Image: Ray Archer.

Every year that Maggiora has hosted an FIM Motocross World Championship event it has never ceased to amaze and this year was no different. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli brought home a perfect score for a very emotional victory at round 10 of the FIM Motocross World Championship.

Meanwhile in the MX2, Cairoli’s Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Jeffrey Herlings rocked with yet another dominating performance to tie with Italian legend Alessandro Puzar as the most successful rider around the magnificent circuit.

Team Italy just scored the winning goal in the final of the Football World Cup! Maybe not yet, but their star Cairoli got the same response with the 10s of thousands of screaming ‘TC222’ fans cheering and celebrating as the Italian sensation brought home a breath-taking double victory.

‘Watch this space’ could be the next butt patch for Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Van Horebeek as he continues to pick up momentum. The Belgian youngster looked more aggressive than normal on his retro looking YZ450FM, it’s evident he’s getting hungry for his first MXGP victory.

If it wasn’t for the flawless form of his good friend and rival Cairoli, it would have been a win for Van Horebeek here today. Nonetheless he rode well with two second place finishes landing him on the podium for the ninth time in succession this season.

Rockstar Energy Suzuki World’s Kevin Strijbos has missed the box for the last handful of MXGP rounds, while his teammate Clement Desalle has been racking them up. This weekend it was Strijbos who landed on the box with third after Desalle threw away second place in race one with a super gnarly crash over a jump forcing him to settle for fourth.

One of the top performances of the weekend has to go to the 2008 FIM Motocross World Champion DP19 Racing’s David Philippaerts. The local man with a ton of fans of which he shares with fellow Italian legend Cairoli had the crowd in fits of celebration as he fought his way to his best race finish since 2012.

A plausible fifth in race two which was hard fought against Hitachi Construction Machinery’s Shaun Simpson, who was all over him like a rash, combined with his ninth in race one landed the Italian star in fifth overall for his best finish this year.

Bad luck struck Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Steven Frossard who rode a stellar race in race one filling the gap of his missing teammate and last year’s victor Gautier Paulin just fine. The Frenchman bought home a third in that race which came undone when he was forced to retire due to a technical problem with the bike in race two.

Clearly, the Italian fans know how to fire up their riders with the third top Italian MXGP star TM Ricci Racing’s Davide Guarneri also riding amazing today on his retro style red TM for a remarkable eight overall.

Heartbreak for HRC Team’s Evgeny Bobryshev who was looking more like the ‘Bobby’ of old out on the iconic track of Maggiora. After taking home a remarkable fifth in race one, race two saw Bobryshev crash three corners in when he was struck from behind by another rider. The Russian MXGP star was transported with a suspected broken tibia and fibula.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Herlings stormed his way to his 40th GP overall in the MX2 ranks at Maggiroa.

Maggiora loves a bit of retro and although the word ‘retro’ may not apply to last year, it was good to see Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jordi Tixier line up like his old self, finishing with two thirds for second overall and moving up into third in the championship standings.

Being knocked back to the third step after a bad start in race two ruined his solid performance in race one for second, was CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Arnaud Tonus.

This season’s early bloomer CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy’s Dylan Ferrandis rounded out MXGP of Italy with an outstanding ride in race two to charge forward and run away with second place. Combined with his seventh in race one, the Frenchman ended up in fourth overall ahead of fellow young gun Tim Gajser.

Honda Gariboldi’s teenage dream Tim Gajser is fast becoming a solid top five guy. While the seventeen-year-old Slovenian would have loved to have stood on the podium today, his fourth and fifth place results were only enough for a respectable fifth overall.

2014 FIM MXGP World Championship
Round 10 – Maggiora, Italy

MXGP overall results:
1. Antonio Cairoli 50
2. Jeremy Van Horebeek 44
3. Kevin Strijbos 38
4. Clement Desalle 32
5. David Philippaerts 28
6. Shaun Simpson 28
7. Tommy Searle 27
8. Davide Guarneri 24
9. Steven Frossard 20
10. Gregory Aranda 19

MXGP championship standings:
1. Antonio Cairoli 443
2. Clement Desalle 405
3. Jeremy Van Horebeek 402
4. Kevin Strijbos 314
5. Steven Frossard 217
6. Shaun Simpson 211
7. Gautier Paulin 205
8. Evgeny Bobryshev 184
9. Maximilian Nagl 166
10. Davide Guarneri 163
19. Todd Waters (AUS) 107

MX2 overall results:
1. Jeffrey Herlings 50
2. Jordi Tixier 40
3. Arnaud Tonus 40
4. Dylan Ferrandis 36
5. Tim Gajser 34
6. Romain Febvre 30
7. Jeremy Seewer 24
8. Aleksandr Tonkov 24
9. Petar Petrov 22
10. Julien Lieber 20

MX2 championship standings:
1. Jeffrey Herlings 444
2. Arnaud Tonus 389
3. Jordi Tixier 331
4. Romain Febvre 327
5. Dylan Ferrandis 314
6. Tim Gajser 269
7. Aleksandr Tonkov 240
8. Valentin Guillod 223
9. Jose Butron 213
10. Jeremy Seewer 192
20. Luke Styke (AUS) 68

Click here for detailed results