Vital MX Pit Bits: 2018 MXGP of Trentino 2

Trentino offers some of the greatest visuals of the season, both on and off the track...

We're back in Italy for the MXGP of Trentino, one of the most scenic races of the season. Per usual, it presented great racing and also another good look at the trickery of the MXGP machinery. Enjoy our latest Pit Bits from the World Championship.

With a five-eight performance, Gajser still seems to be getting back into the groove of things. But how could you be bummed out with a view like that?

We're used to seeing factory bikes with trimmed down graphics to save weight, so we're a little surprised to see more "full" kits on many teams.

Unlike the US where we see Honda HRC riding with Dunlop support, the MXGP team has been using Pirelli for the past two seasons. Prior HRC had used Dunlop in this series but once the HRC team combined with Gairiboldi going into 2017, the switch to Pirelli was made.

There's a switch or two on Gajser's bike. Kill switch, start switch, stock map switch and an additional map switch.

After some back-and-forth with Antonio Cairoli at the first few rounds, Jeffrey Herlings really put a stamp on things with a very solid one-one performance, extending his points lead out to ten.

Interesting comparison here, as we noticed Jeffrey Herlings bike uses stock pegs, that aren't even sharpened.

While Antonio Cairoli utilizes an unmarked titanium peg with a wider platform...different than the Nihilo or Raptor pegs we've seen KTM use in the past.

Jorge Prado finally took a chunk of points from fellow Red Bull KTM rider Pauls Jonass, taking 17 out of the defending champion's lead.

Romain Febvre just missed the podium in Trentino with fourth overall.

Alessandro Lupino was back on the MXGP scene and with a fairly unique KX450F.

A splash of Italy on Lupino's seat cover and 14-13 result in front of his home country crowd.

Solva suspension was used on Antonio Cairoli's early championship rides with Yamaha, but we don't see it nearly as often these days.

We don't know too much about Solva components other than they're 49mm diameter forks (lower stanchion measurement), they're spring of course, and that they're Italian.

Solva creates their own triple clamps for each application, needed to fit their unique upper tube diameters and achieve the flex characteristic they're looking for.

Jeffrey Herlings; sand, hardpack, starts, this guy is on point.

Jorge Prado took advantage of Pauls Jonass rough weekend to make up some serious points in the championship.

With his moto win, Thomas Covington puts himself into seventh in points and with Lawrence's injury, he'll easily move into sixth at the next round.

The MXGP version of the tough block, pretty interesting and safe looking.

While it hasn't caught on in the US, the HSL seems to be still fairly relevant in the GPs.

Antonio Cairoli rarely looks out of sort as he does here, but he's definitely pushing himself to keep with Jeffrey Herlings, as they're really taking things up a big notch over the rest of the class.

After a few years of doing his own goggle deal, Antonio Cairoli is back with Pro Grip.

More buttons...more and more.

Hunter Lawrence was unable to race this weekend due to a hand injury sustained on Saturday. We'll have to see how many rounds it'll be before he returns to action. Due to the new cylinder head, it looks as if the large capacity tank had to be pushed up a bit higher than usual.

While 114 Motorsports Honda may have the top 250 Honda rider in the field, they are a private team and not HRC's official entry in the MX2 class.

While the HRC squad has returned to Hinson components, the 114 Motorsports Honda team is using Rekluse in their debut season. We also noticed the majority of hardware on the bike seems to be stock, not much titanium on here.

FMF has a strong presence on the Husqvarna teams world wide but also with the 114 Honda crew.

The dual systems from FMF use their Powerbomb headers, unlike the Megabombs we see amongst most of their range.

X-Trig Tech series ROCS clamps are griping onto a se of kit KYB AOS forks from Technical Touch.

Clemente Desalle is slowly pulling away from Romain Febvre in the points and cementing himself as the man with the closest pace to Herlings and Cairoli...beating the latter in moto one.

Suzuki isn't totally off the MXGP circuit, as the German arm of the brand is still supporting a few racers this season...including Larissa Papenmeier who won the first WMX overall of the year.

The perfect season is over, as Pauls Jonass could only muster a nine-five finish in Trentino.


2 comments

View replies to: Vital MX Pit Bits: 2018 MXGP of Trentino

Comments

The Latest