win. The Gariboldi HRC Honda pilot won his MX2 round by about 5 seconds ahead of KEMEA Yamaha pilot Benoit Paturel. The Frenchman immediately showed in his first match for the Belgian team that he is ready for his debut year in the WKMX2. In third place in the only MX2 series we found the Italian Alessandro D'Angelo. The Belgians did more than decently. Brent Vandoninck managed to finish fifth, just ahead of Jens Getteman who claimed sixth place. Damon Graulus finished disappointingly in 23rd place.
The MX1 round was won in Italy by a surprising David Phillipaerts. The former world champion was faster than Max Nagl and our compatriot Jeremy Van Horebeek on the Castiglione del Lago course. Reigning world champion Antonio Cairoli finished in fifth place. The only other Belgian, Ken De Dycker, finished eleventh in the MX1 series.
In the Italian championship, the format is such that after one MX2 series and one MX1 round, a combined super final is held. In this elite series the victory went to Husqvarna pilot Max Nagl. The German was ahead of the British Tommy Searle and again a well-driving David Phillipaerts. Tony Cairoli finished fifth again in this heat. We found the best Belgian in this heat in 12th place with Jeremy Van Horebeek, he finished ahead of his compatriots Brent Van Doninck and Jens Getteman. The fastest MX2 boys were again Tim Gasjer who finished seventh, just ahead of Benoit Paturel at eighth.
Nice #enduroride today in the hills of #castiglionedellago, great to see SO MANY fans that came to see… http://t.co/RkvJWuIiQA
— Tony Cairoli (@Antoniocairoli) February 8, 2015
Not only was a spring competition held in Italy, racing also took place in Great Britain. The location was the legendary Hawkstone Park. In Great Britain we saw the Suzuki machines dominate in the MX1 class. Kevin Strijbos managed to win both series ahead of teammate Clément Desalle. In the day's standings, these two Suzuki gentlemen were joined by the other Suzuki boy Glenn Coldenhoff, who only finished third and fourth to hold off Wilvo Negaan Husqvarna pilot Dean Ferris.
The MX2 class in Hawkstone Park could count on the participation of the reigning world champion Jordi Tixier. The Kawasaki pilot showed that he wants to compete for the title again this year and won both heats ahead of the Russian Alexandre Tonkov and the very young home pilot Ben Watson.
In the super final we saw Suzuki again in the lead with Kevin Strijbos taking the victory ahead of teammate Clément Desalle and reigning MX2 world champion Jordi Tixier.
Text: Matthias Van Eeckhoven
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