Cairoli Wins MX2 World Championship; Kevin Strijbos wins MX1 Grand Prix - With Christophe Pourcel in a hospital ward with injuries sustained in morning practice, Antonio Cairoli went out and won the opening moto of the 2007 Grand Prix of Northern Ireland, and in doing so, clinched the 2007 MX World Championship. Combined with his 2005 title, the Italian is now a two-time World Champion. The De Carli Yamaha rider easily won the opening moto over a hard-riding Tommy Searle. Cairoli suffered a bad start in the second moto, while Tommy Searle raced into the lead. Astonishingly with only two laps remaining in the moto, Searle held a 12 second lead, but with less than a half a lap to go to the checkered flag, Cairoli caught and passed the Englishman.

“I am a little bit disappointed, I thought I had done enough, but he caught me so quickly and I saw him on me and we touched and I see he lost some time and then I made a mistake and he took the inside line and I hit his back wheel and made a small crash,” said a disappointed Searle, who had hoped to hold on and win the Grand Prix. “

Searle will now look forward to his home Grand Prix in the United Kingdom.

“I went to Donington last week, we wanted to do some laps on the whole track, it looks really good,” he said of the forthcoming GP venue. “It has many jumps and a lot of fun. There will be many fans for the British Grand Prix. I only have two chances now to get a win this year, so it's going to be tough. I hope to do it at Donington.”

In the MX 1 classification, CAS Honda rider Ken De Dycker and Suzuki factory rider Kevin Strijbos squared off, De Dycker initially out front and leading the way, until caught him and executed a pass. However, De Dycker came back though to win the moto. MX1 World Championship hopeful Steve Ramon had a terrible start in the opening moto, fighting his way back to eighth at the finish.

In the opening phase of the second moto, Ramon was in third, but made a mistake and dropped to 25th. Up front, Strijbos led Mike Brown and David Philippaerts. Strijbos ultimately won the moto, a healthy 34 second Pourcel. Philippaerts placed third. Ramon, meanwhile, was able to get back to fourth.

In the MX1 World championship title chase, Josh Coppins, still on the sidelines with injuries, remains the series leader with 445 points. Ramon is second and closing in fast with 433pts. Sebastien Pourcel is in third in points with 400.