The Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 team briefly forgot the anguish of the past week and injury to Steve Ramon thanks to a superb display of riding by Clement Desalle who posted his fourth victory of the season to win the Grand Prix of Czech Republic over the weekend.

The Belgian finished 2-1 to earn the top step overall under cloudy skies and watched by a weekend crowd of 21,000 for the 12th round of 15 in the FIM Motocross World Championship.

MX1 championship leader and defending world champion Tony Cairoli (KTM), of Italy, finished 1-4 to take the second step on the podium and maintain his series lead.

Rain throughout the morning of race-day created two slick and muddy 35 minute and 2-lap motos but on a greasy course that was difficult for overtaking, Desalle was able to excel and record his first triumph since round six in Portugal.

In the first outing he hounded the rear wheel of Portugal’s Rui Goncalves for the majority of what was a tense and entertaining battle for second spot.

After winning the duel, the 22-year-old Belgian went one better in the second moto and, after finding an opportunity to demote leader Tanel Leok, of Latvia, rode on to take the chequered flag by a comfortable distance.

Belgian Kevin Strijbos stepped into the team to replace the injured Ramon and immediately found his speed on the factory RM-Z450 at the place where he had tasted victory on two occasions (2005 and 2007; the ’05 success was notable for being the first GP spoils for the four-stroke motorcycle).

The Belgian was a decent sixth overall and can look to a positive ride in the first moto where he drew up to the back of the gaggle of riders disputing podium positions and crossed the line in sixth. He was eighth in the second race.

Desalle trailed Cairoli by 52 points at the top of the MX1 table prior to Loket but now the gap has shrunk marginally to 48.

Strijbos is 13th in the list and will now attempt the three remaining races in the UK, Germany and Italy from the confines of the Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 awning.

The British Grand Prix at Matterley Basin will take place on August 21.

“My shoulder is getting better and better but this track was really difficult, especially for passing,” said Desalle afterwards.

“You had to fight really hard and be a bit aggressive. It was not so cool but you had to show that you were there to make a pass. It wasn’t fun out there and if there were more lines then that would have helped. For the Championship … we can only look to the front and everything can still happen. I had to ride hurt and this is a part of motocross that I don’t like! But the team has helped me deal with this situation and I have learned a lot.”

Meanwhile, German teen Ken Roczen (KTM) won both motos in the MX2 class, to take a convincing overall victory from his Dutch team-mate Jeffrey Herlings.

The first race was a start-to-finish romp for Roczen as he took another holeshot to catapult himself into an unassailable lead after only a handful of laps of the Loket track.

Herlings followed him closely out of the starting gate he had nothing to match his KTM compatriot.

French rider Nicolas Aubin made a welcome return to form and the moto podium with a strong ride to third, something he was unable to repeat in moto two after a crash early on.

Behind the leading two all hell broke loose as the Kawasakis of British pair Tommy Searle and Max Anstie fought with the Suzuki of French rider Valentin Teillet and the Yamaha of Swiss rider Arnaud Tonus. Along with Frenchman Gautier Paulin who returned from a DNF in race one, this group fought over third right to the flag, with Anstie denied a maiden podium once more by his team-mate, Searle, who himself had to fight back from 12th place at the start.

In the EMX 125 championship in was another win for Sam Bernadini on the FMI KTM, though he tried hard to deny himself a victory with backmarker problems in race one meaning Britain’s James Dunn got very close to sneaking the win, and a crash with just 2 laps to go in race two giving Championship leader Simone Zecchina a sniff of victory. Bernadini would hold on however and now takes over the red plate for the first time this year from Italian Suzuki rider Zecchina

RESULTS AND POINTS:

MX1 Moto1: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 40:32.283; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:05.506; 3. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +0:06.272; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:07.172; 5. Steven Frossard (FRA, Yamaha), +0:08.098; 6. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:11.839; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:13.689; 8. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:30.589; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Kawasaki), +0:35.142; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Honda), +0:56.943.

MX1 Moto2: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 40:06.261; 2. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), +0:03.847; 3. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +0:05.500; 4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:07.409; 5. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:08.391; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:10.341; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:19.581; 8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:21.471; 9. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Honda), +0:48.590; 10. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:54.398.

MX1 Overall result: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 47 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 43 p.; 3. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 40 p.; 4. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), 31 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 29 p.; 6. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 28 p.; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 27 p.; 8. Steven Frossard (FRA, Yamaha), 25 p.; 9. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 24 p.; 10. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 21 p.

MX1 World Championship standings (after 12 of 15 rounds): 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 509 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 461 p.; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Yamaha), 428 p.; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 387 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 378 p.; 6. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 349 p.; 7. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 308 p.; 8. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Honda), 268 p.; 9. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 262 p.; 10. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 254 p. 11. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), 229 p.; 12. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 229 p.; 13. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 204 p.

MX2 CLASS:

MX2 Race 1 top ten: 1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 39:40.474; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:10.443; 3. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), +0:38.509; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:41.139; 5. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +0:41.996; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:42.381; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:44.094; 8. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Suzuki), +0:48.268; 9. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:51.496; 10. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +1:31.482.

MX2 Race 2 top ten: 1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 40:00.102; ; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:01.227; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:35.893; 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:42.843; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:44.495; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:46.132; 7. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Suzuki), +1:04.377; 8. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +1:10.637; 9. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +1:25.258; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), +1:33.758.

MX2 Overall top ten: 1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 44 p.; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 35 p.; 4. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 33 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 30 p.; 6. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Suzuki), 27 p.; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), 26 p.; 9. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 20 p.; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 19 p.

MX2 Championship top ten: 1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 540 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 513 p.; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 435 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 389 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 325 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 318 p.; 7. Zachary Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 295 p.; 8. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 268 p.; 9. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 227 p.; 10. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 206 p.

Photo courtesy Suzuki