Sweltering conditions at the first ever Grand Prix of Thailand saw Antonio Cairoli win the second round of the 2013 FIM Motocross World Championship at the new Si Racha circuit northeast of the tourist town of Pattaya.

In front of a 17,000 crowd enjoying their first glimpse of MXGP, Gariboldi Honda’s David Philippaerts took his CRF450R to eleventh position overall and through the second event to use the Superfinal format that mixed the MX1 and MX2 classes.

Si Racha offered a fast, hard and grippy test to the world’s best; most of whom had stayed in the country to acclimatise after travelling directly from Qatar the previous weekend. A torrential rain shower on Saturday softened up the mud but the heat dried the terrain rapidly and the many jumps and off-cambers of the course provided ample spectacle to the new Thai Grand Prix audience.

Former World Champion Philippaerts rode with gusto in the first MX1 moto of thirty-five minutes and two laps duration. The Italian – in his second GP in ‘red’ – chased Tommy Searle relentlessly to earn a well-deserved sixth position by the flag. ‘DP19’ was unlucky to suffer a stall in the opening corners of the Superfinal and began a charge from dead-last. He passed almost half of the field to reach a creditable twentieth.

Honda World Motocross’ Evgeny Bobryshev had a possible first podium finish of the season in sight through the initial stages of Moto1. The Russian started well and led the first five laps before a slip caused him to lose two positions. He was coasting easily in third place entering the penultimate circulation when he committed another error and was unable to fish his CRF from outside of the banked turn to restart. Eventually he rolled across the line in eighteenth. A more conservative approach in the Superfinal seemed to pay off with a seventh place standing, again reaching the final minutes until he crashed in the uphill waves section. Exasperated Bobby again picked up the bike and broke the timing beam to register thirteenth. He was fourteenth in the final classification.

Sadly Max Nagl was ruled out of the event. The German was diagnosed with a stomach infection in the wake of his difficult debut at Qatar last Saturday and after needed a hospital visit towards the end of the week regrettably had to withdraw from the meeting. The former championship runner-up now has another three weeks to recover from his illness and also the recent injury to his right wrist to get prepared for round three.

The Grand Prix of the Netherlands will constitute the third fixture in the FIM Motocross World Championship schedule and will take place at the renowned Valkenswaard circuit (now reverted to its original layout) and across Easter weekend.

David Philippaerts:
Race Result: 6th/20th Championship position: 12th

“I’m happy with the first moto. To finish sixth and be the first Honda was pretty good for me and I’m content with positions in the top six or seven because after two years of injury and with a different bike I’m working my way up. I don’t like the track so much because there were so many jumps and I’m still a bit hesitant with this after the two accidents. In the Superfinal I made a good start, around tenth I think, but then the bike stopped near the pit lane and I tried to get it running with the clutch. I had to push it and when I was going again I was last. I did my best until the finish. I passed a lot of riders and it was hard with the MX2 guys. We go back to Europe now and I think this will be good for me. The top three or four are on a different level but my focus is to try and reach them.”

Evgeny Bobryshev:
Race Result: 18th/13th Championship position: 8th

“I began the first race well and found a rhythm that let me stay at the front and conserve energy, but I made a mistake and hit a stone with my front wheel. I quickly picked up the bike and carried on. I was so hot in the final laps and all my energy had gone. I had no power in my muscles and made another stupid mistake with one lap to go. I was over the berm and was stuck there. I didn’t really know what was going on. Finally I could start the bike again and made it over the line. I had a bad start in the second race and wanted to take it easy and ride smoothly. The times were coming but at the end I lost grip on the handlebars in the waves and went down again and was winded. It took me half a lap to get my breath back. It was a shit day. Now we have to work on and just learn from this.”

2013 FIM MX1 / MX2 World Motocross Championship
Round 02: Si Racha – Thailand