Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli, is aligning himself to claim his ninth world championship in 2017 with strong pre-season showings a promising sign to date.

Claiming his second Italian Motocross Championship round victory in a row, the Italian star is in form and making all of the right noises as he prepares for the upcoming grand prix series.

Topping a stacked field in dominant fashion, Cairoli brought home the victory ahead of 2015 MXGP world champion, Romain Febvre, and current MXGP world champion, Tim Gajser.

“We’ve had a great weekend at home here at Malagrotta,” said Cairoli. “I won the pole position this morning and then the MX1 race. The little crash in the Elite race made it a bit more difficult but sometimes its good to have to overtake and fight for it, I managed to come back from fifth to win the second race.”

Using a revised training program for 2017, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider is seeing positive improvements in his racing, a definite move in the right direction as he shoots for his first world championship since 2014.

“The track was very good, also very technical and demanding, so I’m very happy about the weekend.” Cairoli added. “I feel great again and I’m trying to train a bit better, it’s working and I see the difference.”

Since winning his most recent championship, Cairoli suffered an elbow injury in 2015 that saw his title campaign come to a screaming hault, and in 2016 he finished runner-up behind premier class rookie, Tim Gajser.