Published on 5 September 2016

Cairoli ill at Charlotte!

We all wondered just what was up with Antonio Cairoli in Charlotte as it was hoped he would be one of the riders challenging for the wins.

However KTM’s Joel Smets admitted the Italian was struggling in the days leading up to the race: “Of course we all could already see and hear two days ago that Tony (Cairoli) was sick and he could hardly talk. Mentally he is a very strong character, but he’s only human and if the power is not there, that’s how it is. I feel quite sad to have our biggest champion on the team sick.”

And Cairoli explained that race day wasn’t any better: “Charlotte was a tough one, felt very sick all the weekend and on the race day even more with fever and stomach problem.”

Let’s hope Cairoli can recover quickly and can show the Americans his true capabilities at Glen Helen, it is a track he enjoys and has won on in the past, and you can bet he wasn’t happy riding for fifteenth last weekend. But credit to the champ, he never gave up and fought for some points in both motos, showing just why he has eight world titles.