JOEL ROELANTS TAKES OVERALL VICTORY IN MX2 CLASS AT ROUND 10 AT LATVIA, AS TEAM-MATE AND FELLOW RAPTOR TITANIUM SPONSORED RIDER TOMMY SEARLE SCORES TWO DNF'S; MEANWHILE RAPTOR TITANIUM'S KEVIN STRIJBOS GETS HIS FIRST GP WIN OF THE SEASON AND ANOTHER PODIUM FINISH

Another weekend of truly miserable weather greeted motocross fans once again this year as Round 10 rolled into Kegums, Latvia for more fast and furious action through the mud.

MX2

It was an awful weekend for British man and Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Tommy Searle of the Floride Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team as he got off to a good start in the first race behind holeshotter Jose Butron and KTM Red Bull man Jeremy Van Horebeek. A bad start for Searle's championship rival Jeff Herlings meant it was looking good for Searle to potentially gain back more points on the 17-year old, but these thoughts were soon crushed as the bike came to a juddering halt in a cloud of smoke on the second lap. The victory was then handed to Searle's team-mate and fellow Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Joel Roelants who was able to charge past Butron on lap 8 and keep the lead until the chequered flag. Herlings battled his way up to a 2nd place finish to extend his points lead over Tommy Searle who badly needed points in race 2 to keep in touch with the precocious teenager.

In the second race things went from bad to worse for Searle as a rear wheel malfunction sent him crashing out to score his second DNF of the day, despite pitting for a new rear wheel he could not get back into the race and so did not score any points for the GP, which seemingly would hand the initiative to Herlings, but he also had a difficult second race as well as his bike came to a stop four laps from the finish line to leave him struggling to finish in 18th place, giving him 7th overall on the day and handing Searle a lifeline in the title race.

With a 1-2 on the day Roelants got his first GP victory of the year, with fellow Raptor Titanium sponsored riders Arnaud Tonus of the Cosworth Monster Energy Yamaha squad coming 8th overall and Jens Getteman of Standing Construct Suzuki finishing 10th overall.

MX2 Results

1. Joel Roelants 1/2 KAW
2. Jeremy Van Horebeek 3/1 KTM
3. Jordi Tixier 5/3 KTM
4. Coldenhoff KTM
5. Jose Butron KTM
6. Max Anstie 14/4 HON
7. Jeff Herlings 2/18 KTM
8. Arnaud Tonus YAM
9. Roman Febvre KTM
10. Jens Getteman SUZ

MX1

After relinquishing the red plate to championship rival Clement Desalle at Sweden two weeks ago, KTM Red Bull's Antonio Cairoli was a man on a mission to reclaim the series points lead and re-establish his dominance in the MX1 class this year.

A holeshot for Cairoli in the first race saw him do just that, sprinting away into the lead as we are all so familiar him doing these days and didn't look back from there, not looking like reneging on the lead at all and comfortably securing the victory. His team-mate Ken De Dycker came 2nd, with Factory Honda rider Rui Goncalves running home in 3rd. Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Gautier Paulin of the Kawasaki Racing Team came 4th in the first race of the tough event with Desalle trailing in 7th. Raptor Titanium's Kevin Strijbos of HM Plant KTM UK came in 10th place.

The second race saw Cairoli get off to another good start, but a crash over the table top jump left him with a slight wrist injury and relegated to fifth place. After this Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Kevin Strijbos stormed into the lead, which he held until the end securing his first GP race victory of the season, and another hard-earned podium for the fast-improving Belgian. Cairoli managed to get himself back up to 2nd to secure the overall GP victory and accomplished the goal to reclaim the series red plate.

Raptor Titanium sponsored rider Shaun Simpson of the Cosworth Monster Energy Yamaha squad came overall 8th and Paulin scored 5th overall with a 6th place in the second race to go 4-6. Paulin's team-mate Xavier Boog scored overall 10th place.

MX1 Results

1. T Cairoli 1/2 KTM
2. Ken De Dycker 2/3 KTM
3. Kevin Strijbos 10/1 KTM
4. Rui Goncavles 3/5 HON
5. Gautier Paulin 4/6 KAW
6. Clement Desalle 7/4 SUZ
7. Tanel Leok SUZ
8. Simpson Simpson YAM
9. Evgeny Bobryshev HON
10. Xavier Boog KAW


MX2 Points

Jeffrey Herlings 428
Tommy Searle 387
Jeremy Van Horebeek 375
Joel Roelants 310
Jordi Tixier 279
Jake Nicholls 255
Max Anstie 224
Jose Butron 197
Dylan Ferrandis 190
Alessandro Lupino 183


MX1 Points

Tony Cairoli 392
Clement Desalle 380
Christophe Pourcel 357
Gautier Paulin 348
Ken De Dycker 299
Kevin Strijbos 279
Xavier Boog 258
Tanel Leok 230
Rui Goncavles 219
David Philippaerts 212