Yamaha Red Bull De Carli’s Tony Cairoli claimed his second MX1-GP event in the space of a week to extend his lead in the FIM World Championship to 57 points - more than one Grand Prix - with just five meetings left to run in the 2009 contest. The first ever trip to Latvia took place at the Kegums circuit and saw the stylish Sicilian race to 2nd and 1st positions in two sweaty but cloudy motos and watched by 32,000 spectators.
The tenth round of fifteen in the ‘09 schedule and the second of three GPs inside three weeks occurred within a presentable and well-structured circuit, 50km south-east of the capital city of Riga. A long, loose-soiled and technically difficult track awaited the protagonists of the MX1-GP category. The soft surface quickly became rough with many deep ruts and bumps littering the jumps, waves and rollers.
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Cairoli opted for a different tyre profile choice to his peers which hindered his launch from the start gate slightly but the 23 year old claimed worked better for him across the course. With inventive and effective lines through the whoops section and ripping through the long uphill waves, Cairoli made time and positions from inside the top ten in both races. He pushed leader Clement Desalle all the way to the line in the first moto in what was yet another exciting finale. The De Carli representative just missed the chequered flag by two tenths of a second and incredibly set his quickest lap on that circulation after almost forty minutes of racing. In the second outing he again built up his speed to pass riders such as Leok, Coppins, De Dycker, Philippaerts and Nagl to reach Desalle and sprint ahead with three laps remaining.
Cairoli has now won 8 motos from 20 and 4 grand prix from 10 in his first season in MX1-GP. He has 29 career victories and enjoys a gap of 57 points over Nagl in the standings with just 250 left to win.
Yamaha Monster Energy MX Team’s Josh Coppins returned to the podium for the first time since his win in Bulgaria at round two. The New Zealander picked up his second piece of silverware this term thanks to his strength and resilience around the course; traits that he has not been able to call on in recent GPs. He took 4th place in the first race but it was his late charge to 2nd, equalling his best finish of the year, that really caught the eye and confirmed the 32 year old’s presence on the podium, continuing his recent spurt of good form.
Team-mate David Philippaerts, who had made some suspension tests during the week, was 6th overall but was suffering in the wake of two days of illness in the lead-up to Latvia. The world champion started well in both motos but faded away from the battle for the top three in the second half of the races. He was 5th and 7th for his ranking.
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Yamaha Red Bull De Carli’s other rider Tanel Leok was competing at ‘almost’ a home Grand Prix and a decent section of the crowd certainly voiced their support for the determined Estonian. Sadly a reasonably-secure 4th position was lost two-thirds of the distance into Moto1 when the 24 year old crashed and lost three laps restarting his bike. A more assured performance in the second half of Moto2 dragged him up to 4th for 11th overall.
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