LS Motors-Honda race report Kegums‏

The penultimate round of the fifteen-round FIM Motocross World Championship before the summer break took place at the impressive Kegums track. For LS Motors-Honda star Tanel Leok the GP of Latvia is the closest to a home GP and their was no lack of fan support this weekend for the Estonian Express! The sun-kissed Kegums track, south of Riga, presented the GP riders with a rough, sandy and challenging test. Both Davide Guarneri and Tanel Leok had disappointing starts in Saturday’s qualification heat but they retaliated to respectively take tenth and fourteenth position on the gate for the races.

With its long and wide layout the Kegums track is perfectly suited for spectacular racing and that is exactly what was on offer on Sunday. Unfortunately Davide and Tanel had to bounce back from mid-field starts to make their way up. After three laps Guarneri circulated in tenth with team mate Leok in eleventh. Both of them made steady progress to finish eighth and ninth in a very closed match field. The difference between Tanel and fifth placed David Philippaerts was only just over 10 seconds!

In the second moto the pace was once again frantic, but again the final results of Leok and Guarneri were hampered by their  starts. This time around Leok was the best of the LS Motors-Honda pairing steering his CRF 450R to eighth. The 12-second gap to fourth-placed Bobryshev was another confirmation of the close racing taking place in the Baltic Grand Prix where the Belgian team took its historical first MX1 moto win one year ago. Fittingly Clément Desalle now went on to win the event alltogether.

Tanel Leok (8th overall)
“I felt happy with my physical condition and my pace throughout the race but I keep having trouble with my starts. I seem to keep getting unlucky with little things. If I can get the start then I know I have the pace to run at the front.”

Davide Guarneri (9th overall)
“It was a hard race for me, the track was really rough and I struggled a bit with the sand. Top 10 is good though, even though it could be better. I am happy with my consistent top 10 finishes in recent Grand Prix. But want to start turning them into top fives. I am always looking for improvement.”

Moto 1 MX1 GP of Latvia
1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 38:54.633; ; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:12.451; 3. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:24.131; 4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:33.514; 5. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:39.071; 6. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:44.621; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:46.826; 8. Davide Guarneri (ITA, LS Motors-Honda), +0:48.973; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, LS Motors-Honda), +0:50.444; 10. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +0:54.965; 11. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:56.368; 12. Jimmy Albertson (USA, Honda), +1:05.594; 13. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), +1:15.581; 14. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), +1:15.767; 15. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Honda), +1:35.429; 16. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +1:55.755; 17. Tom Söderström (SWE, Yamaha), +1:57.472; 18. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), -1 lap(s); 19. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Suzuki), -1 lap(s); 20. Loic Leonce (FRA, Suzuki), -1 lap(s);

Moto 2 MX1 GP of Latvia
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 39:44.581; ; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:13.410; 3. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:25.118; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:32.040; 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:37.404; 6. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:41.379; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:42.842; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, LS Motors-Honda), +0:44.219; 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:50.391; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, LS Motors-Honda), +1:09.611; 11. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), +1:11.865; 12. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Honda), +1:16.517; 13. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +1:18.612; 14. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +2:08.195; 15. Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM), -1 lap(s); 16. Manuel Priem (BEL, Aprilia), -1 lap(s); 17. Tom Söderström (SWE, Yamaha), -1 lap(s); 18. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), -1 lap(s); 19. Dimitry Parshin (RUS, Honda), -1 lap(s); 20. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Suzuki), -1 lap(s);

Classification GP of Latvia
1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 47 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 43 p.; 3. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 40 p.; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 40 p.; 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 31 p.; 6. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 31 p.; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, LS Motors-Honda), 25 p.; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, LS Motors-Honda), 24 p.; 10. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 22 p.; 11. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), 18 p.; 12. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 18 p.; 13. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Honda), 15 p.; 14. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 13 p.; 15. Jimmy Albertson (USA, Honda), 9 p.; 16. Tom Söderström (SWE, Yamaha), 8 p.; 17. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), 7 p.; 18. Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM), 6 p.; 19. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), 6 p.; 20. Manuel Priem (BEL, Aprilia), 5 p.; 21. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Suzuki), 3 p.; 22. Dimitry Parshin (RUS, Honda), 2 p.; 23. Loic Leonce (FRA, Suzuki), 1

MX1 provisional standings after 9 rounds
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 384 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 323 p.; 3. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 298 p.; 4. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 277 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 276 p.; 6. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 269 p.; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 248 p.; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, LS Motors-Honda), 207 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 189 p.; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, LS Motors-Honda), 189 p.; 11. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, TM), 134 p.; 12. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 134 p.; 13. Gareth Swanepoel (RSA, Honda), 126 p.; 14. Joshua Coppins (NZL, Aprilia), 120 p.; 15. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 104 p.; 16. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 92 p.; 17. Jimmy Albertson (USA, Honda), 82 p.; 18. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 56 p.; 19. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Kawasaki), 49 p.; 20. Cedric Soubeyras (FRA, KTM), 49 p.;

NEXT RACE: The LS Motors-Honda squad travels to Uddevalla in Sweden next week for the tenth round of the FIM MX1 World Championship