Strong Desalle in difficult circumstances!
Clement Desalle rode to a stunning second place for the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team in the Dutch round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship in Valkenswaard, while Julien Lieber achieved his best results of the season with sixth place overall.
In the first moto, Clément emerged from the tricky opening S-bend just inside the top ten and quickly settled into a good rhythm that eventually gave him second place on lap ten. Desalle found himself just outside the top ten by the opening corner of the second moto, but he was again in great form as he moved up to fifth place on the first lap. A lap later he drove spectacularly to fourth position, a position he held until the penultimate lap, where he had to lose one more place. This did not jeopardize his first podium of the season and with the thirty-eight points of the day's standings we see the Kawasaki leader rise to third place in the world championship standings.
Teammate Julien Lieber also put in a fantastic ride in the first moto, crossing the finish line in sixth with a series of consistent lap times that never varied by more than two seconds in this tough race. The Belgian was initially twenty-second in the second heat, but by the end of the first lap he managed to climb to fifteenth place and continued with consistent lap times, eventually crossing the finish line in seventh place, which gave him sixth place in the daily rankings. After three matches, Julien is now in ninth place in the world championship standings.
Clement Desalle: “I'm very happy because it's not my favorite track and I didn't expect such a good result because I couldn't train as I wanted in the week after my crash in Great Britain; I had pain in my hand and in my neck. On Saturday I did everything I had to do, step by step. Today was different; I had good starts, felt good and was able to return to second position during the first moto. But during the first moto I hurt my knee and between motos we had to work with the physio and the doctor. This allowed me to achieve another top five finish in the second moto, which gave me my first podium finish this season. We are now third in the championship and I am really confident about the rest of the season after this weekend.”
Photos: Pascal Haudiquert
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