An example of one of the ‘curiosities’ seen now and again in the paddock was found almost two weeks ago at Ernee for the Grand Prix of France. At arguably his most important race of the year Gautier Paulin was spotted with technicians activating a switch near his brake footpeg to lower the rear end of the works KX450F during start practice immediately after the pre-qualification session on Saturday.

Motocrossers have been using a front fork ‘catch’ to hook onto the forkguards and compress the suspension for starts for over ten years. It was a device pioneered by former Grand Prix rider Corrado Maddii. It seems KRT have now found a way to activate the rear suspension as well, giving Paulin’s KX450F a bizarre low-ride effect just as he rolls into the gate.

We spoke with KRT Team Manager Francois Lamariey. Understandably he didn’t reveal much but explained that the shock is compressed with the help of a small blocking mechanism that is then released when Paulin gets on the gas.

“It is something we have developed ourselves and we went through quite a few tests until we were happy we could use it for Grand Prix,” he said. “The goal is to increase the maximum amount of traction. While the front suspension catch stops the bike from rising too much in the first metres this item keeps the rear in as close contact with the ground as possible.”

At France it seemed to work. Paulin launched well in the first moto and was able to achieve the rare feat of catching and passing World Champion Tony Cairoli for an immensely popular victory in front of a capacity crowd. In the second he was again near the holeshot but was held-up by the falling Max Nagl. “I cannot tell you!” said Lamariey when quizzed about how many millimetres the innovation had on the rear suspension and who neither felt the need to demonstrate the system to us. Watch the coming weekends in Sweden, Latvia and Finland as Paulin heads into his gate slot, and see if the ‘21’ machine heads the pack coming around the first turn like he did at Maggiora.

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The broadcasting experts get behind the microphone again for another OTOR podcast and this time to muse over the events of Le Mans right before the red light evaporates at Mugello this weekend. Plenty to discuss…

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• Thundery: AMA MX Rnd 2 scope
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The Suzuki factory motocross team might have taken the unusual route of allowing their principal sponsor – Rockstar Energy – to make the announcement, but the prospect of both of their MX1 stars Clement Desalle and Kevin Strijbos tackling the second and third rounds of the AMA Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship in the United States is big news nonetheless.

Both Belgians currently hold positions in the top five of the MX1 class of the FIM Motocross World Championship and their plans to contest the races in Colorado and Tennessee have come about due to a happy collision of circumstances. Principal Rockstar AMA representative Davi Millsaps (runner-up in the AMA 450SX Supercross championship) is due knee surgery and faces a sizeable absence. Desalle and Strijbos – currently in Brazil for the seventh round of the GP series – were originally to stay in South America for the Grand Prix of Mexico the following week but with the cancellation of the event in Guadalajara their schedule is now free to consider the second meeting of the AMA calendar at former Motocross of Nations venue Lakewood. The small gap in the FIM fixture list means they can also head to Blountville.

The only obstacle has been the commitment to the 2013 Belgian Championship by Strijbos but the team are currently in negotiations with organisers in Europe to excuse the former MX1 championship runner-up from his obligation and run the Rockstar colours on American soil.

“I’m excited and I think it is nice to go there and do a race at that level where you don’t have the pressure of the championship on your shoulders,” said Desalle who scored a podium on his last appearance in American motocross at Unadilla in 2010. “I’m looking forward to getting on a good track and overall it is a good opportunity. Things have come together to make it happen, so why not? Sure, people can say it is a long way, it is dangerous and so on but I can crash and get injured anywhere.”

“I just want to get a good feeling on the bike this weekend in Brazil – after the heavy crash in Portugal – and then just go there and see what I can do.”

“Eric [Geboers, Team Manager] told me about a possible plan of doing a whole season there but it turned out to be too difficult and that changed into making one or two race appearances,” revealed Strijbos. “Going for the whole season would have been a big change and I was told not to get too used to the idea initially but it was impossible not to think about it.”

“I really do not have any expectations,” he added. “My aim is to make this as much of a fun experience as possible. This might be the last time I can go to the U.S. with this level of support so I want to make the most of being there and enjoy it. I think I’ll need the first race just to take everything in and see how the event runs and then maybe be a bit better for the second meeting in Tennessee. Of course they are fast there, but we are not slow here and I don’t think Clement or I will be going to fight for fifteenth place. I’ll go to make my laps and battle where I can.”

Two issues previously in OTOR we ran a story about MX1 World Champion Tony Cairoli heading over to take on the best of the AMA. It was a deserved focus as Cairoli was – and is – still very much hot: the complete package. After six rounds of the series however his limelight is shrinking ever so slightly and being invaded by a rider a few metres away on the other side of the factory KTM awning.
Jeffrey Herlings is reaching a position where he is becoming the fastest, bravest and most unstoppable rider in the world (in the framework of Grand Prix, perhaps beyond). The clamour to see Cairoli represent the best GP has to offer outside of the annual festival that is the Motocross of Nations is being eroded by the build-up around Herlings.

First the stats. Herlings is just eighteen and already has twenty-two Grand Prix victories. Before he can legally have a beer in the USA he is set to become Holland’s most successful motocrosser (just five more to beat Dave Strijbos) and enter the higher echelons of the ‘all-time’ FIM list. He is undefeated in six rounds and twelve motos this year and won eighteen races and nine events in 2012; a term where his impetuosity was turned down a notch. Some wayward personal incidents aside, the rough edges were polished to such a fine degree that a rider with the speed and talent of Tommy Searle was unable to do much about him.

Herlings is not an archetypal MX2 rider. He is almost 6ft and with an irrepressible style that sees him throw the 250SX-F around like a two-stroke. To the uninitiated it sometimes looks like he is on the edge of disaster but he barely crashes and has only sustained one substantial injury in four years of Grand Prix, a dislocated shoulder that prematurely ended his outstanding debut season in 2010. He is currently beating the MX2 pack by minute of race-time and posting lap chronos that would see him fronting the MX1 field as well…on a 250.

At the moment Herlings holds the unbeatable combination of youth, energy, fitness, supreme confidence, and a touch of arrogance. It is hard to find a weakness. Supposed training sessions where the Dutchman is pounding out Grand Prix motos and then bursting a vessel in the final two laps of the distance means that he is as hardworking as he is skilled (perhaps this is where Stefan Everts deserves credit). Herlings best lap-time came on the 20th circulation of 21 in Portugal.

Between motos we found him lying on the sofa in the hospitality unit at Agueda, joking around with his girlfriend. I asked if he could make the MX2 contest a bit more interesting and try entering the gate facing the wrong way. Herlings laughed off the suggestion but does quite like the banter. He gives off an aura of being the best, and the comfort, elation and confidence that goes with it. ‘84’ is not just winning but he is crushing, and it is a rare phenomenon for a professional athlete.

If the – frankly – impossible happened and Herlings won all the remaining motos this season and his nearest threat, team-mate Jordi Tixier, finished second every time then the teenager will have successfully regained his crown by the Grand Prix of Belgium at Bastogne in mid-August, two rounds before the series concludes at Lierop and home turf for Herlings. That leaves an AMA ride at Lake Elsinore the following weekend a real possibility if he doesn’t fancy the MXGP Festival/British Grand Prix at Matterley Basin.

This season anyway American fans will be unable to marvel at his sand skills as the Moto X 338 National at Southwick falls on the same fixture as the popular Grand Prix of Sweden. MX1 surely beckons for 2013 and Herlings strongly denied rumours in Portugal that he is looking to vacate the KTM camp with a year still on his contract. Cairoli and Herlings in MX1? Scary stuff

This weekend the venue entertains this popular appointment of the calendar once more and the likelihood of a Brazilian ‘double header’ for 2014 was again pushed further to reality.

Motocross in this part of the world is in rude health. A strong national scene – with former GP rider and MX3 World Champion Carlos Campano wearing the number one plate – can mean a lucrative contract for riders and the country even has enough following to permit two domestic championships, the other backed by Honda; the principal sponsorship force behind the Grand Prix.

For five years in a row the FIM Motocross World Championship has visited Brazil, and Beto Carrero (actually a theme park, so fake animals surround the race track and a backdrop of rollercoasters flank the many grandstands) is the host for the second season in succession, which is unusual for an event that has bounced around circuits like Canalinha, Indiatuba and Campo Grande. The plans for Beto Carrero to remain as the southern location for MXGP in Brazil and then possibly a location like Belo Horizonte further north are closer to reality. “This is the future of motocross,” were some of the words uttered by FIM CMS President Wolfgang Srb referring to the ‘stadium setting’ and high level of organisation at Beto Carrero Friday night at a welcome party that involved Samba dancers a Brazilian band and characters from the theme park like Shrek.

Allegedly representatives from Mexico and Argentina were present at Beto Carrero for talks on potential Grand Prix. If Mexico cannot re-enter the calendar for 2014 then there is further impetus for Brazil to stage a double header. Other rumours about the schedule involve six from eighteen rounds being held overseas with trips to Qatar and Thailand again opening the championship and another stint with Japan and Australia fleshing out the international focus.

Check in again with Gav and Matt as they discuss the repercussions of the Grand Prix in Jerez as the clouds loom over Le Mans…

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The Kawasaki Racing Team star and winner of the previous round in Bulgaria took thirty minutes out of his Friday afternoon to talk about racing Tony Cairoli, the future of MX1, making that huge double jump in Thailand and his BMX roots…