It was mission accomplished for South African Tyla Rattray, on the Red Bull KTM, when he increased his MX2 category world championship lead in the Leatt-Brace South African Motocross Grand Prix at the Alkmaar circuit on Sunday.

The overall win went to Rattray’s team-mate, Briton Tommy Searle, who won the opening moto and was second in the second race. Rattray clinched second overall with a third and a popular second moto victory, with Frenchman Nicolas Aubin third overall on the Ricci Racing Yamaha.

Rattray arrived in Nelspruit with a 14 point lead over reigning world champion Antonio Cairoli, of Italy, on the Red Bull De Carli Yamaha, with Searle next up a further nine points in arrears. For the unfortunate Cairoli the trip o Nelspruit was a disaster.

The Italian injured his right knee in a first race clash with countryman Davide Guarneri on the Ricci Racing Yamaha. Cairoli was forced to retire from the first race and left Alkmaar pointless after also pulling out of race two.

Rattray now leads Searle by 25 points with the Briton 38 points ahead of Cairoli. The Italian still has a 70 point lead over Simpson, but with damaged knee ligaments his season is in the balance.

“It was a good day for me but I feel for Antonio,” said Rattray. “I made a couple of mistakes in the first moto but it all fell into place in the second race.

“I got a good start and after that I just concentrated on putting together consistent laps.”

In the opening heat Rattray got off to an indifferent start. He got caught up in the pack and an early fall at turn nine saw him drop back to sixth place.

Searle was always going to catch Aubin and Rattray did well to recover. When the South African found some rythm he hauled in Shaun Simpson (KTM UK) and Frenchman Steve Frossard on the CLS Kawasaki.

Race two turned into a breeze for Rattray. He grabbed the hole shot and quickly built up a good lead over Searle who appeared to be quite happy to settle for second and the overall GP win.

Behind the two frontrunners an interesting battle developed between Frossard, Simpson and Aubin. Frossard finally pulled clear of Simpson who, in turn, put a little daylight between himself and Aubin.