Desalle Consolidates 2nd At British MX1 GP

Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 endured a tough meeting under sweltering sunshine at Matterley Basin for the British Grand Prix and the 13th round of 16 in the FIM Motocross World Championship, but Clement Desalle was able extend his advantage with second place in the MX1 standings with sixth overall nursing a hand injury while team mate Tanel Leok was seventh.

Both Desalle and Leok faced a technical and challenging surface in England in front of 35,000 spectators with the naturally-set layout of Matterley Basin mixing a range of demands; from big jumps, long and deep ruts, off-camber turns and plenty of line choice. The event was also home to the MXGP Festival with 10 classes from amateur to the FIM Women's World Championship in action.

Desalle started from seventh position in the gate and with some pain in his right hand after a tumble in qualification. Desalle - who was also dealing with a family bereavement - made two good starts and rode to sixth place in the first moto but felt the discomfort from his injury more severely in the second half of the next race where he bravely continued to the finish line for 11th spot. Desalle was sixth in the final classification but nine positions ahead of Christophe Pourcel, which means he holds a margin of 35 points in the MX1 table over the Frenchman.

Leok was second and first fastest in the two practice sessions on Saturday and was unfortunate to suffer a technical problem that placed him down in 31st on the start line for the motos. The determined Estonian scored 11th in the first moto but was more effective on the bumpier mud in the second outing. Leok should have picked up a top six or seven position but a small crash dropped him down to eighth. The experienced racer is eighth in the MX1 championship.

Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 will make the short journey back to its Lommel base in Belgium before preparing for a hectic period in September with Grands Prix in the Netherlands, Italy and Germany to bring the 2012 campaign to a close.

Clement Desalle:

"On Wednesday my aunt died and it was really not good for my head coming here. I've lost my grandfather and my aunt in the last two months and a half and both were very close to me...the sort of people that I could say anything to. Talking about motocross...I felt good on Saturday and was having fun on the track but then I made a small mistake and jumped too far on the step-up. It was a big crash and I had a lot of pain in my hand. I went to the medical centre and there was nothing broken but I needed some attention and help. My starts were good in the motos and I think this was the only good part of the weekend. I felt OK in the first parts of the races but in the later stages it was difficult and painful through the braking bumps and on the landings of the jumps. The second moto was really hard and at the end I was looking at the clock by the finish every lap and hoping it would go down. To have pain and crash is part of the job and I just tried to do my best. I will go for physio now on Tuesday and hope everything will quickly get better."

Tanel Leok:

"I didn't have the best start position obviously and I found the track was too flat in the first moto. There were not so many lines like there were on Saturday and I couldn't make the passes like I wanted. I changed my start slot in the second moto but the ground was not so well prepared. I have to say my riding was better in the second and I was chasing and passing people. I just made that small mistake which made me lose two positions but I tried to fight back. The results were not the best but I was happy with my riding."

MX1 Moto1: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 40:25.134; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:15.529; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:25.647; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:31.712; 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:35.562; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), +0:40.016; 7. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, KTM), +0:40.614; 8. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Honda), +0:44.173; 9. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:46.476; 10. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Honda), +0:47.368; 11. Tanel Leok (EST, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), +0:48.426.

MX1 Moto2: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 41:00.780; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:10.508; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:24.624; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:32.799; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:37.732; 6. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +0:40.465; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:41.367; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), +0:42.135; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), +0:50.894; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:51.464; 11. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), +1:05.568.

MX1 Overall result: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 50 points; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 38 p.; 4. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 36 p.; 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 30 p.; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 25 p.; 7. Tanel Leok (EST, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 23 p.; 8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, KTM), 23 p.; 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 22 p.; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, KTM), 21 p.

MX1 World Championship Standings (after 13 of 16 rounds): 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 542 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 487 p.; 3. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 452 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 440 p.; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 404 p.; 6. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, KTM), 342 p.; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 336 p.; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 300 p.; 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 295 p.; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), 242 p.