Tony Cairoli already sealed the championship in the opening moto. He took the holeshot with his KTM 350 SX-F on the Matterley Basin circuit, a track that he names as one of his favorites, and shared the lead with his biggest rival Clement Desalle. But the Italian champion rode his usual tactical race, carefully analyzing where would be the best place to make the pass on the Belgian. He closed him down and took the lead in the tenth lap then hit the gas and went on to score a comfortable win. Cairoli pumped the air as he went through the finish line to acknowledge he had won the title and was greeted by wild celebrations from the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team in the finish area.
Cairoli took off like a rocket in the second moto, grabbing the holeshot but then crashed in the opening lap ahead of a multi bike pileup that shook up the race order and allowed leader Desalle to take the lead. Cairoli settled down to pick off six or seven riders ahead of him and was in fourth place by lap three. But two-thirds through the race he started to experience technical problems and with just two laps to go had to exit into the pits.
Cairoli said it had definitely been his goal to try to win the GP and he said Saturday and the first race was perfect. "But then I had the feeling something happened with the bike in the second race. I crashed once then the problem got worse and I finally had to give up. Now I will have a surprise for the fans at Lierop and we will have a big party afterwards in Lommel," he said. Cairoli lives for much of his year in Belgium.
Cairoli’s teammate Ken de Dycker of Belgium wrapped up his day with a 5-6 result for overall fourth, riding his KTM 450 SX-F with an injured ankle. De Dycker said his ankle injury had made him nervous about putting his foot down hard and also disrupted his training last week but he hoped to be in better shape for the final round in two weeks time. "I have finished third in the championship so I think I have to be happy with that," he said.
Coldenhoff takes first career MX2 victory topping all-KTM podium
With the world title already decided for KTM factory rider Jeffrey Herlings at the Grand Prix of Czech Republic in Loket and the Dutch teenager out injured for the rest of the season, there were no holds barred among the other riders in the MX2 GP of Britain.
It was Australian Dean Ferris who took a comfortable victory in the opening MX2 moto ahead of Jake Nichols and Glenn Coldenhoff in a race that saw Red Bull KTM’s Jordi Tixier crash hard. But in the second moto, which saw a whole string of riders, Ferris included, exit through crashes, the race went right down to the wire with no less than four riders possible GP winners going into the final laps.
But it was Coldenhoff who took the glory and when he crossed the line he was not even aware that he was on the podium. Nichols was second and Jose Burtron took third to give KTM yet another three-way podium. Considering his first race crash, Tixier did well to get back into the action in the second race to finish in fifth with the KTM 250 SX-F for more points to consolidate his second place in the championship standings.
Glenn Coldenhoff: "It was amazing. To have the Dutch flag on the top means a lot to me and it was also a good job for KTM to win the MX2. It was hard racing and its pretty strange to win the GP with 3-4 but I am super happy and hope to do a good job again in Lierop in the last round."
Successful EMX Championships for KTM
Titles in EMX 65cc, 85cc and 125cc were all also decided at Matterley Basin, yielding three more honors to KTM. Raivo Dankers of the Netherlands won the 65cc class, with the youngest riders fighting their way through thick mud after rain at the British circuit. "For me its amazing to win and I think it's a very good day for the Dutch people. I think Jeffrey Herlings would be happy that we have two Dutch riders on the podium," the young Dutch said. Conrad Mewes of the UK was 85cc European champion and Pauls Jonass of Latvia settled the 125cc European title with one round still in hand and said after the race: "It has been a great year for me to win both the World title and the European title so I won everything I wanted to win."
Cairoli’s 2013 journey to his seventh career world title:
Finished 2 in GP of Qatar
Finished 1 in GP of Thailand
Finished 1 in GP of Netherlands
Finished 1 in GP of Italy
Finished 2 in GP of Bulgaria
Finished 2 in GP of Portugal
Finished 1 in GP of Brazil
Finished 1 in GP of France
Finished 3 in GP of Italy Maggiora
Finished 1 in GP of Sweden (60th career GP victory)
Finished 1 in GP of Latvia
Finished 1 in GP of Finland
Finished 1 in GP of Germany
Finished 5 in GP of Czech Republic
Finished 2 in GP of Belgium
Finished 7 in GP of Britain
- Marcia Hill (KTM)
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