The 2012 FIM Motocross World Championship travelled to South America and the city of Guadalajara for the Grand Prix of Mexico and the fourth round of the series. Antonio Cairoli emerged as the winner of a hot event across the loose terrain of the Nico España circuit that was surrounded by 25,000 spectators.

Honda World Motocross team’s Rui Goncalves scored ninth position on the works CRF450R and was just beaten by LS Honda’s Jonathan Barragan who posted his best set of results of the season so far.

The factory team were down to one rider representation after Evgeny Bobryshev was forced to withdraw from the meeting feeling the effects of Bronchitis. The Russian was in no condition to compete after struggling to breathe at the venue over 1600m above sea level and in temperatures of thirty degrees.

It was left to Goncalves to steer the CRF450R in spite of a strained hip tendon that caused discomfort and left the Portuguese lacking full race fitness. Battling a terrain that mixed hard-pack with very fine, almost sandy, sections the 26 year old was also handicapped with a damaged right thumb after a heavy landing in practice on Saturday. The former MX2 world championship runner-up made a decent start in the opening moto to end the first lap in fourth position, but was powerless to match the pace of the leading group. Goncalves crossed the line in ninth and then persevered to grasp eighth in the second race for ninth overall.

LS Honda’s Jonathan Barragan finished the Grand Prix with eighth place. The Spaniard was one of twenty Grand Prix regulars to make the trip from Europe to Guadalajara and was able to record his healthiest results so far in his first term with the CRF450R. The former GP winner captured seventh and ninth positions for his slot in the final classification.

In the MX2 class Gariboldi Esta Honda’s Max Anstie was the sole CRF250R campaigner and the British teenager rode to eighth and ninth for another good haul of points and eighth overall.

Honda’s riders in the MX1 standings now hold tenth (Goncalves), eleventh (Bobryshev) and twelfth (Barragan) and Anstie has been consistent in the MX2 division to rest sixth after the first quarter of the Grand Prix calendar.

Round five of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place at Beto Carrero next weekend for the Grand Prix of Brazil.

Rui Goncalves: Race Result: 9th / 8th - Championship position: 10th

“I picked up an injury in Fermo and the tendon for the muscle in my leg has come off the bone so I was having difficulty in getting my leg out for the right hand corners. In first practice this weekend I jumped too far on one of the table-tops and landed in a hole and my hand came off the bars. My thumb swelled up and I couldn’t feel anything in my hand. I had to dig deep again. I hope these injuries are going to stop so that I can just start flowing and get into my season. I’ve had to adapt to these problems and I hope I can heal up in the week because I was hurting this GP.”

Jonathan Barragan:
Race Result: 7th / 9th - Championship position: 12th

“Today I had a good rhythm and the results came. In the second moto I felt a bit disappointed because there were five riders ahead of me and I just couldn’t quite do enough to get in among them. Anyway this is my best race of the year so I’m happy. The track was really bad. Many kickers on the jumps, big pools of water and riders crossing lines and crashing; it was pretty dangerous.”

Max Anstie:
MX2 Race Result: 8th / 9th - Championship position: 6th

“It was a crazy weekend. Yesterday we struggled a little bit with the bike, but so were many other people. I went down to do the qualification heat and when I went out for the sighting lap there were no other riders! That was pretty strange. After the race they were all telling me that I should not have ridden and all the riders were getting in my face, but I decided to go out and make the best of it and I got the second gate pick for today which was what we wanted. Both races were pretty tough, but I kept pushing right until the end. The second race was good, but I actually crashed half way through and had to pass Kullas again. It was really hot and I think the altitude got a lot of people. We are making improvements and one step at a time.”

2012 FIM MX1 / MX2 World Motocross Championship
Round 04: Guadalajara – Mexico