Yamaha Red Bull De Carli's Antonio Cairoli kept his hand firmly in the game for the 2008 MX2-GP World Championship by enacting a skilful and impressive performance at a wet Uddevalla circuit for the Grand Prix of Sweden to take his fourth victory of the year. The Sicilian scored 2nd and 1st positions in the two motos of the ninth round of fifteen in the series and currently rests 2nd in the standings.

The world champion gained his seventh Lovemytime qualification heat award on Saturday in hot and sunny conditions. The 25,000 spectators saw temperatures plummet and light rain soak the soft terrain of the circuit on Sunday. The track was slippery, technical and overtaking was difficult due to a pre-dominantly fast single racing line.

Cairoli did not get the best of starts and had to chase title rivals Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle in the first moto. Shaun Simpson was leading but was soon overtaken by the South African. Cairoli went for the same piece of track as Searle in a battle for third spot and the Briton crashed. The incident did not disrupt the YZ250F rider as he passed Simpson to finish runner-up to Rattray.

With 22 points in the bag Cairoli knew a decent start was imperative for any chance of Scandinavian spoils and duly broke free with the same three protagonists for company. After yet more dicing with Searle the 2005 and 2007 champion unveiled a lightning series of laps, and also considerable guile, to demote Rattray and then Simpson. His seventh moto win ensured his fourth overall triumph, making the 22 year old the most successful rider so far this season.

Cairoli's second consecutive Swedish victory means that he lies 14 points behind Rattray in the championship standings (his rival was second overall with Simpson third).

Yamaha Ricci Racing's Nico Aubin looked a little more like the rider who won the 2007 Czech Grand Prix after a difficult time last week in Germany when he could not get on the pace. The Frenchman was luckless in Saturday qualification when he was felled by another rider and was forced into the Last Chance session, from which he posted the quickest lap-time and was 25th in the gate. The 20 year old performed decently to take 5th place in the opening moto but a poorer start for race two meant he had to pit for goggles and lost time and positions. 20th by the chequered flag he ended the day 11th overall.

Team-mate Davide Guarneri also felt an improvement across the greasy Swedish mud even if - like Aubin - his results did not reflect as much. Still riding with a weak knee, the Italian was impressive in a dry and hot Saturday programme where he took third in the first heat. He rode to a creditable 10th in the first GP moto but suffered with fatigue in the second race and emerged from a heavy crash to take 17th for 13th position overall.

3C Racing's Italian MX2 Champion Manuel Monni obtained 12th spot with moto results of 11th and 16th. Cairoli's team-mate Matteo Bonini did not participate in the Grand Prix after a scan during the week revealed that the Italian had fractured a metacarpal in his left hand. He is expected to be out of action for three to four weeks.

Round ten of fifteen will take place in two weeks time at the Nelspruit circuit for the Grand Prix of South Africa and the sole non-European event on the 2008 calendar.

Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha Red Bull De Carli, 1st:

"I am very happy with this race. My start was not good in the first moto and when I had to pass some riders the track was so slippery and I had to take care not to make a mistake, but second place was possible. The second moto was a strange race. The four of us were close for the lead but then Tommy tried to take my front wheel and I was a bit surprised about what he tried to do. I like to race with him and he is a really good rider and I think he can be better about what he does sometimes. This championship is very hard and a big challenge but it will be more rewarding if I can win it. I have a great feeling on the bike and I want to fight with all the KTM guys. I do not want to make any more mistakes and my goal is now to put Tyla under pressure and catch him."

Nico Aubin, Yamaha Ricci Racing, 11th:

"My place behind the gate meant that today was always going to be tough. I started well in the first moto and came quickly up to 6th. Searle went down and I was 5th but too far from the rest of the other riders. The race was still good for my confidence and especially to come back from what happened in Germany. The second moto start was worse and by lap two I had to throw away the goggles as it was impossible to follow anyone and actually see. After some time I had to come in and get some more goggles. It was not a good GP for me but my speed is back and I feel happier than last week."

"This was a little bit better than last week. I felt good and fast on Saturday and took third. My starts were not so good today and maybe this was to do with my concentration. I was well outside the top ten in the first moto but took tenth position and I was quite fast; at least better than I have been. In the second moto I found my way to twelfth but then started to feel quite tired after twenty minutes and had a little pain in the knee. In one corner I lost control and crashed quite heavily and could only take 17th after that. I finished the day on a low point but I feel there has been an improvement with my speed and now I plan to go to South Africa to see what I can do."

1 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 39'20.658

2 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 0'8.094

3 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'9.872

4 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 0'14.416

5 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'22.044

6 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'24.014

7 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'56.202

8 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'0.788

9 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'6.988

10 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'11.844

11 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'12.287

12 Xavier Boog Suzuki FRA 1'19.940

13 Jeremy Tarroux KTM FRA 1'21.990

14 Marvin Musquin Honda FRA 1'27.184

15 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'34.802

16 Filip Thuresson Suzuki SWE 1'37.915

17 Yauheni Tyletski Suzuki BGR 1'43.262

18 Anthony Boissière KTM FRA 1'44.200

19 Jake Nicholls Suzuki GBR 1'45.455

20 Carl Nunn Suzuki GBR 1'45.942

1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'11.405

2 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'2.757

3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'3.980

4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'7.080

5 Jeremy Tarroux KTM FRA 0'40.019

6 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 0'40.785

7 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 0'48.751

8 Marvin Musquin Honda FRA 0'57.949

9 Wyatt Avis Honda RSA 0'59.507

10 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'3.677

11 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'7.621

12 Anthony Boissière KTM FRA 1'21.783

13 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'22.825

14 Carl Nunn Suzuki GBR 1'25.188

15 Joel Roelants KTM BEL 1'27.331

16 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'30.692

17 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'31.503

18 Evgeny Bobryshev Yamaha RUS 1'41.615

19 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'52.714

20 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 2'9.143

1. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 371

2. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 357

3. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 348

4. Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 251

5. Rui Goncalves KTM POR 227

6. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 205

7. Xavier Boog Suzuki FRA 182

8. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 172

9. Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 170

10. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 160

11. Stephen Sword Kawasaki GBR 151

12. Anthony Boissière KTM FRA 146

13. Marvin Musquin Honda FRA 146

14. Jeremy Tarroux KTM FRA 127

15. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 114

16. Joel Roelants KTM BEL 99

17. Gautier Paulin Kawasaki FRA 95

18. Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 94

19. Carl Nunn Suzuki GBR 73

20. Wyatt Avis Honda RSA 56

22. Evgeny Bobryshev Yamaha RUS 42

26. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 25

28. Alessandro Lupino Yamaha ITA 19

48. Deny Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 2

1. KTM 419

2. Yamaha 413

3. Kawasaki 280

4. Suzuki 230

5. Honda 167

- Yamaha Racing-