Today started with the usual warm up sessions but the Grand Prix of Sun City has his own fashion and it came out just before the MX2 first moto. Traditional dancers were performing along the circuit while musicians were playing the best of the local music; the link with motors was kept up by the Red Bull plane making crazy moves on the sky which was above a significant number of
spectators, something about 25300 fans during the weekend.
Many of them were hoping for Tyla Rattray’s win, the homeboy winning his qualifying moto yesterday.
But in the first moto there was Philippaerts on his way: the Italian won the challenge which was supposed to be a KTM affair. It started with Chiodi being first at the first corner but at the end of the initial lap it was Nunn leading the pack, with KTM fellas Philippaerts and De Reuver behind. Using one of the many lines offered by the track, Philippaerts snatched first place from the British rider who was passed also by De Reuver. But home rider Rattray was closing in and once he made to pass countryman Swanepoel during the third lap the first four riders were all KTM powered. Then Nunn went backwards and De Reuver crashed during the sixth lap, when he was getting ready to battle with Philippaerts: he handed the task to Rattray, who battled his best with Philippaerts along the demanding circuit of
Swanepoel was fourth and Nunn ended the top five.
Cairoli’s good mood continued in race 2 where the Italian had no bike troubles preventing him from taking the win. So he did, grasping the first top result of the season. It all started with Nunn leading the race in the first lap while Christophe Pourcel was second, followed by Cairoli and Monni. First race winner Philippaerts crashed at the second lap and then retired while countryman Cairoli was making up ground towards the first place; Pourcel fought a bit with Nunn then was passed by Cairoli who got the lead after he passed the Englishman. Also Rattray moved past Nunn then he kept second place until the finish line. Nunn was third and Christophe Pourcel fourth.
GP winner Antonio Cairoli
There were less emotions in the MX1 races where Everts grasped the lead quite early and kept it in both races. Ramon and Coppins were the closest rival to the Belgian Champion, who got the tenth win of the season today. In the first
The same thing happened in the second moto. Everts moved past Coppins and got the lead in the second lap while Pyrhonen was fighting his hardest to stay with the leaders: right after the start he was second behind Coppins. But also Ramon passed him, securing the second third place finish of the day. His team mate Strijbos had another crash in the second lap and had to restart the race from eighth place. He managed to finish fifth though, behind Leok who started his race from ninth place but rode consistently until the finish.
Everts won another GP
With such a day Everts increases his advantage in the Championship and is now 136 points ahead of Strijbos. With third overall, Ramon can pass Leok and get third place behind his team mate while Leok drops to fourth.
The leader is still the same also in MX2 and Christophe Pourcel still holds the red plate. But Cairoli is now the closest challenger: the Italian is second ahead of Philippaerts. Rattray is now fourth with De Reuver moving down to fifth, scoring no points in