Cairoli and Demaria accept World Championship medals

The 2007 FIM Off-road Awards took place in the affluent setting of Monaco and the ‘Salle de Etoiles’ last Saturday and Yamaha De Carli’s Antonio Cairoli and Yamaha Demaria’s Yves Demaria proudly accepted their silverware for MX2-GP and MX3-GP world championship success respectively. In front of more than 400 guests that included former world championship legends like Jean-Michel Bayle and Roger de Coster, winners from both the Motocross and Supermoto World and European stages were given their accolades by the FIM and Youthstream. Cairoli, a double world champion after recapturing the crown he owned in 2005 on the YZ250F, was treated to a short video of action highlights; revealing moments from the 10 GP wins (from 15), 21 motos (from 28) and 13 podiums (from 14) in his MX2-GP dominance. The flamboyant Sicilian was also able to re-live his stunning MX1-GP debut at Donington Park. “This is a great way to end a fantastic season for me and the team,” said Cairoli, who is committed to defending his MX2 title next year. “We won many races and it was the perfect answer to 2006 when I lost the title by just a few points. There are many good memories from 2007 but I think my win at Donington Park in the MX1-GP class was special. I was hoping for a podium result at best but to get those good starts and win first time with the YZ450F was incredible. I want to win more in 2008 and then see where my future lies with Yamaha.” Yves Demaria signed off his career as a full-time world championship racer by taking a privately entered YRRD kitted YZ479F to a third rider’s title in the larger bore category. “2007 was a difficult year because I had to combine being a rider and a team manager but I could manage to win my third MX3 world championship and I cannot think of a better way to end my career,” said the French veteran who will continue to contest select Grand Prix events with the direct backing of Yamaha France. Yamaha De Carli boss, Claudio de Carli, scaled the stage to accept the team’s prize for 2007 while Michele Rinaldi was also on-hand to collect Yamaha’s award for the MX2-GP Manufacturer’s championship. “Yamaha won a lot of MX2-GP races in 2007 and I am proud to accept this for their achievement,” he said.