Clement Desalle and Jeffrey Herlings came back onto the top of the MX1 and MX2 podium, respectively, as both collected their second Grand Prix win of the season at the Latvian Grand Prix, June 27. Four hard fought motos made it an exciting day of racing for the Latvian fans who also received the visit of the country’s Prime Minister Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis at this second edition of the Latvian GP
Desalle won from MX1 Championship leader and second heat winner Antonio Cairoli, with Steve Ramon completing the overall podium. Both Cairoli and Ramon made their comeback to the rostrum.
Securing the second career GP win courtesy of his victory in heat two, Herlings took first overall ahead of Ken Roczen and Steven Frossard, all starring a three-way battle for first in a dramatic final heat.
MX1
Narrowly missing out on the Latvia Grand Prix victory last year due to a technical problem, Rockstar Teka Suzuki’s Desalle completed his mission this weekend and took also his second victory of 2010. The Belgian charged hard in the opening moto to take a provisional second within the first half of the race, then moved on to pass a fast Evgeny Bobryshev and snatch the lead. In the final moto instead he settled to second behind Cairoli with the result being enough to earn the overall win.
A disappointed Cairoli took second on the podium behind Desalle. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider struggled to pass David Philippaerts in the opening moto and was impossible to catch the top three riders by the time he had moved up to fourth. The Italian took his revenge by winning the second moto in dominant style and work his way up to the overall podium.
Other Rockstar Teka Suzuki rider Ramon completed the podium, with the Suzuki duo sandwiching the championship leader on the podium. Ramon rode two steady motos to take two third places. The podium brought Ramon up to fourth in the championship, while teammate Desalle is second.
CAS Honda’s Bobryshev narrowly missed his maiden podium finish. The Russian was about to win moto one when Desalle charged hard in the final laps and moved past. Bobryshev took second eventually but could not repeat himself in moto two, finishing a distant fourth. Ending level in points with Ramon, Bobryshev took fourth overall.
Kawasaki Racing’s Xavier Boog completed the top five ahead of Philippaerts and Max Nagl, who got the holeshot in the final moto.
German GP winner Ken de Dycker struggled and ended 12th.
MX1 Race 1: 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, Honda), +0:48.973; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), +0:50.444; 10. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +0:54.965.
MX1 Race 2: 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, Honda), +0:44.219; 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:50.391; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), +1:09.611.
MX1 Overall: 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, Honda), 25 p.; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), 24 p.; 10. Rui Gonçalves (POR, KTM), 22 p.
MX1 Championship: 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, Honda), 207 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 189 p.; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), 189 p.
MX2
With only six points separating the top four riders of the Grand Prix of Latvia, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Herlings came out on top of the pack courtesy of his final-moto victory and of teammate Marvin Musquin’s crash at the start of the final moto.
Herlings started strong in the first moto to snatch the lead from holeshotter Musquin but dropped down to an eventual third. Moto two was different, as Herlings found himself at the front of the first laps, but Frossard came past to take the lead. Before the race finished, however, Herlings was back on top and won a three-way battle for first with Frossard and Roczen to take the overall win.
Teka Suzuki Europe’s Roczen made it to second on the podium but was disappointed not to have started his attacks earlier. In moto one, the German came dramatically close to eventual winner Musquin but only in the final laps and narrowly missed out on his second moto win of the season after Germany’s second moto. In the final moto instead, Roczen was overtaken by Frossard and ended third.
Kawasaki CLS’ Frossard was an eventual third on the podium. With Musquin being another candidate for third overall, Frossard had to work his way up to second in the final moto by passing Roczen and even troubling Herlings for the win, otherwise he would have not been on the rostrum. In the first moto he was a steady fourth.
After a winning streak of five GPs, Musquin, of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team, missed the podium and dropped down to fourth overall in Latvia. The championship leader took victory in moto one but a fall in the first corner of the second moto put him out of the potential winners’ list. Musquin recovered from dead last to an eventual seventh to give the crowd a demonstration of his impressive talent.
Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross’ Gautier Paulin completed the top five ahead of Joel Roelants.
American Zach Osborne could not extend his impressive run of podium results and finished just one of the two motos. The 20-year-old, riding for the British Bike it Cosworth Yamaha team, could not improve on his fifth place in the World Championship standings after a fall on the first corner of the first race saw another bike clatter the rear of his YZ250F and damage the exhaust silencer. After a few valiant laps trying to regain ground, he pitted for a change but re-appeared on the track far behind the field and with slim possibilities to reach a points-scoring slot. The team opted to withdraw the rider with a view to a strong assault in the second affair.
The next race in hot and demanding riding conditions saw the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix winner in something like normal form, as he started brightly and began a race-long plight to reach the top five; a feat he managed on the final lap by pushing past Roelants. Osborne placed 13th in the final classification.
“I fell over. It was my fault and I shouldn’t have been in that position and in the chaos of the first corner,” he said. “Someone ran over the back of the bike and broke the pipe. I stopped in the pit thinking that I could get back out and run on the track with the leaders, because when people see them coming they tend to move over and that would have helped win positions, but it took a bit longer to change the pipe than we thought and it would have been impossible to get near the points. It seemed pointless to grind out a race on an already difficult track.
“The second moto was decent,” he continued. “It took me a few laps to get going because I hadn’t had a chance to set my pace in the first race. After 20 minutes or so, I felt quite comfortable and confident and made some passes. On the last lap, I passed Roelants for fifth and I was happy with the result.
“I was not podium material this weekend and I can accept that and go on to next weekend and try to do a bit better. Sweden is a new track, but I am hoping to do well there. I want to keep the momentum going of contending for podiums.”
MX2 Results
MX2 Race 1: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 40:02.269; ; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:00.701; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:10.349; 4. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:32.455; 5. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:53.511; 6. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), +1:08.966; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +1:21.629; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +1:42.337; 9. Valentin Teillet (FRA, KTM), +1:43.915; 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:52.417
MX2 Race 2: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 39:22.107; ; 2. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:02.998; 3. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:05.224; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:39.306; 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), +0:48.873; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:50.140; 7. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), +0:53.176; 8. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), +1:06.550; 9. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:11.730; 10. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:21.620
MX2 Overall: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 45 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 42 p.; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 40 p.; 4. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 39 p.; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 32 p.; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 31 p.; 7. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 24 p.; 8. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 23 p.; 9. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), 22 p.; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 21 p.
MX2 Championship: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 404 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 330 p.; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 308 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 286 p.; 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 249 p.; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 246 p.; 7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), 236 p.; 8. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 214 p.; 9. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 209 p.; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 182 p.
