Source: Supplied.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli made it a perfect day of racing at Ottobiano in Italy for the 11th round of the 2017 MXGP World Championship.

To the delight of his home fans, the Italian racer fought off a charge from teammate Jeffrey Herlings in moto one to put an impressive 18-second gap between himself and the Dutch rider to claim the opening moto win.

As Cairoli sped away to take the chequered flag Herlings settled for second in moto one followed by Husqvarna’s Gautier Paulin, Yamaha’s Romain Febvre and Husqvarna’s Max Anstie.

Moto two saw yet another battle erupt between teammates Cairoli and Herlings as the two riders swapped positions early in the race before Cairoli eventually made the pass stick for the lead on lap 10 and went on to claim the win.

Herlings again came home in second position in moto two ahead of Anstie in third spot, Husqvarna’s Max Nagl in fourth and Suzuki’s Arminas Jasikonis in fifth.

With Cairoli claiming a perfect 1-1 sweep followed by Herlings with his 2-2 result, it was Anstie who joined the factory KTM duo on the overall podium followed by Febvre in fourth and Nagl in fifth.

Defending champion Tim Gajser was 10th overall on return from injury in Italy, the Slovenian rider running as high as fourth-place in moto one before dropping back to claim a 10-11 moto scorecard.

With his 1-1 Italian sweep Cairoli continues to lead the MXGP World Championship standings with a 61-point lead over Paulin in second-place as Clement Desalle occupies third position followed by Herlings in fourth and Gajser in fifth.

In the MX2 category it was Suzuki World MX2’s Jeremy Seewer who put together a strong pair of motos to take out top honours on the day ahead of his main championship rival Pauls Jonass.

Seewer kicked off the day with a win in moto one ahead of Benoit Paturel in second, Julien Lieber in third, Thomas Covington in fourth and Brian Bogers rounding out the top five.

In moto two it was Jonass who bounced back from a sixth in moto one to claim victory ahead of moto one winner Seewer, Covington, Bas Vaessen and Alvin Ostlund.

Using his 1-2 moto score it was Seewer who stood on top of the box ahead of Jonass in second with America’s Covington in third followed by Frenchman Paturel in fourth and Vaessen in fifth.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jonass continues to hold the MX2 red plate following the Ottobiano event ahead of Seewer in second, Thomas Kjer Olsen in third, Lieber in fourth and Paturel in fifth. Australia’s Hunter Lawrence drops to ninth overall in points after being forced out of the event due to a recent back injury.

In the EMX250 category it was Morgan Lesiardo who took out the overall victory with a 1-2 moto score ahead of Simone Furlotti in second, Ruben Fernandez in third, Ken Bengston in fourth and Roan Van De Moosdijk in fifth. Australia EMX250 rookie Caleb Grothues faced a challenging day at Ottobiano logging a 37th-place finish overall.

The 2017 MXGP World Championship will now makes its way to Agueda for the MXGP of Portugal on 2 July.