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luglio 25, 2016 - KTM

KTM online presse-center hard weekend for KTM Factory riders at Loket

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Red Bull KTM Factory #racing riders had an unusually sobering weekend at the MXGP of the Czech Republic on Sunday with the day’s best performance going to Tony Cairoli, who was overall seventh in the MXGP class with a 7­8 #moto result. This allowed the Italian rider to retain his second position in the championship points.

MXGP

Tony Cairoli, who was this weekend back on the KTM 350 SX­F bike for the first time, qualified seventh on Saturday and got away among the top ten in both races. He worked his way up to seventh place in the opening race and to eighth position in the second #moto to pick up 27 championship points. Cairoli said later that here at the Loket circuit a good start was the key to success in the races.

Cairoli: “I was back on the KTM 350 SX­F after almost a year. The race didn’t go how I wanted for sure but we had a good feeling with the bike in the time practice. I was able to improve my speed from before and I felt better on the bike overall. But we messed up the starts because it was almost a year since I started on the 350. On this track if you have a bad start you don’t go anywhere. You could see that with Nagl. He wasn’t the fastest in practice but in the races he had two good starts and he won.” Cairoli also confirmed he is looking forward to #racing at Lommel next weekend. Because he lives part of the time in Belgium, it is like a home race for him.

Teammate Glenn Coldenhoff started his weekend off well on his KTM 450 SX­F and was solid in qualifying and in the first #moto but a crash early in the second #moto left him with everything to do and he was finally classified as overall 13th.

Coldenhoff: “I already had a good day yesterday. I pulled the holeshot in qualifying and was in second place for quite a while, then I started to come off my lines and I still finished fifth for a good starting position today. The first #moto was okay. I rode well and I finished sixth so it was one of my better motos. I was seventh at the start of the second #moto but then I crashed and hit the ground pretty hard. I had to fight back from dead last. This could have been a good GP but I’m looking forward to the sand next weekend at Lommel and I think we are well prepared.”

The MXGP race went to Germany’s Max Nagl with championship point leaders Tim Gajser in second, Romain Febvre finished third.

MX2

The MX2 lineup team was without the services of Jeffrey Herlings, who has a runaway lead in the MX2 class title fight. The Dutch rider has recently had his fractured collarbone plated and given his huge lead the team opted to have him sit out this round to allow for proper healing time.

In Herlings absence, factory teammate Pauls Jonass stepped up to score the fastest qualifying time with the KTM 250 SX­F and looked in great form at the start of the opening MX2 #moto. He stole the holeshot and launched himself into the lead only to crash hard after landing short when coming off the double downhill jump at the beginning of the second lap. Jonass was taken to the Sokolov Hospital where tests revealed he had concussion and several fractured small bones in the nose. He will remain in hospital under observation for 24 hours because of the concussion.

Top KTM rider in MX2 was Brian Bogers of the Netherlands in overall sixth while Britain’s Adam Sterry was overall tenth. Davy Pootjes, the third member of the MX2 factory team lineup finished eighth in the first MX2 #moto, but did not start in the second. He was classified overall 15th.

Pootjes: “My speed was okay the whole weekend and I finished eighth in the first #moto. It’s not really my favorite track so I didn’t take any risks or make any mistakes and I was quite happy with that. But when I came back I had some pain in my wrist and I checked with Dr. Claes, who was at the race and he told me my wrist was inflamed again. I’ll go back to the hospital tomorrow and hopefully the inflammation will be gone by nest weekend for Lommel.”

Dr. Claes from Belgium is a renowned specialist for treating Motocross injuries and was at the track this weekend. The MX2 race went to Dylan Ferrandis with Jeremy Seewer and Max Anstie at 2­3.

EMX85 and EMX65

The next generation of MX stars were also at the Loket circuit to decide the 85cc and 65cc European Championship both of which went to KTM riders.

Rene Hofer of Austria, a 14­year old member of the KINI KTM Junior Pro Team secured his biggest to date career victory with a 1­1 result on his KTM 85 SX to be crowned EMX85 champion. Italian KTM rider Alessandro Facca took third place with a 6­2 result.

KTM riders took 1­2 honors in the EMX65 thanks to Latvian rider Edvards Bidzans (3­1) and Italy’s Matteo Luigi Russi (4­3) with the KTM 65 SX. 


More information available in the press release