Belgium’s Clement Desalle was unbeatable at the weekend’s Portuguese Motocross Grand Prix, winning both MX1 races and doubling his championship lead from six to 12 points over defending World MX1 Champion Antonio Cairoli.

The Rockstar Suzuki Factory team rider didn’t have an easy day, though, as KTM’s Cairoli battled hard to the finish in both motos.

Cairoli scoring second overall with 2-2 moto results. Third overall was Russian Honda rider Evgeny Bobryshev with 4-4 moto scores.

“I tried to not take too many risks,” Desalle said. “I am happy to win, but I stay focused for the next Grand Prix. I lost some time because of lapped riders, but I got the win. It’s good, but I am not happy with both motos, I think I can do better now I got to Spain and try and improve.”

“For sure I am not happy,” Cairoli said. “I know I could have won the GP, but the first minutes of the race I am a little slow and I need to find the good lines quickly. Clement had a good gap and like the first heat I caught him. I hurt my toe, it was hard to keep the good lines, but then I found the good lines and the speed is okay. I need to build up better for the first 10 minutes of the race. But I want to win and my fans want me to win. My knee is better so maybe the next race I can win.”

Meanwhile, young Dutchman Jeffery Herlings (KTM) won the MX2 class with 2-2 moto scores, enabling him to take over the championship lead from German rival Ken Roczen.

Roczen won the first moto but dnfed the second.

RESULTS:

Grand Prix of Portugal:

MX1 moto one: 1. Clement Desalle (Suz); 2. Antonio Cairoli (KTM); 3. Steven Frossard (Yam); 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (Hon); 5. Xavier Boog (Kaw); 6. Ken De Dycker (Hon); 7. Rui Goncalves (Hon); 8. Max Nagl (KTM); 9. Davide Guarneri (Kaw); 10. Tanel Leok (TM); 11. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 12. Shaun Simpson (Hon); 13. Jonathan Barragan (Kaw); 14. Marcus Schiffer (Suz); 15. Steve Ramon (Suz)

MX1 moto two: 1. Clement Desalle (Suz); 2. Antonio Cairoli (KTM); 3. Rui Goncalves (Hon); 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (Hon); 5. Steve Ramon (Suz); 6. Ken De Dycker (Hon); 7. Steven Frossard (Yam); 8. Jonathan Barragan (Kaw); 9. Xavier Boog (Kaw); 10. Tanel Leok (TM); 11. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 12. Shaun Simpson (Hon); 13. Anthony Boissiere (Yam); 14. Carlos Campano (Yam); 15. Marcus Schiffer (Suz)

MX1 O/A: 1. Clement Desalle 50pts, 2. Antonio Cairoli 44pts, 3. Evgeny Bobryshev 36pts, 4. Rui Goncalves 34pts, 5. Steven Frossard 34pts, 6. Ken De Dycker 30pts, 7. Xavier Boog 28pts, 8. Steve Ramon 22pts, 9. Tanel Leok 22pts, 10. Jonathan Barragan 21pts

FIM World MX1 Championship points: 1. Clement Desalle 249pts, 2. Antonio Cairoli 237pts, 3. Steven Frossard 213pts, 4. Max Nagl 192pts, 5. Evgeny Bobryshev 177pts, 6. Rui Goncalves 167pts, 7. David Philippaerts 161pts, 8. Xavier Boog 137pts, 9. Jonathan Barragan 136pts, 10. Kevin Strijbos 134pts

MX2 CLASS:

MX2 Moto one: 1. Ken Roczen (KTM); 2. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM); 3. Zach Osborne (Yam); 4. Max Anstie (Kaw); 5. Gautier Paulin (Yam); 6. Joel Roelants (KTM); 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (Yam); 8. Christophe Charlier (Yam); 9. Jose Butron (KTM); 10. Harri Kullas (Yam); 11. Arnaud Tonus (Yam); 12. Alessandro Lupino (Husky); 13. Jake Nicholls (KTM); 14. Nick Triest (KTM); 15. Petar Petrov (Yam)

MX2 Moto two: 1. Tommy Searle (Kaw); 2. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM); 3. Gautier Paulin (Yam); 4. Arnaud Tonus (Yam); 5. Zach Osborne (Yam); 6. Christophe Charlier (Yam); 7. Max Anstie (Kaw); 8. Nicolas Aubin (KTM); 9. Harri Kullas (Yam); 10. Jose Butron (KTM); 11. Jake Nicholls (KTM); 12. Joel Roelants (KTM); 13. Nick Triest (KTM); 14. Glenn Coldenhoff (Yam); 15. Alessandro Lupino (Husky)

MX2 O/A: 1. Herlings 44pts, 2. Paulin 36pts, 3. Osborne 36pts, 4. Anstie 32pts, 5. Tonus 28pts, 6. Charlier 28pts, 7. Searle 25pts, 8. Roczen 25pts, 9. Roelants 24pts, 10. Kullas 23pts

MX2 Championship classifications: 1. Jeffrey Herlings 257pts, 2. Ken Roczen 251pts, 3. Tommy Searle 224pts, 4. Zach Osborne 198pts, 5. Gautier Paulin 196pts, 6. Max Anstie 167pts, 7. Arnaud Tonus 166pts, 8. Harri Kullas 142pts, 9. Joel Roelants 138pts, 10. Christophe Charlier 130pts.

© Photo by Joe Bonnello, www.BikesportNZ.com