 | | Philippaerts victorious after Brazilian battle | The fourth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship belonged to Monster Energy Yamaha and David Philippaerts as the Italian emerged victorious from two hugely entertaining motos at a sweltering and packed Indaiatuba. The Grand Prix of Brazil saw DP19 take his works YZ450FM to second and first positions to spray overall winners champagne for the first time since the 2010 French Grand Prix.
26,000 spectators filled the grandstands around the excellent racing facility an hour north of Sao Paolo and steamy weather graced the entire weekend as the Grand Prix community faced their second fly-away event in succession. The course was unrelenting in a layout of jumps and corners and was short and compact.
On Saturday the factory Yamahas formation-flew as Frossard led the Qualification Heat from Philippaerts before the Italian took control at the mid-way point of the sprint and glided to his first pole position since the season-closing Italian Grand Prix last year. |
Filling the first slot on the line for the tricky uphill start from a soft gate, Philippaerts and Frossard both launched well and embarked on a spat with Antonio Cairoli for the lead that lasted practically all of the 35 minutes and 2 laps. Clement Desalle also jointed the dispute prior to his error three laps from the flag. Frossard eventually dropped back in third and Philippaerts followed Cairoli to the line.
Another good battle later in the afternoon involved the same cast but Steve Ramon also joined the fray. Desalle again made a mistake and fell and Philippaerts was able to control the moto from the front. Cairoli applied pressure on the penultimate lap but Philippaerts responded by setting the fastest time of the race on the very last lap. The former world champion now has two podium results in 2011. Frossard felt the effects of the thumb strain he sustained in the USA and was fifth at the finish, tying on points with Desalle for third place but losing the podium due to the second race classification.
Anthony Boissiere was searching for points inside the top ten of the leader-board and finished twelfth in the first moto but a hefty crash in the second left the Frenchman short of breath and holding his right shoulder. Full credit must go to 2010 MX3-GP World Champion Carlos Campano who was riding a stock YZ450F after problems with U.S. customs. The Spaniard aced the holeshot against a gate-ful of works bikes in the first moto. Campano was sadly unable to last the distance or even start the second due to pain his hand after a fall at Glen Helen last week.
In the world championship standings Philippaerts and Frossard are fourth and fifth respectively with Boissiere in twelfth. The Grand Prix of France (home events for Frossard and Boissiere and in fact the site of the latters first moto victory in 2005) will occur in two weeks at St Jean dAngely and will start a run of three consecutive events with visits to Spain and Portugal following immediately after. | |  | |
 | David Philippaerts, 1st:
I am so happy with this win and Brazil is becoming a special place for me after some good motos last year also. The track was nice and every corner was different with the lines, so the riders were going at different speeds. Like last year I have the same points as Antonio but we have the win this time and I pleased about this. I changed my lines during the middle of the second moto and made a big push. Antonio was fast and I knew he would come but I just focussed on the track ahead and set the fastest time on the last lap. We go to France next and I won my first GP there in 2005 and also last season so I am motivated for this race. Im glad to be heading home now.
Steven Frossard, 4th:
I was happy with the first race because I had a good battle with Cairoli and Philippaerts and it was a lot of fun. In the second moto I took a great start but Philippaerts was faster. At mid-race distance I had a lot of pain in my thumb and I couldnt brake properly. I had to let Ramon and Desalle go through and I ended the race disappointed with fifth because I was close to the podium. It was difficult today. The first part of the track was good but all the bumps and the uphill of the second half of the lap was very difficult for me.
Anthony Boissiere, 18th:
In the beginning things were OK but the track was hard and difficult. I was twelfth in the first moto and then inside the top ten in the second when I hit Barragans bike in a corner. I crashed and it was not possible to breathe for a little while. My shoulder was hurt and I knew I would not be able to continue. I am disappointed with this because I had worked hard during the week and I hope things will be better at St Jean. | | |
| | | Indaiatuba 22/05/2011 | 20 Laps | | | race I | | 1 | Antonio Cairoli | KTM | ITA | 39'14.114 | | 2 | David Philippaerts | Yamaha | ITA | 0'02.121 | | 3 | Steven Frossard | Yamaha | FRA | 0'12.140 | | 4 | Clement Desalle | Suzuki | BEL | 0'17.508 | | 5 | Maximilian Nagl | KTM | GER | 0'24.048 | | 6 | Ken De Dycker | Honda | BEL | 0'33.108 | | 7 | Steve Ramon | Suzuki | BEL | 0'35.392 | | 8 | Evgeny Bobryshev | Honda | RUS | 0'38.190 | | 9 | Xavier Boog | Kawasaki | FRA | 0'39.471 | | 10 | Rui Goncalves | Honda | POR | 0'52.877 | | 11 | Kevin Strijbos | Suzuki | BEL | 0'56.486 | | 12 | Anthony Boissière | Yamaha | FRA | 1'04.899 | | 13 | Shaun Simpson | Honda | GBR | 1'14.505 | | 14 | Gregory Aranda | Kawasaki | FRA | 1'15.546 | | 15 | Antonio Balbi | Kawasaki | BRA | 1'43.697 | | 16 | Manuel Monni | Yamaha | ITA | 1'45.204 | | 18 | Marc De Reuver | Yamaha | NED | 1'52.683 | | race II | | 1 | David Philippaerts | Yamaha | ITA | 39'52.654 | | 2 | Antonio Cairoli | KTM | ITA | 0'01.944 | | 3 | Steve Ramon | Suzuki | BEL | 0'24.845 | | 4 | Clement Desalle | Suzuki | BEL | 0'29.849 | | 5 | Steven Frossard | Yamaha | FRA | 0'34.546 | | 6 | Maximilian Nagl | KTM | GER | 0'36.320 | | 7 | Kevin Strijbos | Suzuki | BEL | 0'37.526 | | 8 | Xavier Boog | Kawasaki | FRA | 0'38.436 | | 9 | Jonathan Barragan | Kawasaki | ESP | 0'51.306 | | 10 | Ken De Dycker | Honda | BEL | 0'59.566 | | 11 | Evgeny Bobryshev | Honda | RUS | 1'03.958 | | 12 | Tanel Leok | TM | EST | 1'37.014 | | 13 | Rui Goncalves | Honda | POR | 1'39.467 | | 14 | Marc De Reuver | Yamaha | NED | 2'02.334 | | 15 | Manuel Monni | Yamaha | ITA | 2'16.173 |
| | | | Rider Standings | After Race 4 of 16 | | | 1. | Clement Desalle | Suzuki | BEL | 164 | | 2. | Maximilian Nagl | KTM | GER | 153 | | 3. | Antonio Cairoli | KTM | ITA | 151 | | 4. | David Philippaerts | Yamaha | ITA | 138 | | 5. | Steven Frossard | Yamaha | FRA | 132 | | 6. | Evgeny Bobryshev | Honda | RUS | 110 | | 7. | Rui Goncalves | Honda | POR | 108 | | 8. | Jonathan Barragan | Kawasaki | ESP | 94 | | 9. | Kevin Strijbos | Suzuki | BEL | 92 | | 10. | Steve Ramon | Suzuki | BEL | 90 | | 11. | Xavier Boog | Kawasaki | FRA | 77 | | 12. | Anthony Boissière | Yamaha | FRA | 60 | | 13. | Tanel Leok | TM | EST | 59 | | 14. | Davide Guarneri | Kawasaki | ITA | 58 | | 15. | Ken De Dycker | Honda | BEL | 58 | | 16. | Shaun Simpson | Honda | GBR | 49 | | 17. | Jason Dougan | Yamaha | GBR | 26 | | 18. | Marc De Reuver | Yamaha | NED | 23 | | 21. | Carlos Campano | Yamaha | ESP | 16 | | 22. | Manuel Monni | Yamaha | ITA | 13 | | 37. | Herjan Brakke | Yamaha | NED | 1 |
| |  | | | Circuit Length:
N/A Crowd:
26,000 Weather:
Sunshine | | 1 | KTM | 176 | | 2 | Suzuki | 166 | | 3 | Yamaha | 164 | | 4 | Honda | 125 | | 5 | Kawasaki | 106 | | 6 | TM | 59 | | |  | | | First podium of 2011 for Paulin in Brazil | Third position in front of 26,000 sun-kissed spectators at Indaiatuba for the Grand Prix of Brazil and the fourth round of fifteen in the FIM MX2-GP World Championship gave Monster Energy Yamahas Gautier Paulin his first podium finish of 2011.
The Frenchman was back to fitness after the intercostal muscle problem that affected his performances in Holland and the USA and made the most of two decent starts and a positive synergy around the twisty and jumpy track to tread the rostrum steps. Paulin was third in both motos on the prototype YZ250FM and looked fast and comfortable across the rough red dirt. The former European Champion had no answer to the speed of Ken Roczen and Jeffrey Herlings and completed two fairly lonely 35 minute and 2 lap motos but this was a large step forward for GP21 in terms of points and confidence.
Paulin was the first of five Yamahas in the final MX2-GP Brazilian classification. In fifth position was Bike it Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamahas Zach Osborne. The American posted a solid haul of points despite the discomfort of a badly sprained right wrist, the pain of which even caused the British Champion to vomit before the races. In seventh was Christophe Charlier whose improving fitness and run to sixth place in the second race (a season-best so far) was encouraging to see. Arnaud Tonus was eighth and disappointed not to find a rhythm that would allow him higher than seventh and eighth in the motos. The Swiss has a sore shoulder after his heavy fall at Glen Helen last week and even suffered another small spill in Moto2. Harri Kullas completed the top ten and the Fin was another faller in the second sprint. |
Five YZ250Fs lie in the first ten of the MX2-GP World Championship standings. Osborne leads the way in fourth place and is two points ahead of Paulin. Tonus (seventh), Kullas (eight) and Charlier (tenth) follow.
St Jean dAngely will host the Grand Prix of France and a home event for Gautier Paulin and Christophe Charlier in two weeks time.
Gautier Paulin, 3rd:
Im pretty happy to be back on the podium. Third place is not the best position but this is a pretty good start. Ken and Jeffrey are very fast but I know what I have to do. I can improve from this. The whole of Monster Energy Yamaha team are behind me and I can feel their support and I must get in the habit of pushing hard at the beginning so I can think about victory. I will be working on this before my home Grand Prix. | |  | |
 | Zach Osborne, 5th:
Considering the circumstances, the day went OK but I feel like I am long overdue a podium. I have the speed every weekend, I put in the effort and my endurance is good but my wrist has been hindering me. I struggled today with my grip because the pain medication was making my arm go to sleep. To take 32 points is pretty good but it was not really want I wanted from the day. The track was pretty awesome. Even though there were a lot of jumps it was naturally set; there were some hills and stuff too with some challenging obstacles. It has been such a good event because the infrastructure here is like nothing else in the world and in my opinion there is nothing better in world championship motocross. I think it should be a model for GPs and has everything as a racer wants to see when you come to a grand prix. There were so many people and it cool to race in front of a crowd like that; we were doing whips on the sighting lap and they were going crazy.
Christophe Charlier, 7th:
Im happy with this weekend, especially the second race because I had a good start and could make a good rhythm. I feel Im not physically totally ready, but now I am working with Willy Linden and sure when Im fit I can get better results. The track was nice and I had fun but the ground was soft and tough on the arms.
Arnaud Tonus, 8th:
I had a great race in Brazil last year and I really enjoy this country but today it did not work out. I had a bad start in the first moto and wasnt on good form. I could not get on the gas, the rhythm wasnt there. I was disappointed with seventh. In the second moto Harri Kullas crashed in front of me so I lost time behind him. I fought back but then crashed myself. After that I gave my best to finish eighth. I took some points but it was a difficult weekend.
Harri Kullas, 10th:
I couldnt push today and I dont know why. I had a good start in the second moto but the sun was already low and I entered a rut in the rhythm section that had water inside and I lost the front wheel. Someone hit me and by the time I could get going again I was twentieth or something. I passed some people and got up to ninth and couldnt make the gap smaller to Tonus. Im quite disappointed with this GP and I am crashing too much this season. Last year I was more consistent and I have to turn this around. | | |
| | | Indaiatuba 22/05/2011 | 20 Laps | | | race I | | 1 | Ken Roczen | KTM | GER | 39'15.768 | | 2 | Jeffrey Herlings | KTM | NED | 0'11.475 | | 3 | Gautier Paulin | Yamaha | FRA | 0'25.125 | | 4 | Tommy Searle | Kawasaki | GBR | 0'30.571 | | 5 | Zach Osborne | Yamaha | USA | 0'33.134 | | 6 | Max Anstie | Kawasaki | GBR | 0'50.044 | | 7 | Arnaud Tonus | Yamaha | CHE | 1'08.177 | | 8 | Joel Roelants | KTM | BEL | 1'27.061 | | 9 | Christophe Charlier | Yamaha | FRA | 1'31.079 | | 10 | Jordi Tixier | KTM | FRA | 1'34.871 | | 11 | Harri Kullas | Yamaha | FIN | 1'38.351 | | 12 | Alessandro Lupino | Husqvarna | ITA | -1Laps | | 13 | Pascal Rauchenecker | KTM | AUT | -1Laps | | 14 | Nicolas Aubin | KTM | FRA | -1Laps | | 15 | Hector Assuncao | Honda | BRA | -1Laps | | 16 | Petar Petrov | Yamaha | BGR | -1Laps | | race II | | 1 | Jeffrey Herlings | KTM | NED | 40'16.791 | | 2 | Ken Roczen | KTM | GER | 0'06.333 | | 3 | Gautier Paulin | Yamaha | FRA | 0'07.549 | | 4 | Tommy Searle | Kawasaki | GBR | 0'08.581 | | 5 | Zach Osborne | Yamaha | USA | 1'03.018 | | 6 | Christophe Charlier | Yamaha | FRA | 1'06.261 | | 7 | Max Anstie | Kawasaki | GBR | 1'22.763 | | 8 | Arnaud Tonus | Yamaha | CHE | 1'45.085 | | 9 | Harri Kullas | Yamaha | FIN | 1'48.467 | | 10 | Jordi Tixier | KTM | FRA | 1'52.473 | | 11 | Joel Roelants | KTM | BEL | 1'56.127 | | 12 | Pascal Rauchenecker | KTM | AUT | -1Laps | | 13 | Hector Assuncao | Honda | BRA | -1Laps | | 14 | Nicolas Aubin | KTM | FRA | -1Laps | | 15 | Valentin Guillod | KTM | CHE | -1Laps |
| | | | Rider Standings | After Race 4 of 16 | | | | | | | Circuit Length:
N/A Crowd:
26,000 Weather:
Sunshine | | 1 | KTM | 200 | | 2 | Kawasaki | 160 | | 3 | Yamaha | 150 | | 4 | Honda | 51 | | 5 | Husqvarna | 40 | | 6 | Suzuki | 2 | | | | | |
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