Warm Portuguese welcome for the FIM Motocross World Championship
A superb Tanel Leok clinched his second pole position of the season in the MX1 class; the Estonian looked solid and ready for tomorrow’s race. In the MX2 class, Italian Antonio Cairoli and French Christophe Pourcel won the two qualifying moto’s, and will be next to each other on tomorrow’s starting grid.
MX1
“Estonian Express” Tanel Leok is improving race by race, and his second pole in a row was definitely a sign of improvement. Kawasaki Racing Europe’s Leok entered the top ten 15 minutes before the end of the session, then moved up to fourth and finally clocked a fantastic 1.46.867 one minute before the finish.
Fellow Kawasaki rider Sebastien Pourcel was on pole before Leok, but finished second fastest. The GPKR Frenchman showed an impressive speed; he aims at a good race tomorrow, after he lapped with the front runners at the Spanish GP.
 Joshua Coppins (NZL, Yamaha) / Photo by: Jörg Domanowski / realmx.comSuzuki WMX GP’s Kevin Strijbos missed the second place by 87 thousandths of a second, and was third ahead of Yamaha Motocross’ Josh Coppins. The series leader is focused on the race, and so is Multitek Honda’s James Noble.
The British was fifth fastest today, ahead of countryman Billy Mackenzie and Belgian Ken De Dycker. Ramon and Barragan ended the top ten, as Nagl was 2 seconds and a half off the pole, and finished twentieth.
 Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM) / Photo by: Jörg Domanowski / realmx.comQualifying Class MX1:- Leok, Tanel (EST, Kawasaki)
- Pourcel, Sebastien (FRA, Kawasaki)
- Strijbos, Kevin (BEL, Suzuki)
- Coppins, Joshua (NZL, Yamaha)
- Noble, James (GBR, Honda)
- Mackenzie, Billy (GBR, Kawasaki)
- de Dycker, Ken (BEL, Honda)
- de Reuver, Marc (NED, Yamaha)
- Barragan, Jonathan (ESP, KTM)
- Ramon, Steve (BEL, Suzuki)
- Meo, Antoine (FRA, Honda)
- Priem, Manuel (BEL, TM)
- Nemeth, Kornel (HUN, Suzuki)
- Philippaerts, David (ITA, KTM)
- Brown, Mike (USA, Honda)
- van Daele, Marvin (BEL, Honda)
- Leok, Aigar (EST, Yamaha)
- Bill, Julien (SUI, Kawasaki)
- Renet, Pierre A. (FRA, Honda)
- Nagl, Maximilian (GER, KTM)
- Pyrhonen, Antti (FIN, Kawasaki)
- Vanni, Julien (FRA, Honda)
- Goncalves, Paulo (POR, Honda)
- Kovalainen, Marko (FIN, Honda)
- Coulon, Cyrille (FRA, Honda)
- Desalle, Clement (BEL, Suzuki)
- Salvini, Alex (ITA, Yamaha)
- Theybers, Danny (BEL, Honda)
- Allier, Thomas (FRA, Kawasaki)
- Beggi, Cristian (ITA, WRM)
- Chiodi, Alessio (ITA, Aprilia)
- Bricca, Daniele (ITA, KTM)
MX2
Title challengers Christophe Pourcel and Antonio Cairoli won today’s qualifying heats, by getting the lead in the first laps and pulling away from the rivals until they owned the chequered flag. Portuguese rider Rui Goncalves was second in the last chance qualifying practice, behind Frenchman Steven Frossard.
MX2 race 1
A very fast Jeremy van Horebeek got the holeshot, but crashed before the end of the opening lap. Antonio Cairoli and Manuel Monni chased each other for the lead, but the series leader passed his rival, and was first at the end of lap one. Tony pulled away with the lead, as Monni was chased by young gun Tommy Searle, who passed at lap nine. Searle’s team mate Tyla Rattray was sixth after the start, but made up ground until fourth place, and chased Monni for third. The Italian held on, and finished third, sandwiched between Searle and Rattray, fourth. Carl Nunn completed the top five, and kept away from the dogfight between Kenneth Gundersen and Wyatt Avis. The Norwegian finished sixth ahead of Avis.
Qualifying Race 1 Class MX2:- Cairoli, Antonio (ITA, Yamaha)
- Searle, Tommy (GBR, KTM)
- Monni, Manuel (ITA, Yamaha)
- Rattray, Tyla (RSA, KTM)
- Nunn, Carl (GBR, Yamaha)
- Gundersen, Kenneth (NOR, Yamaha)
- Avis, Wyatt (RSA, KTM)
- Church, Tom (GBR, Kawasaki)
- Schiffer, Marcus (GER, KTM)
- Bonini, Matteo (ITA, Yamaha)
- Hernandez, Xavier (ESP, Yamaha)
- Dougan, Jason (GBR, Suzuki)
MX2 race 2
Frenchman Jeremy Tarroux had a storming start, and lead the pack into the first corner, while Christophe Pourcel and Gareth Swanepoel fought for the runner up spot. Pourcel waited until lap three to pass countryman Tarroux, then he rode away with first place, and won the heat. Tarroux lead a group of three riders -Pascal Leuret, Gareth Swanepoel and Matti Seistola- until Leuret and Swanepoel moved past him at lap five. With Tarroux dropping down to finish with an eventual eighth, Swanepoel tried to close in on Leuret, who made a mistake and lost his advantage over Swanepoel. But the Frenchman had a very good pace, and opened up a new gap, to finish the heat in second place. Swanepoel was third, ahead of Finn Seistola, who felt the pressure of a very fast Anthony Boissiere, fifth.
 Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki) / Photo by: Jörg Domanowski / realmx.comQualifying Race 2 Class MX2:- Pourcel, Christophe (FRA, Kawasaki)
- Leuret, Pascal (FRA, Honda)
- Swanepoel, Gareth (RSA, Kawasaki)
- Seistola, Matti (FIN, Honda)
- Boissiere, Anthony (FRA, Kawasaki)
- Simpson, Shaun (GBR, Kawasaki)
- Aubin, Nicolas (FRA, Yamaha)
- Tarroux, Jeremy (FRA, Yamaha)
- Hamblin, Sean (USA, Suzuki)
- Nicholls, Jake (GBR, Suzuki)
- Mills, Ryan (USA, Honda)
- Boog, Xavier (FRA, Yamaha)
Last Chance Qualifying Practice Class MX2:- Frossard, Steven (FRA, Kawasaki)
- Goncalves, Rui (POR, KTM)
- Aranda, Gregory (FRA, Kawasaki)
- Verbruggen, Dennis (BEL, Yamaha)
- van Horebeek, Jeremy (BEL, KTM)
- Eggens, Erik (NED, Suzuki)
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