Cairoli takes GP of Europe in Gairdorf and pockets 5th World title

It was a good day at the office for Red Bull Teak KTM factory rider Tony Cairoli on Sunday when he coasted home to second place in the second moto of the GP of Europe to secure the second last MX1 GP of the season. The Italian rider was already running on adrenalin after having settled the MX1 world title after the first moto at the German hard pack circuit.

It was Cairoli's 43rd career GP victory and his fifth world title, the second in MX1 since joining the KTM factory team at the beginning of the 2010 season and the second riding the KTM 350 SX-F, which was only released last year.  While Tony may have enjoyed settling the title issue in the final round in front of his home crowds next weekend in Fermo, it was also good to have the matter already settled.  After a tough day on the hard pack track where ruts knee high developed during the course of the weekend, Tony said he planned to take a week off riding and go to Fermo to enjoy some fun riding for his fans.

While the title was all wrapped up for Tony, teammate Max Nagl is still battling it out for a chance at one of the minor podium places in the final reckoning. Max had an unlucky weekend, which stated when after putting in a good qualifying performance on Saturday, he had a flat tire two laps from the finish and was forced to start from the extreme side of the starting gates.  He still managed to scramble back in contention in the opening moto to finish in a solid fourth and was looking good for another string finish in the second. Then he crashed, came off the bike after being struck in the stomach with the handlebars and went through the green netting fence. He got back into the race and managed to finish in tenth place to salvage seventh overall but there is not a tight race to see who will land in places 2-3 on the final podium. Clement Desalle is out through injury but Steven Frossard and Evgeny Bobryshev are also contenders when it is all decided in Fermo.

On Sunday in Gaildorf, KTM added the MX1 Manufacturers' title to that of the MX2, which was settled at the end of the last round in Matterley Basin.

Tony Cairoli:
“It has been an amazing season and in the beginning it was really tough with my knee injury. After that I was always chasing the victories and now one round before the end we made it. I did like the layout of the track here in Gaildorf and  there's lots of nice jumps but the hard pack is very difficult.”

Max Nagl:
“I was a bit unlucky with the tire problem on Saturday and this meant I had to start from the outside and that's now easy here at Gaildorf. I still got two good starts but I got hemmed in in the early part of race two and then I had a couple of crashes. The second one was quite big but I was thinking about the championship so I got back into the race and managed to finish tenth. Now I would like to have two good races in Fermo because I have a chance to finish third.”

1, Tony Cairoli, Italy, KTM
2, Evgeny Bobryshev, Russia, Honda
3, Xavier Boog, France, Kawasaki
4, Rui Goncalves, Portugal, Honda
5, Kevin Strijbos, Belgium, Suzuki
Other KTM
7, Max Nagl, Germany, KTM
15, Matthias Walkner, Austria, KTM

MX1 Standings
1, Tony Cairoli, Italy, KTM, 596  [MX1 World Champion 2011]
2, Steven Frossard, France, Yamaha, 472
3, Clement Desalle, Belgium, Suzuki, 461
4, Max Nagl, Germany, KTM, 439
5, Evgeny Bobryshev, Russia, Honda 425
 
MX1 Manufacturers' Standings
1, KTM, 621  [MX1 Manufacturers' Title 2011]
2, Yamaha, 548
3, Suzuki, 524

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