Spanish rider Jonathan Barragan upstaged the championship leaders to win the MX1 category at the Leatt-Brace South African Motocross Grand Prix at the Alkmaar circuit in Nelspruit on Sunday.

For Barragan, on the AXO KTM, a third in the opening moto and a win in the second were enough to give him his second Grand Prix win of the year. Second and third overall were German Max Nagl, on the Red Bull KTM, and reigning world champion Steve Ramon, of Belgium, on the Team Teka Suzuki.

The trend where no rider has been able to dominate this season continued. Ramon won the opening moto but ended up a distant eighth in the second race, while championship leader Davide Philippaerts, from Italy, picked up a second and a sixth.

In the championship standings there was a one point swing between Philippaerts and Ramon. The Italian now leads the Belgian by 11 points after going to Nelspruit with a 12 point advantage.

The opening moto provided a thrilling race with Ramon and Nagl fighting out tremendous duel. The world champion gradually ground down Nagl and only three minutes and two laps remained of the race when Ramon finally found a way past the German rider.

The rapidly tiring Nagl then came under fire from Philippaerts, on the Monster Motocross Yamaha, and Barragan. The unfortunate Nagl was also passed by both Philippaerts and Barragan and eventually had to settle for fourth place, with the top five rounded out by Ramon’s team-mate Ken de Dycker.

Nagl was again on the wrong end of a late challenge in race two. This time around he was caught by Barragan and then had to fight off Frenchman Sebastien Pourcell, on the GPKR Kawasaki, over the last three laps.

New Zealander Josh Coppins (Monster Motocross Yamaha) and Briton Billy McKenzie, on the CAS Honda, were fourth and fifth after steady rides. Philippaerts was a disappointing sixth and Ramon may have had a few words with de Dycker after being passed by his team-mate a couple of laps from the end.