Tony Cairoli has enjoyed a championship winning party in MXGP every year since 2009 but as the races click down in the 2015 campaign the Sicilian is running out of time. A fractured left arm means the 29 year old needs an injection every time he has to buckle a helmet. The qualification heat crash that caused the injury in mid-June at his home Grand Prix meant that the champion joined the swelling ranks of Nagl, Desalle, Villopoto as part of the MXGP injury collective and has had to watch Romain Febvre visibly grow in confidence, speed and championship-winning mettle.

2015 has been out of the norm for Cairoli. At first there was the hyped Villopoto duel (which – sadly – never came to fruition on the track or in the points), then the switch from the 350SX-F which he had won since 2009 to the 450SX-F for round six where he took an overdue first victory. That success in Spain seemed to be the start of Cairoli’s push and was followed by more triumph at the British Grand Prix for round seven. Before the Red Bull KTM star could begin to impose his speed and consistency on the class – as we have seen so often in the past – a mistake at Maggiora threw all his plans to the reeds.

As the FIM World Championship travels to the Czech Republic and Loket his weekend and a circuit at where Cairoli has voiced his distaste of the slippery hard-pack ‘222’ is looking at a 41 point deficit to Febvre and, perhaps symbolically, not held the red plate as series leader once this season. To help his plight it looks as though Nagl and Desalle will be back in play and both have a fondness for Loket so Febvre will have more of a challenge. Then MXGP heads into the sand for rounds fourteen, fifteen, sixteen which will be Cairoli’s ‘Alamo’ to keep the gold background to that 222 plate. But will he be fit in time to take advantage of his favoured terrain?

We spoke to the champ in Latvia, over a coffee and where he wore the expression of a man hanging onto a prize with just one hand. There is a rigid determination, professionalism, and deep experience about Cairoli as well as a balls-out steadfastness in the way he has stayed on the track with injury that only provokes admiration. He has no more to prove in many people’s eyes but there is something in his character that will not let 2015 slip away. He provides a stark contrast to departed peer Ryan Villopoto and there is the feeling that if he does emerge with a ninth crown come September and with the close of play in California then it will be a campaign to savour…

Where is the injury bothering you most at the moment?

Not so much in the wrist but near the elbow because I cannot straighten my arm and I cannot stand up. I have a lot of pain when I do that so I am sitting down a lot.

What did the doctor say about the recovery period? Would it be two weeks or two months?

Normally – so, no riding – in four weeks it would be fixed but after Maggiora we had the German GP the following week and I had a small crash there. We discovered that the fracture had moved since we last had an x-ray and on one side has gone sideways. The doctors were not too happy…but the positive news was that it was starting to heal, so if there are no other crashes or big impacts it will be OK in five-six weeks.

Do you need to ride with painkillers?

Always. An injection.

It must be very difficult to race at maybe 60% of what you can do…

In the first two rounds since it happened, so Maggiora and Teutschenthal, I was riding mostly with one hand! When I hit a big bump I had to loosen my grip. I wanted to let go of the bar but if the handlebar twists then I know I am going down. In Sweden and after one and a half weeks it was a little bit better because the swelling and haematoma had gone. I could hold on a bit better in some places. It was still not so good and I was riding scared of the bumps and I could not do what I wanted on the bike. The left corners are especially difficult because I cannot put the bike down. I am just trying to survive at the moment.

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