Desalle 2nd at Mons Belgian MX The deep and rough sandy terrain at Mons was the site of the opening round of the 2011 Belgian Motocross Championship and Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 were out in force with recent Grand Prix of Bulgaria winner Clement Desalle leaving the meeting with second position overall. The 21 year old approached the event having felt 'under the weather' towards the end of the week but still wanted to open his account in the domestic series where he is chasing a second crown after winning the competition in 2009. Desalle - like team-mate Steve Ramon, and several other world championship peers also wanted to take advantage of the demands of the surface with a view to the second round of the Grand Prix contest in the sand of Valkenswaard on Easter Monday. The 2010 MX1 World Championship runner-up took 2nd, 2nd and 1st in the new three moto format that saw the race time increase from 20 to 25 and then to 30 minutes. He earned the second step behind Ken De Dycker. "I started to feel a bit sick on Thursday and although I was OK to race I needed to take some medicine as I wasn't 100%," Desalle said. "It was a good enough day and for sure good practice for Valkenswaard because tracks do not come much rougher than Mons! The circuit is not far from my home so it was a nice to get out there and see the fans, also to get some race time on the sand before the Grand Prix next week." Ramon - also suffering from sickness - was fourth overall, posting results of 5th, 6th and 3rd. The reigning Champion used the motos to experiment with suspension settings and was pleased with the configuration found for the final sprint; the veteran was restricted by fatigue in his effort to rise higher than third and make the overall podium. The Grand Prix of the Netherlands will take place at the historic track of Valkenswaard on Monday April 25th. Copy and photo courtesy of the Team Suzuki Press Office. |