Event Coverage

The ninth GP of the MX1 + MX2 class took place in Ciglione Della Malpensa in Italy. The track is not far away from Millano. The really awesome race track is very spectacular and good for the attendance because from almost each place you can see almost 80 % of the circuit. The qualifying on Saturday was a kind of strange. Not because of racing but rather then the small turnout in both classes. In the MX1 were only 29 riders and in the MX2 class 35.

Mentionable in the MX1 class is definitely Brian Jörgensen. It’s a kind of fun to look how smooth the Honda driver is on the way. At almost every jump he whipped his bike and the crowd was enthused. From a German point of view it is to say that Max Nagl get qualified over the last chance in the MX2 and Joes Dobes on his factory two stroke Kurz Suzuki took a good 17th place in MX1. Collin Dugmore was still injured and Andi Boller gets no place in the entry list although there were places free. So that’s all about the Germans, we have no more riders in the big world Championships.

On Sunday everything was ready for great racing. A fantastic scenery, perfect weather for racing and a good prepared track. First something about the MX2 class. Dominator of the whole weekend was Australian Andrew Mc Farlane. He won every race of his class, the first qualification race, the first and second race on Sunday. So he belie all these experts who said he isn’t a rider who can take a grand prix victory. Only the second main race was a little bit difficult for Mc Farlane. He came from 5th position and must pass some riders like Cairoli, Chiodi, Maschio and Pourcel. He had a close battle until the last lap with local hero Cairoli and the crowd was enthused.



Brian Jörgensen with a lot of Style | currently 9th in the MX1 Ranking


It was the most exciting race of the day because there were many changes in the race and battles for almost each position. Ben Townley, leader of the MX2 championships hadn’t caught his best day. A solid 3rd place in race one and a 8th place in race two after a crash in the first corner are not the results which Townley expected. His biggest rival in the title fight, Stephen Sword, can’t take any profit of Townley’s results. In the first heat Townley passed Sword and as Sword came trough the finish line he added eighteen points for a 4th place. In race two Sword had a heavy crash after a few laps in promising position. At a jump into a long downhill his bike stops because of technical problems. Swords bike overturned multiple and his race was stopped but he didn’t take any injuries.

A good performance to the home crowd was brought by the Italian riders. Federici was attendances hero in heat one with a good second place and a spectacular hunt to regain lost time. On his way from the end of the field he was stopped by the checkered flag in 7th position. Former Italian champions Bartolini and “Chicco” Chiodi took steady top ten places. German Max Nagl had a middle-rate weekend. In the first race he had a bad start and passed some riders in first lap and was on 23rd position. In the next laps he can’ find a good lines and lost some places. After a little crash in a slow but slippery corner he find a better rhythm and moved from 28th to a 17th place till the finish. It was a really awesome performance from Nagl. It’s a pity that Nagl couldn’t make a top result in MX2 so far. His lap times in almost every race are good enough for top results but he had problems either with his starts or his rhythm during some laps of each race, as it seems. But if his experiences expand it will happen soon. After four points in race one Nagl takes an excellent start and after a half lap Nagl was blocked out by another rider and went down. Afterwards he produced multiple chrashs and ended race two outside the points.

Kevin Strijbos was the surprise winner. He is 18 years of age!

The first race in the MX1 class saw a surprising winner, Kevin “The Kid” Strijbos earned his first victory, and the first for Suzukis and there new four stroke factory bike, too. Strijbos did the holeshot and makes a small gap between him and following riders Ramon, Pichon, Everts and Coppins. When Everts took second and Pichon third the time was to short to catch also Strijbos.

Clean two races were performed from Melotte. The Everts team mate had bad luck in the beginning of both races carry him nearly to the last place. Anyway he took two top ten results. Impressive in heat two were the performances of Everts and Pichon. After few laps they passed current leader Coppins back to back and drove away. Nobody else had a breath of a chance. When they crossed the finish line Coppins in third was almost half a lap behind.

Joes Dobes made a promising comeback with two good races. Especially in race two Dobes took a 11th place behind Melotte, his best result in this season.