Sometimes when looking up results and doing stories you can find the most interesting information. While writing a story for the MXGP.com website yesterday I went through the results from the past winners of the MXGP of Great Britain (races held at Matterley Basin) and while doing the research I was surprised to see that of the current crop of MXGP riders just three men have won in the MXGP class at Matterley, those being Antonio Cairoli, Jeffrey Herlings and Tim Gajser.

Rather amazingly, or maybe not so amazing is the fact Antonio Cairoli has won at Matterley Basin on five occasions, and he has won nine motos at the circuit if you count his moto victory at the 2006 MXoN and been in the top three on 17 occasions from 24 motos. The Italian actually started his love affair with the British circuit on its very first appearance on the Grand Prix calendar, back 15 years ago in 2006 when in his first ever appearance at the track he finished with second overall in the MX2 class behind David Philippaerts. Cairoli went 6-1 for the runner-up spot and then finished third overall in the MX2 class a few months later at the MXoN with 10-1 results after crashing out of the opening moto early and then beating American 250 champion Ryan Villopoto and another MX2 championship winner Ben Townley.

Matterley Basin disappeared from the calendar for a handful of years as Steve Dixon tried to convince the Winchester council that the MXoN riots were a one off and the circuit was good for the area and sure enough, when it returned to the MXGP schedule in 2011, that man Cairoli was waiting to go 3-1 in the 450 class for his first overall victory at the circuit. Like a runaway train the Italian legend then scored victories in 2012 1-1, (2013 he won a moto but finished 18^th in the other after problems and Clement Desalle won the overall), 2014 with 1-2, 2015 with 1-3 and 2019 with 1-2 scores. Without doubt the winningest rider in the track’s history.

As for last years Matterley winner Jeffrey Herlings, he has had a slightly more difficult task at Matterley but is also a lover of the circuit and the results show. In his Matterley debut in 2011 he finished fourth overall behind Ken Roczen. A year later he finished second to Tommy Searle in that classic GP when Searle went 1-1 and Herlings 2-2, but the battle will always be remembered for decades to come.

Herlings would score his first overall victory at Matterley in 2014 after missing 2013 with injury. “The Bullet” would go 1-1, however a year later it would be Valentin Guillid who would win the MX2 class with 2-1 and Herlings would come home in second with 1-2 scores. In 2016 Herlings got victory number two at Matterley with a 1-1 performance, while at the MXoN he won the Open class with 2-1 results and in 2018 scored another win in England with 1-1 scores. The Dutchman won his fourth GP overall at Matterley last year after another classic battle, this time with Tim Gajser, and the KTM rider went 1-2 for the win.

Now, the final man in the Matterley Basin puzzle is defending MXGP champion and last weekends Russian GP winner Tim Gajser. This is truly an amazing story, as Gajser took his first ever victory at the circuit 10 years ago in the EMX125cc championship when he won the opening moto, only to DNF the second moto. His only overall win at Matterley was in 2016 in his MXGP debut season when he won with 1-1 results, then backed it up with 2-5 scores at the 2017 MXoN in the MXGP class, finished second overall to Magic Max Anstie, who went 1-1. Gajser though has been impressive at the British circuit, finishing 3^rd in MX2 in 2014 5^th in 2018 with 3-5 scores, then scored two runner up finishes in 2019 and 2020 with 3-1-8-1 results.

Both Herlings and Gajser have missed years at Matterley due to injuries, but the old war-horse Cairoli has been just incredible. Since that 2006 debut at the circuit, he has finished on the overall podium nine times out of his 12 appearances and as previously mentioned been top three in races on 17 occasions from 24 motos. His results since that very first GP at Matterley and counting his MXoN performances in 2006 and 2017 he has gone 6-1-10-1-3-1-1-1-1-18-1-2-1-3-2-10-7-11-2-2-1-2-4-3.

So, while we all look towards Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings looking for another major battle like in 2020, let’s not ever count out Cairoli, because he showed us last weekend in Russia that the old dog still has some tricks up his sleeve and the speed to run with the youngsters of the sport.

Matterley Basin MXGP Winners

2006 Stefan Everts (also the MXoN overall)

2011 Antonio Cairoli

2012 Antonio Cairoli

2013 Clement Desalle

2014 Antonio Cairoli

2015 Antonio Cairoli

2016 Tim Gajser

2017 Max Anstie (MXON) 

2018 Jeffrey Herlings

2019 Antonio Cairoli

2020 Jeffrey Herlings

Matterley Basin MX2 Winners

2006 David Philippaerts

2006 Ryan Villopoto (MXoN)

2011 Ken Roczen

2012 Tommy Searle

2013 Glenn Coldenhoff

2014 Jeffrey Herlings

2015 Valentin Guillod

2016 Jeffrey Herlings

2017 Hunter Lawrence (MXoN)

2018 Pauls Jonass

2019 Thomas Olsen

2020 Jago Geerts

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