YAMAHA RACING
An excellent pre-season period for the factory Monster Energy Yamaha team continued this weekend with Steven Frossard taking his third consecutive victory from three rounds of the Italian Championship at Castiglione Del Lago.

2011 FIM MX1-GP World Championship runner-up Frossard raced to third and first positions at the former Grand Prix venue in Perugia to classify ahead of team-mate David Philippaerts on the YZ450FM and again defeat world champion Antonio Cairoli for the third time in three weeks. The second moto in particular saw all three protagonists at full gas and separated by just a second for an exciting phase of the race. The Frenchman is now in ‘pole position’ to defend the Italian national crown that he obtained last year thanks to a 60 point lead over Philippaerts and just one meeting remaining due to occur at Gazzane Di Preseglie in a fortnight.

“I’m really happy. I still don’t feel 100% and my stomach isn’t great but we had some good racing today and to win again, well, you can’t ask for more,” Frossard said. “I made a small mistake in the first moto by not selecting hard-pack tyres and I lacked grip but the second race with David and Tony was exciting and pretty hot for a few laps. We’re getting closer to the title.”

Christophe Charlier romped away from the rest of the MX2 field at the jumpy and remodelled layout at Castiglione to clinch the chequered flag by almost twenty-five seconds on his fuel injected YZ250FM. The Frenchman was sixth against the bigger 450cc motorcycles in the Elite class final moto. Charlier, who missed the opening round of the series through illness, is likely to skip the last race in order to enter two fixtures of the Dutch contest with a view towards the opening Grand Prix of the FIM World Championship in Holland on Easter Monday.

KTM RACING
Cairoli takes charge of MX1 in Round 3 of Italian Championship

Red Bull KTM’s Tony Cairoli was in sharp form at Castiglione del Lago at home in Italy on Sunday when he competed in Round 3 of the Italian Championship. The races are part of his preparation for the World Championship season and his challenge for a sixth world title.

He was in great form in the MX1 race – fast out of the gates, first into the first corner and led all the way to the finish. He also had a good start in the Elite Class race but got into close contact with several other riders in the first corner and found himself back at fourth place. He managed to work himself back to third and then to second but in the final stages got tangled up in heavy traffic and went off the gas to avoid an incident. Cairoli crossed the line in third and is is currently lying second in the MX1 class and third in the Elite class of the championship. The Italian Championships are an integral part of his preseason preparation.

“There were a lot of riders and some were quite slow so in the second race I decided to slow down in the last part because it was a bit dangerous,” Cairoli said.

“The track was a very hard surface and there was a lot of dust. The first heat was quite okay because it had been watered but the weather was warm and it dried out quickly so it was very difficult in the second heat.”

The Italian Championship now pauses for one week during which time Tony will be working on a documentary film with sponsors Red Bull in various locations in Italy as they record some of the life of this great rider.

Round 3 Castiglione del Lago Results

MX1
1, Tony Cairoli, Italy, KTM
2, David Philippaerts, Italy, Yamaha
3, Steven Frossard, France, Yamaha,
4, Davide Guarneri, Italy, KTM
5, Anthony Boissiere, France, TM
6, Matteo Bonni, Italy, KTM

Elite
1, Steven Frossard
2, David Philippaerts
3, Tony Cairoli
4, Davide Guarneri
5, Anthony Boissiere

HUSQVARNA RACING
LUPINO SECOND BUT STILL MX2 LEADER

Alessandro Lupino retained the MX2 championship lead after the third round of the International Italian Motocross Championship held at the Castiglione del Lago (PG) circuit.

The Husqvarna Motocross Racing Team rider had clocked up the second fastest time in the morning practice at less than a second behind Charlier. Charlier immediately set the pace as the race got underway followed by Lupino who had little trouble holding on to second place until the chequered flag.

Finishing runner-up allows Lupino to keep command of the championship standings with a 25 point advantage over Charlier.

Noteworthy too was Nick Triest’s reappearance after last winter’s accident, finishing in ninth place.

The final race of the International Italian Motocross Championship is to be held on 24 March at Odolo (BS).

MX2 Points standings:
1. Lupino (Husqvarna) p. 265,
2. Charlier (Yamaha) p. 240,
3. Chiodi ( Suzuki ) p. 200,
4. Monticeli (Suzuki ) p. 185,
5. Zecchina p. 149,
6. Seewer p. 130