Gautier Paulin victorious debut in elite MX1 class.

French Motocross sensation, Gautier
Paulin, rocketed to a maiden MX1 GP victory  in his very first
appearance in the elite class, at the final round of the FIM Motocross
World championship held in Fermo Italy over the weekend.

The Monster Energy Yamaha
racer,  got the green light from his team late on Thursday
evening  after fellow team-mate Steven Frossard was ruled out with a
lung infection. 

Changing to the more powerful 450
machine was no problem for 21-year-old Paulin as he cruised to an easy
victory in the qualification race to give him pole position for the 2x
35min + 2 lap races on Sunday.   He then went on to grab his
first hole-shot in the MX1 class and put on a display for the Italian crows
which saw him run away with his first ever MX1 moto victory.

The second moto had the crowd on
their feet as fellow Frenchman Christophe Pourcel joined in the battle
right from the start.  He lead the first half of the moto with Paulin
breathing down his neck but then Paulin went 4 seconds per lap fatser to
post the fastest lap of the race as he blew past his
countryman.   Pourcel retaliated ten minutes later when Paulin
started to suffer from blisters and regained the lead.  Paulin cruised
to second place and secured a phenomenal victory in his first MX1 Grand
Prix debut.

“For sure I am really happy
and I didn’t really know what I could expect for my first MX1 GP. In
the first race I made the hole-shot and was on my own so I sent my rhythm
and just rode out the moto. In the second it was really good fun to race
with Christophe and we passed each other but the track was getting harder
and harder with more bumps; normally it is smoother for the MX2 motos. It
was my first race on the 450 and I knew I was winning the grand prix so I
did not want to go crazy. I was riding safe. With Monster Energy Yamaha we
did something special today.”

Race results:

MX1 Race 1

1       Paulin,
Gautier    FRA   Yamaha

2       Boog,
Xavier       FRA   Kawasaki

3       Strijbos,
Kevin     BEL   Suzuki

4       Barragan,
Jonathan     ESP   Kawasaki

5       Boissiere,
Anthony       FRA   Yamaha

6       Guarneri, Davide ITA
   Kawasaki

7       Bobryshev,
Evgeny      RUS   Honda

8       Pourcel,
Christophe     FRA   Kawasaki

9       Goncalves,
Rui    POR   Honda

10     Aranda,
Gregory FRA   Kawasaki

MX1 Race 2

1       Pourcel,
Christophe     FRA   Kawasaki

2       Paulin,
Gautier    FRA   Yamaha

3       Barragan,
Jonathan     ESP   Kawasaki

4       Strijbos,
Kevin     BEL   Suzuki

5       Boog,
Xavier       FRA   Kawasaki

6       Goncalves,
Rui    POR   Honda

7       Boissiere,
Anthony       FRA   Yamaha

8       Guarneri, Davide ITA
   Kawasaki

9       Simpson, Shaun  GBR
  Honda

10    
Schiffer, Marcus   GER   Suzuki

MX1 GP Overall:

1       Paulin,
Gautier    FRA   Yamaha     
47

2       Pourcel,
Christophe     FRA   Kawasaki  
38

3       Barragan,
Jonathan     ESP   Kawasaki  
38

4       Strijbos,
Kevin     BEL  
Suzuki        38

5       Boog,
Xavier       FRA   Kawasaki  
38

6       Boissiere,
Anthony       FRA  
Yamaha      30

7       Guarneri, Davide ITA
   Kawasaki   28

8       Goncalves,
Rui    POR  
Honda        27

9       Schiffer, Marcus  
GER   Suzuki        20

10     Monni,
Manuel     ITA   
Honda        20

MX1 World championship
standings:

1       Cairoli, A.   ITA
   596

2       Frossard,
S.        FRA   472

3       Desalle, C. BEL  
461

4       Bobryshev,
E.      RUS   444

5       Nagl,
M.      GER   439

6       Goncalves,
Rui    POR   431

7       Boog,
Xavier       FRA   347

8       Barragan,
J.        ESP   326

9       Philippaerts, D.  
ITA    308

10    
Strijbos, K. BEL   295

47     Paulin,
G.   FRA   47