Image: Ray Archer.

In what was yet another dramatic and action packed round of racing at Talavera in Spain, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli took his first MXGP overall victory of the 2015 season.

It was a well overdue MXGP round victory for Cairoli and an emotional one at that. The last time the Italian eight-time FIM Motocross World Champion won a grand prix was back in August last year at the MXGP of Belgium.

This victory marked the 73rd overall win of his career and is one that he dedicates to his father, the late Benedetto Cairoli: “My father was here last year and after that I didn’t see him anymore so I dedicate this win to him.”

Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl added one more holeshot and race win statistic to the books with his performance in race one, where he blitzed everyone. He came home third in race two for second overall.

It was always just a matter of time for Yamaha Factory Racing Yamalube’s Romain Febvre, who has been beyond impressive in his rookie year, to finish on the podium. Now just six rounds in, the Frenchman was able to uncork his first bottle of bubbles.

A gnarly crash in race two put a damper on Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP’s Clement Desalle and an end to his podium streak. Despite the craziness of his crash, the Belgian managed to salvage fifth in that race and combined with his second place in race two finished fourth overall.

It wasn’t the easiest day in the office for Team HRC’s Evgeny Bobryshev who had to come from behind in both races. Nevertheless, the Russian is not a quitter and he made that evident with his solid fight forwards in both races for fourth and fifth place results which landed him in fifth overall.

Similar to his teammate, Team HRC’s Gautier Paulin also had two bad starts. In race one he managed to finish fifth, while his most impressive performance was in race two after he went down in the first corner and managed to go from last to seventh.

Top of the Australians was Dean Ferris (14-16) in 15th overall, while Todd Waters was one position behind him in 16th for the round. Waters was ninth in moto one, but had to settle for 21st in the second after damaging his clutch lever on the opening lap.

Meanwhile in MX2, Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube’s Valentin Guillod put in a superb and gripping performance to land on the top of the box for the first time in his MX2 racing career. Guillod put in the ride of his life to win the second race for his first ever grand prix victory.

Even in defeat Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings is still a hero. The two-time FIM MX2 World Champion demonstrated maturity beyond his years in the first race as he held his composure despite the pressure he received from Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Max Anstie, which saw him take the victory.

But, what was most extraordinary was his performance in race two after he had a very ugly crash which left his ‘bars bent out of shape. Nevertheless, he soldiered on and managed to charge from 21st back to seventh for second overall.

Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jordi Tixier was pretty solid in taking home third and fourth place finishes for his third consecutive podium finish this season.

After sitting on the heels of Herlings for the entire duration of MX2 race one, it looked to be the turn in results that Anstie was looking for. Although he put in an amazing performance in that particular moto, the Brit made his life extremely difficult when he started well outside of the top 10 in moto two and climbed to eighth, which resulted in eighth overall.

Rounding out the top five, Honda Gariboldi’s Tim Gajser rebound from his average result in race one which came about because of a crash to finish second in race two for fifth.

2015 MXGP World Championship
Round six – Talavera, Spain

MXGP overall results:
1. Antonio Cairoli 45
2. Maximilian Nagl 45
3. Romain Febvre 40
4. Clement Desalle 38
5. Evgeny Bobryshev 33
6. Gautier Paulin 30
7. Tyla Rattray 27
8. Kevin Strijbos 23
9. Xavier Boog 20
10. Alessandro Lupino 17
15. Dean Ferris (AUS) 12
16. Todd Waters (AUS) 12

MXGP championship standings:
1. Maximilian Nagl 259
2. Clement Desalle 247
3. Antonio Cairoli 229
4. Gautier Paulin 208
5. Romain Febvre 196
6. Evgeny Bobryshev 171
7. Ryan Villopoto 124
8. Shaun Simpson 114
9. Todd Waters (AUS) 104
10. Tyla Rattray 95
18. Dean Ferris (AUS) 54

MX2 overall results:
1. Valentin Guillod 40
2. Jeffrey Herlings 39
3. Jordi Tixier 38
4. Max Anstie 34
5. Tim Gajser 32
6. Aleksandr Tonkov 29
7. Pauls Jonass 29
8. Julien Lieber 28
9. Jeremy Seewer 26
10. Brian Bogers 21

MX2 championship standings:
1. Jeffrey Herlings 261
2. Dylan Ferrandis 205
3. Pauls Jonass 177
4. Tim Gajser 169
5. Valentin Guillod 169
6. Aleksandr Tonkov 162
7. Jordi Tixier 153
8. Jeremy Seewer 151
9. Julien Lieber 149
10. Max Anstie 123

Click here for detailed results