KTM Red Bull's MX 1 contender Italian David Philippaerts goes to the Glimminge Mototstadion in Uddevalla Sweden with the sweet smell of victory from last year still in his nostrils.
Philippaerts achieved his podium in MX 1 and has now moved up to MX1 but has been gaining in strength as the season progresses.
David has been consistently in the top five finishers and this augers well for the second half of the season. Winning his maiden MX1 Grand Prix has also been a confidence booster for the Italian. Presently lying third in the championship standings, David now has to make as many points as possible to close the gap on second placed Steve Ramon. New Zealander Joshua Coppins seems to have a stranglehold on the lead as riders go into the second half of the season.
David must also watch out for the other MX1 debutant, Sebastien Pourcel, ranked fourth but with equal championship points.
Meanwhile David's team-mate Jonathan Barragan of Spain has finally shaken off the debinitating effects of a series of shoulder injuries and was hot and fast in Sevlievo, Bulgaria. Jonathan also has good memories of Uddevalla where he put in a strong performance last year. Regrettably, the third member of the MX1 factory trio, the German Max Nagl, is still suffering from a broken collarbone.
While Italian Antonio Cairoli does have a runaway lead in the MX2 class, the second place is being hotly contested by Christophe Pourcel and KTM Red Bull's Tyla Rattray.
The South African is trailing Pourcel by just 11 points. He has been performing consistently but is yet to crack a top podium place this season.
Looking back at last year, this is a completely different season for Rattray; he was undefeated for the first three rounds, but now he is struggling to find his rhythm at the beginning of the heats.
A hard working Rattray will head to Uddevalla with at least podium ambitions, as team mate Tommy Searle will come back to the venue where he clinched his second career podium last year. The Brit is very fit and quickly got to grips with the KTM 250 SX-F, where he mounted at the end of last year after having spent his rookie season with Molson Kawasaki.
Searle is rounding off the top five, and has a strong Pascal Leuret in front of him. The Martin Honda rider who has replaced American Ryan Mills since the German Grand Prix is racing his best World Championship season; he finished on the podium in Portugal, but only came close to it since he entered the Italian squad. With an advantage of only one point over Searle, Leuret needs to step back onto the podium if he wants to keep improving on his current situation.
Gareth Swanepoel raced a consistent Bulgarian Grand Prix, but he can do more in Uddevalla; Swanie was on his maiden podium in Valkenswaard, but has never repeated that performance again. On the other hand Kenneth Gundersen is having an even tougher start to the season; the Norwegian will seek for better luck in Uddevalla, his "home away from home".
From this Grand Prix until the end of the season, young gun Jeremy Tarroux will race in the Axo KTM Silver Action squad, alongside Rui Goncalves and Angelo Pellegrini, the latter being currently injured.
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