MXGP Changing Since Returning To Europe
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A new chapter will begin at the Grand Prix of Lombardia, as the 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship will leap into the second half. The first ten rounds have truly vanished in the blink of an eye. That fact prompted us to reflect on what has transpired and uncover a collection of intriguing statistics from the season thus far.
– A lot changed when the FIM Motocross World Championship returned to Europe, but just how different have things been since the Grand Prix of Trentino? The points from the last seven rounds have been put into the table below and, just as one would expect, it changes the ranking that Jeffrey Herlings occupies quite drastically.
1st |
Antonio Cairoli |
245 |
2nd |
Jeffrey Herlings |
232 |
3rd |
Gautier Paulin |
221 |
4th |
Clement Desalle |
215 |
5th |
Romain Febvre |
153 |
– The struggles that Jeffrey Herlings encountered at the first four rounds were well-documented. Those results have dragged his stats down somewhat, as his average finish across nineteen motos has been a seventh. Antonio Cairoli, in comparison, has an average finish of third, which would explain the impressive advantage that he is currently sat on in the standings.
– How does that average finish that Antonio Cairoli has compare to what he has achieved in previous seasons? ‘222’ had an average of fourth through ten rounds last year, which is actually quite impressive considering how poor his term was. When he last won the title – three years ago – his average was a second. What has been his worst average through ten rounds in a title-winning season? A sixth in 2012. A dismal day in Sweden was the reason for that.
– Antonio Cairoli has won five motos thus far, which is exactly the same amount that he won across all eighteen rounds last year. That number is quite far from the personal record that he set five years ago though; he won thirteen of the first twenty motos. It is quite obvious why he had a lead of ninety points after ten rounds that season. Gautier Paulin and Clement Desalle trailed him in the standings that year too!
Consistency combined with speed makes Cairoli tough to beat (KTM Images/Ray Archer)
– A victory at the Grand Prix of Germany, following a second and a first, was the eightieth triumph that Antonio Cairoli has had in his career. How many of those wins have occurred with those exact moto scores? Sixteen of them. The last time that it happened, before that German outing, was at the Grand Prix of Bulgaria in 2014. There was a gap of one thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight days between the two.
– Just how competitive has the premier division been this season? Ten riders have led multiple laps at one point or another. Antonio Cairoli, Tim Gajser, Gautier Paulin, Clement Desalle, Jeffrey Herlings, Shaun Simpson, Glenn Coldenhoff, Max Nagl, Romain Febvre and Arminas Jasikonis have all had a turn at the head of the field. All five manufacturers are represented within that group.
– Eight of the ten riders listed there have completed every round of the 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship. Tim Gajser, who has not raced two of the ten rounds that have been run, has actually led more laps than anyone else though. Gajser led a total of one hundred and five laps across motos in Qatar, Argentina, Mexico and Italy.
Tim Gajser still has some impressive statistics to fall back on (Honda Racing Corporation/Bavo Swijgers)
– Evgeny Bobryshev missed Teutschenthal and Ernee with a broken collarbone, so his total obviously suffered. ‘777’ was wildly inconsistent earlier in his career and simply could not complete a season without getting injured. That has changed in recent years, however, and the German Grand Prix was the first time that he was not on the starting line in nine hundred and eighty-one days!
– Inconsistency has been rife in MXGP, as just twelve riders have actually attended every round! Just five of those riders (Antonio Cairoli, Clement Desalle, Gautier Paulin, Jeffrey Herlings and Romain Febvre) have scored points in each moto.
– Clement Desalle is not known as a great starter, but he has been brilliant out of the gate thus far. Fourth has been his average-starting position across the nineteen motos that have been run. On the other hand, Antonio Cairoli and Gautier Paulin have been sixth on average. Jeffrey Herlings has been eighth and only in the top five at the end of lap one in seven of the races.
Clement Desalle has silenced naysayers through ten rounds (Monster Energy Media/Ray Archer)
– Kawasaki currently sit fifth in the manufacturer standings, even though they have claimed two Grand Prix wins with Clement Desalle. The fact that, for the most part, they have had to rely solely on ‘25’ has hurt their overall ranking. The last time that they were inside of the top three after ten rounds was three seasons ago; they four hundred and two points. They currently have three hundred and thirty-four.
– The two events that Clement Desalle won in succession earlier this year were actually quite the personal achievement, as he had only managed to win consecutive rounds once before that. That occurred at the Grand Prix of Czech Republic and Grand Prix of Belgium towards the end of the 2013 season. Desalle has now won twenty-two events in total.
Words: Lewis Phillips | Lead Image: KTM Images/Ray Archer
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