The Belgian already showed his speed during qualifying as he raced to fourth place and he battled relentlessly throughout the first GP moto to pass the defending world champion for fourth place on the final lap. A podium seemed on the cards as he quickly moved to fourth place again and was closing dramatically on third until he made a mistake and crashed. Sadly the front brake was damaged in the incident and the handicap restricted him to tenth at the chequered flag. Eighth overall in the GP, Clement is now ninth in the series standings but he is only four points behind eighth and a further fifteen behind seventh.
Tommy Searle and Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki have made tremendous advances with bike set-up to suit the English rider and, after a solid ninth place in the qualifying race he almost holeshot the first GP moto and ran at the front until issues forced his withdrawal from the race. Tommy battled for leaderboard placings all moto in race two to eventually cross the finish line ninth. He is now twelfth in the championship standings.
A crash at the start of the qualifying race made the weekend difficult for Jordi Tixier, but he persevered to earn thirteenth gate pick, only to suffer more crashes in both GP motos. Jordi was challenging for a top ten position in the first race until a crash pushed him back to twenty-fourth but he continued to battle to recover to twelfth at the finish. Race two was again difficult as he started thirtieth and a further crash restricted him to twentieth at the chequered flag. Jordi is now seventeenth in the series standings.
Clement Desalle: “On Saturday I qualified in fourth position, which was OK for the gate pick here. My start in the first race was not too bad, and I got a good rhythm and was able to take fourth position with a good feeling on this track. My second start was even better, and after a few corners I was fifth; I passed Nagl for fourth position and was close to Van Horebeek when I did a mistake and crashed. My front brake was damaged in the crash and then it was more difficult to keep a good rhythm. For sure I’m disappointed as a podium was possible this weekend, but that’s racing. The track was too bumpy this year, and I didn’t had so much fun riding here.”
Tommy Searle: “I got some good starts this weekend. We made a lot of improvements on the bike; little things make a big difference. Sand is always difficult for me, and due to injuries I didn’t race so much in the sand this season but I came here a few weeks ago and also last week to practice on sandy tracks. My goal was to get top ten results all weekend; unfortunately we had some issues in the first race, but in the second one I managed to finish ninth and overall it was a pretty good weekend except the DNF.”
Jordi Tixier: “I had too many crashes to be happy with my weekend; I spent my time in both races passing other riders. I had the speed to get some good results, but in the MXGP class it’s always tough to come back when you start so far back or if you crash early in the race. My first race was not so bad to come from last to twelfth, but the second one was really difficult with two crashes.”