Jeffrey Herlings and Mattia Guadagnini ensure double Airoh victory at italian MXGP

MXGP of Italy: This weekend took the third Grand Prix of the 2021 Motocross World Championship at Maggiora.

MXGP

Jeffrey Herlings wins first moto and GP for 91st career success and now he is 2nd and 6 points from the championship lead as the only rider with a 100% podium record in 2021.

Jeffrey Herlings: “The first moto felt like a disaster. I didn’t know what was stopping the rear brake so I had to sort it out and lost places and around twenty seconds. I then had to make a late moto charge. I was bummed about that and really wanted to go for the win in the second race but the rain fell so hard just before the start. It was a bit unexpected, and we had to make a last minute decision about tires and googles. My starts were off a bit today but the second moto was OK and I got into 3rd, where I saved my goggles for a while. I had a little gap to Glenn and I knew coming to the lapped riders would be a moment where you can lose but also gain a lot of time: you have to be a bit lucky. So I attacked at that moment and it led to the ‘overall’. We closed a lot of points in the championship so the day started and finished in an unlucky and lucky way. It’s good to head into Oss with a confidence boost. I want to give-it-up to the Red Bull KTM team and the job they did, the bike was excellent.”

Tony Cairoli: “I’m happy with the podium but not so much with the second moto because I had the speed to ride at the front. My roll-off broke due to a stone and I had to take off the goggles. The guys pulled away and I could not pass. Eventually they were gone. I’ve been training quite a lot in the mud recently, so my feeling was good here. I’m really looking forward to the sand races now. It’s my favorite ground. Hopefully we can use these two weeks to build up some more conditioning and be at the front again.”

Jorge Prado: “Overall P4 and we are not too far away from 1st place in the championship, so from this perspective the GP was quite OK. I was feeling quite good on the track and it was tough with plenty of bumps and ruts. We had a really high rhythm in the first race but the second was just a mudder. I got pushed a bit wide in the second corner. I was riding in 5th for the whole moto but with two laps to go I made a couple of mistakes that cost me two places and I lost the podium like that. I’m really unhappy with my last three laps. I couldn’t get to the point of making the extra step to force a pass. Instead of holding the position I just lost it.”

MX2

One week after his maiden MX2 podium Mattia Guadagnini rules his first home GP and now leads the series.

Mattia Guadagnini: “This is crazy. I don’t know what to say. It feels really good. I made two good starts and I didn’t want to take too many risks in the first moto. Staying calm and taking 2nd place was enough, although I did wait to see if I could pass Thibault in the last part of the race but he was too fast. I pushed hard to take the lead on the first lap of the second moto and then just rode my race and had fun. I made a gap and enjoyed the last few laps. It’s amazing to win here in Italy and it was also a surprise to take the red plate. Oss is next and I’m pretty good in the sand, we’ll train and be ready to go again.”

Rene Hofer: “Pretty average I would say. I had a decent start in the first race but made a mistake in the first corner and was 15th I think. I struggled a bit and finished 11th. The second was much better and I was 3rd and battling for that position for most of the race; I just couldn’t pass Jago [Geerts]. I almost went through but couldn’t quite execute the move and the two F&H boys went through from the back. Still, it wasn’t a bad race and we finish another GP with an improvement in the riding. I need to deliver two good starts and put two good races together. For sure we can improve on this during the year.”

Tom Vialle: “I had a lot of pain in the practice session. When I was riding quite slowly it was OK but after a few laps of the race it was too much. We will have to see how the hand will be for Holland.”

Motocross World Championship 2021, Round 3 – Maggiora (Italy)

MXGP
1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM)

3. Antonio Cairoli (KTM)

4. Jorge Prado (KTM)

MX2
1. Mattia Guadagnini (KTM)

10. Rene Hofer (KTM)

12. Simon Längenfelder (GasGas)

17. Stephen Rubini (Honda)

20. Emil Weckman (Honda)

32. Isak Gifting (GasGas)

35. Gianluca Facchetti (Honda)

DNS. Tom Vialle (KTM)