Cairoli Comeback

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Antonio Cairoli made a huge leap last weekend in the Grand Prix of Europe. The Italian legend has been doubted by many as he struggled to come to terms with an arm injury, and also the speed of the new era of Romain Febvre and Tim Gajser.

Febvre and Gajser, who are first and second in the MXGP points, had won nearly everything going into Germany last weekend. All the GP overall victories and all but one moto had gone to their names.

Slowly improving on his early season form Cairoli turned that around with 1-1 results on Sunday in Germany, and heads to his home GP this weekend with a lot of confidence.

“I hope to see all the Italian fans in Trento. You know, I was searching for that first victory. Already in Latvia I felt better. I can manage on a track like Talkessel, with my skills I could save energy and get the GP win. I know he (Gajser) is fast, really fast in the first part of the race, and I miss the speed, but I am getting better and better, and I tried to respond to his attack and it worked and finally we get a moto win. You know, it is amazing, I know I miss speed and training. My arm is recovering and my power is getting stronger and stronger.”

Cairoli knew it would be tough after his pre-season accident, but now with a win behind him he feels it won’t be too long before he closes even more ground on the front two in the championship.

“I know that the beginning of the season I wasn’t ready, but now it is getting better and better. I’m happy about the season so far except perhaps the race in Mexico where we messed up a bit and I lost a lot of points, otherwise we would be very close in the championship.

“I am always in the top five and I’m looking forward to the next GP. This one was close to the win. We still have a lot of work to do. For next weekend my goal, as always, is to win the GP and to stay on the podium for the championship.”

You can count on thousands of Cairoli fans turning up at the Trentino circuit this weekend, a place that 6-4-1-2 in his last four outing there. Don’t be surprised to see the legend make his countrymen happy come Sunday afternoon. While Trentino isn’t a favorite for Cairoli, he hasn’t done too badly there in the past.

“The track was very demanding because of the hard and slippery ground. The track was very sketchy and it is easy to crash so I didn’t really like it. It’s not one of my better tracks.”

With rain expected of course the circuit will be that much more difficult, but a rider of Cairoli’s talent will adapt well and hopefully close the points gap on Gajser and Febvre.