Desalle 2nd With Team Belgium At ‘NATIONS

A massive 65,000 crowd crammed into the sandy Lommel circuit for the 66th Motocross of Nations as Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1's Clement Desalle took his factory RM-Z450 to fourth position in the MX1 class and helped Team Belgium to second place overall ahead of Team USA.

Sunny skies graced the last major motocross meeting of the year and over 30 countries travelled to Belgium and the track a short distance from the Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 workshop for the biggest spectacle of the racing campaign. With a boisterous and healthy percentage of local support cheering him on Desalle - along with team-mates Ken De Dycker (MX Open) and Jeremy Van Horebeek (MX2) - battled through three gruelling motos that saw each class race the other at least once.

Desalle was steady and error-free across the bumpy and shifting terrain. He rode to fourth position in the first outing (MX1 and MX2) and then took part in a small tussle for leading places again in the second affair that placed MX1 and MX Open bikes (essentially all 450cc models) on the same playing field. The 2012 MX1 vice-champion collected seventh spot.

Suzuki team-mate Tanel Leok was a standout performer as he worked to a superb second position in the second moto behind sand specialist Jeffrey Herlings. Leok was representing Estonia once more and used his RM-Z450 in the MX Open category where he captured an overall placing of runner-up and pushed his country to seventh in the final listing. The third race of the day saw Leok sharing track space with Desalle and the determined racer completed the distance with fourth, to go 2-4 on the day and notch one of his best event results of the season.

Other notable Suzuki racers ay Lommel included Marcus Schiffer. The 2012 German Champion had recovered from the injury he sustained at the GP of Europe to be able to make up the third and vital part of Team Germany and his results of seventh and 14th (the second classification was able to be eliminated under the event rules) assisted the squad to a historic first triumph; one year before the 'Nations itself heads to Germany and Teutschenthal. With eighth and 15th in his race appearances on the GRP-prepped RM-Z450 Todd Waters picked up 10th position overall for Australia and was their best representative from the rookie line-up on the day.

Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe's Jeremy Seewer rolled his RM-Z250 out for Switzerland and obtained 28th and 35th as the depleted Swiss crew obtained 19th with Arnaud Tonus suffering a broken leg in qualification on Saturday.

Clement Desalle:

"We are happy but also a bit disappointed as we wanted that win here in our country. Germany was really strong and for sure it was not too easy with the bumpy track. We are second right now and hopefully next year we can do better. Two laps before the finish in the second moto I had some discomfort in my shoulder but managed to get through it."

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66th Motocross of Nations Overall Classification: 1. Germany 25 pts., 2. Belgium 29, 3. USA 39, 4. Netherlands 44, 5. Italy 45, 6. France 47, 7. Estonia 56, 8. GB 56, 9. Portugal 80, 10. Australia 83.

MX1 Classification: 1. Antonio Cairoli, ITA, (KTM), 2. Max Nagl, GER (KTM), 3. Gautier Paulin, FRA (Kawasaki), 4. Clement Desalle, BEL, (Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 5. Ryan Dungey, USA, (KTM).

MX Open Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings, NED, (KTM), 2. Tanel Leok, EST, (Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 3. Ken De Dycker, BEL, (KTM), 4. Justin Barcia, USA, (Honda), 5. Davide Guarneri, ITA (KTM). 7. Marcus Schiffer, GER, (Suzuki).

MX2 Classification: 1. Ken Roczen, GER (KTM), 2. Blake Baggett, USA (Kawasaki), 3. Marvin Musquin (KTM), 4. Alexander Tonkov, RUS (Honda), 5. Pritt Ratsep, EST (KTM). 17. Jeremy Seewer, SUI (Rockstar Energy Suzuki).