The sunshine was out in full force for the qualifying day at Round 6 of the FIM World MX GP Championship in St Jean D'Angely, France with Raptor Titanium sponsored riders Christophe Pourcel and Tommy Searle, both of Floride Pro Circuit Monster Energy Kawasaki, sweeping the qualifying races to take both MX1 and MX2 pole positions on race day on Sunday.
MX2
Tommy Searle had a nasty start out of the gate in the first moto, not getting the required jump to keep up with the nimble KTM's off the starting blocks and ended up down in mid-pack around the first corner, handing the initiative to his KTM Red Bull championship rivals Jeffrey Herlings and Jeremy Van Horebeek who slugged it out for the lead, with Herlings establishing early form and taking the win with Van Horebeek in 2nd. Searle managed to claw back a 3rd place finish to limit the damage from Herlings' win. Raptor Titanium sponsored rider and Searle's team-mate Joel Roelants came 4th, Bud Racing Kawasaki and Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Valentin Teillet grabbed an impressive 5th in front of his home crowd and Monster Energy Bike It Cosworth Yamaha's Arnaud Tonus on Raptor Titanium footpegs made a fantastic return to form taking 7th place after fighting of a surging Christophe Charlier for most of the race.
The second moto saw Searle learn from his mistake in race 1, and despite fast starts once again from the KTM's of Herlings, Van Horebeek and Jordi Tixier the KTM's could not detach from the main pack as easily and had to go bar-to-bar with the rest of the field. Searle seized the opportunity and sprinted into an early lead (passing fellow Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Arnaud Tonus who got the hole-shot) early in the race and went on to dominate to the chequered flag, with Herlings in 2nd to secure the overall victory for the GP with a 1-2 and Van Horebeek in 3rd to take third place overall with 2-3. Searle got the second step of the podium with 3-1 result for the day.
Tonus had a heart-in-mouth moment for Steve Dixon's Monster Energy Bike It Cosworth Yamaha team as he went down early in the second race and as he is already coming back from an injury that put an end to his world championship prospects, he was unfortuante to come away with 17th place, but most importantly did not exacerbate his existing injuries.
MX2 Results
1. Jeffrey Herlings 1/2 KTM
2. Tommy Searle 3/1 KAW
3. J v Horebeek 2/3 KTM
4. Joel Roelants KAW
5. Jordi Tixier KTM
6. Valentin Teillet KAW
7. Jake Nicholls KTM
8. Max Anstie HON
9. Petar Petrov SUZ
10. Romain Febvre KTM
Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Tommy Searle 2nd overall
The competition in the MX1 class was as fierce as ever as championship leader Tony Cairoli seemed unable to get to grips with track in the qualifying race as Raptor Titanium sponsored riders Christophe Pourcel and Gautier Paulin clinched 1st and 2nd to take first choice of the opening gate on race day.
MX1
It was a different story on race day as KTM's "unfair advantage" slogan rung true as Cairoli stormed into the lead in the first moto but Christophe Pourcel was hot on his heels in second place to set up a great battle. Pourcel trailed Cairoli for the first half of the race, thrilling the crowds, but eventually dropped of the KTM World Champion and it was Kawasaki Racing Team and Raptor Titanium's Gautier Paulin who had a resurgence towards the end after a bad start to challenge Cairoli. The Italian wasn't going to please the French crowd though and hung on for the win. Paulin settled for 2nd with Christophe Pourcel in 3rd.
The second race was a classic, with Cairoli repeating the first race with an unbeatable hole-shot to take the lead early on, however it was Monster Energy Yamaha's Stephen Frossard who challenged the Italian this time to give hope to the crowds of a French race win for the day, capitalizing on a mistake from Cairoli and taking the lead several laps into the race. Cairoli countered though with pressure of his own, and soon Frossard went down handing the lead back to Cairoli. Paulin got another awkward start in the mix at the beginning and was down in sixth place on the first lap, but was soon putting down the fastest lap times as he had been all weekend to get right back up to a challenging position for the lead. He eventually pushed himself too far, and a mistake cost him second place which saw Christophe Pourcel charge through and put some incredibly quick lap times around his home track to make a challenge of his own and tightened the gap right up between himself and Cairoli. It wasn't to be a French fairytale though as Cairoli kept his cool and showed why he's dominated for so many years now, taking the second race win and the overall victory to increase his championship points lead and keeps the red plate going into the GP of Portugal next weekend.
Raptor Titanium sponsored rider and Paulin's team-mate Xavier Boog got a fantastic 5th overall, and Christophe Pourcel's team-mate, brother and fellow Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Sebastian Pourcel got 8th overall, which was a great result for him in front of his home crowd. Raptor Titanium sponsored riders and British Championship rivals Kevin Strijbos of HM Plant KTM UK sits in 8th in the points standings, Shaun Simpson of Monster Energy Bike It Cosworth Yamaha sits in 12th and Mattis Karro of KTM STR Racing is in 14th place in the standings, representing British teams at the top level and users of our footpegs throughout the field.
Raptor Titanium sponsored British rider Jamie Law rode as a wild card entry for KTM STR Racing replacing the injured Nathan Parker and cemented fantastic 24th and 23rd places respectively, so a truly magnificent weekend for him.
MX1 Results
1. Tony Cairoli 1/1 KTM
2. Christophe Pourcel 3/2 KAW
3. Gautier Paulin 2/3 KAW
4. Clement Desalle 5/4 SUZ
5. Xavier Boog KAW
6. David Philippaerts YAM
7. Steven Frossard YAM
8. Sebastian Pourcel KAW
9. Ken De Dycker KTM
10. Rui Goncalves HON
Raptor Titanium sponsored riders Christophe Pourcel and Gautier Paulin
Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Gautier Paulin
Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Xavier Boog
Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Mattis Karro
MX2 Points
Jeffrey Herlings 270
Tommy Searle 248
J v Horebeek 231
Joel Roelants 188
Max Anstie 160
Jordi Tixier 159
Jake Nicholls 144
Alessandro Lupino 118
Jose Butron 110
Dylan Ferrandis 107
MX1 Points
Tony Cairoli 253
Christophe Pourcel 214
Clement Desalle 213
Gautier Paulin 212
Ken De Dycker 179
David Philippaerts 169
Xavier Boog 161
Kevin Strijbos 154
Rui Goncalves 134
Tanel Leok 121
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