No Kickash in Uddevalla

Photo: CDS

We just have received some sad news. Jim Fiolek, Ashley's dad, has informed us that unfortunately they can't make it over to Uddevalla, for the penultimate round of the WMX series. Of course Ashley is disappointed and so are we, it's always great to have her on board. She brings a lot of energy to the team even when she's not on the bike...

However Kickash is currently riding in a league of her own in the WMA series for the Red Bull-Honda team. So we like to think that her European boot camp -racing the Bulgarian and Portuguese GP'- has been a fruitful preparation for the American championship! Fiolek is actually defending her crown in the US and she continues to make waves stateside. Ashley has just been nominated for the important ESPN ESPY Award. She is one of four nominees for the award of Best Female Action Sports Athlete. We keep our fingers crossed...

Victory ad for Kegums win

Honda produced a victory ad to celebrate Clément Desalle's heat victory in the Latvian GP. Nice touch! Check the corporate Honda site here http://world.honda.com/WMX/2009/10latvia/ for more on our Baltic success.

PS A bit strange to see Cairoli being featured on the podium photo at thi above mentioned site! It's only when you open it that you see the Panda. Anyway, again congratulations Clément, let's push for the next milestone!

All at LS Motors-Honda

First ever heat win for Desalle and LS Motors-Honda!

Photo: CDS

Twenty-year old Clément Desalle continues to upset the MX1 pecking order. ‘MX Panda’ guided his CRF450R to

an impressive victory in the first moto of the Latvian GP on the sandy Kegums track! In the second outing Clément was making an equally strong impression on the more than 26.000 enthusiastic spectators. Unfortunately the LS Motors-Honda suffered a clutch problem when leading the race and settled for fifth thus safeguarding his second overall position. The fast Belgian wrote some personal history in the process not only by claiming his fourth podium of the season, runner-up is also a career best for him. Desalle remains fifth in the MX1 standings, with only 5 points less than Josh Coppins in fourth place and 19 points away from second placed Max Nagl. The GP of Latvia was won by Tony Cairoli, with Coppins in third. In the MX1 constructors classification Honda currently holds third largely thanks to Desalle and his LS Motors team.

Clément Desalle ”I’m really happy with second, and even more with my first heat win of course! This is a great reward for myself, the team and my family who have worked hard to get me here. My speed was good so it was not so hard to control the race after I had passed Nagl. When Cairoli came back there was some pressure for sure, but I managed to keep my lead and it all worked out! Again I felt strong in the second moto, but I had this problem with my clutch. I was a little disappointed because of that because otherwise I would have been second behind Tony (Cairoli) but as well know that’s part of the game when you’re racing. I gained some points on Nagl and Philippaerts in the championship so that’s another positive.”

Dennis ‘Crusty’ Verbruggen fights to seventh!

Photo: CDS

European championship success on the same track and his recent form provided Dennis Verbruggen with plenty of

confidence ahead of the Latvian GP. The sandy, fast terrain 40 kilomentres south-east of Riga certainly favoured his riding. Crusty posted the third time in Saturday’s pre-qualifying and finished ninth in the qualifying race. Grabbing his best start of the season Verbruggen created an excellent launch path for himself in the first moto. The CRF250R mounted rider ran as high as fifth, but lost a few places finally to come home eighth behind Italy’s Davide Guarneri.

Dennis had another good start but seemed to lack some aggression in the early stages of the second outing. However the 21- year old Belgian pulled himself together and quickly made headway recovering from 14th to 7th behind country man Joël Roelants. Verbruggen’s eighth and seventh culminated in a seventh place overall, making him the highest placed Honda rider of the event. He also replicated his team mate Desalle today in getting his best result of the season so far. The MX2 GP was won by the Portuguese ace Goncalves in forn of Frenchies Musquin and Paulin. Dennis Verbruggen is currntly 18th in MX2 standings, equal on points with Sword.

Dennis Verbruggen “I was feeling fine all weekend and long and finally I managed the top ten result that I have chasing for a while now. My start in the first moto was awesome and that allowed me to climb up to fifth. (grinning) Maybe that was even a notch above my own expectations, because suddenly I encountered a stress attack! I dropped back to eighth, but I was consuming quite a lot of energy as well since I was so tensed. Again I had a good jump from the gate in the second moto and I was about tenth. After that I think I rode a bit too conservatively and lost some places because of that. Still I knew how Physical Kegums can be and the warmth made it quite uncomfortable as well so conserving some energy played to my advantage later on. I was able to catch up and finish seventh.”

Desalle is the prince of qualifying!

No matter how exciting the racing, final results and reputations more than anything are based on hard facts and numbers. Team managers and journalists do their share of number crunching to evaluate riders’ performances. Statistic buffs from their side can always find some ammunition for serious bench racing in the numbers itself. That’s also what we did with the following exercise.

Imagine that Saturday’s qualifying race was not merely there to pick the gate positions and entertain the crowd, but qualifying was rewarded with championship points as well! To keep things simple we applied the current GP points scoring system to the season’s MX1 qualifiers et voilà... You will see this table in jpeg above as well. It’s probably no surprise to see the dominant Tony Cairoli standing on top of this virtual classification. ‘Qualifying king’ Cairoli leads with 155 points. Whilst four riders are slipstreaming behind the Italian, only separated by a few points, it’s MX1 revelation Clément Desalle who holds the runner up spot for the moment. Of course there’s no actual value attached to these calculations yet it confirms the consistence of the 20-year old LS Motors-Honda rider. David Philippaerts and Josh Coppins are equal on points third, while Nagl is fifth.

Reaction Clément Desalle : “Now, there’s an interesting little fact: I’m virtually second in qualification standings! Seriously I like those qualifying races, it’s like a final rehearsal before the big day. It allows you to loosen up and mentally prepare for the GP. Sometimes you hear talks about the possibility of championship points being given for qualifying. I could be good idea, but in the end that’s something for the FIM and Youthstream to decide I

think.”

Mediocre German GP for Elien De Winter

Photo: CDS

The German GP has been a cornerstone for the women’s series for some time now. This time the home crowd had even more to cheer about with three German lasses (Laier, Papenmeier and Franke) capturing the podium! LS Motors-Honda rider Elien De Winter was not so happy in former East-Germany. The experienced WMX rider from Denderleuw, Belgium came home 12th overall after 10th and 12th place finishes. She drops one place in the world standings to ninth, seven points adrift from Marielle De Mol. De Winter an aspiring physiotherapist heads back to her books preparing for her upcoming exams, but she’ll be back on track in a fortnight for the sixth round of the WMX series in Uddevalla. In Sweden Elien will be joined by American guest rider Ashley Fiolek. Kickash is currently in great shape, having won all fourrounds of the WMA series in the US so far!

Elien De Winter “Practice went okay, but I couldn’t string together a fast lap in qualifying due to traffic. So tenth was not too bad, and we were all very close to each other anyway. I was only one second off from Chiara Fontanensi in sixth. My first race was no good at all. I reacted too slow at the gate and on top of that my first few laps were not very inspired either. Setting up a good rhythm was simply impossible, however things changed for the better on Sunday. Again I didn’t exactly have the snap when the gate dropped but still I dove into the corner around fifth place. I lost some ground in the opening stages, but at least my riding was better for the remaining laps.”

Dennis digs deep

Photo: CDS

A DNF in the qualifying race relegated Verbruggen to a disastrous 38th spot on the grid. However two impressive comeback rides earned the LS Motors-Honda rider 17 valuable championship points. Moreover no one gained more positions today than Crusty, making up 25 places in the second moto. The former European champ was 13th overall and is now 21st in standings, equal on points with fellow Honda rider Koungsith Vongsana.

Dennis Verbruggen: “I was a bit too forceful in the qualifier and went down twice. So that was it, I thought because I was dead last and was getting lapped after only four minutes and decided to concentrate on the races. My gate pick was horrifying so I had only one choice left: give it absolutely everything. I fought hard and got 12th and 13th. It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure, because I had to dig damn deep! Still I’m really thrilled because I’m getting close to my best shape and my riding is good as well. I was able to focus well and made hardly any mistake.”

Desalle keeps the momentum going

Photo: CDS

Saturday’s qualifying race earned ‘MX Panda’ fifth on the start gate, but the CRF450R mounted rider couldn’t capitalize on his position come race day. First moto saw him starting outside of the top ten and history repeated itself in the second moto when Desall got boxed in. Still Desalle battled through the pack to catch up with the leading riders in both races. Unfortunately he just came up short of claiming his fourth overall podium of the season. In a do or die move in the ultimate metres of moto two Clément heroically tried to repass Coppins but crashed in the process. Desalle walked away unhurt, but suffered a painful wrist. Honda, severly hit by injuries, is currently third in the MX1 manufacturers standings largely thanks to the efforts of

Desalle.

Clément Desalle: ”This has been really a tough weekend! In spite of the modifications to the Talkessel it’s still challenging to overtake. My start in the first heat was pretty bad, but I climbed up from 12th to sixth. Half race dtistance I ran into some trouble with my goggles. For some silly reason the film got stuck so that affected my vision badly. Philippaerts passed me, but I was able to get in front Tanel Leok on the last lap. The second race was very similar to the first, where I didn’t have the best of starts but I could come back anyway. I was on Philippaerts rear wheel by the end of the moto, but Coppins repassed me right before the finish. It was unfortunate, but also a bit typical for this GP...”

Freecaster pre-race show with Elien De Winter!

Photo: CDS

Today LS Motors-Honda's WMX rider Elien De Winter was featured on the Freecaster.TV pre-race show with Lisa Leyland and Stefan Everts. Elien was joined by the Irish up and comer Nathalie Kane.

You can check the video here: http://freecaster.tv/mx/1008351/wmx-pre-race-show-from-the-mx-gp-of-germany?page=5

LS Motors riders ready to head East

Photo: CDS

This weekend’s GP of Germany not only marks the ninth round of the 15-round FIM Motocross World Championship, Teutschenthal also marks the fifth round of the 7-round Women’s motocross World Championship. It’s the first race in a string of three events that sees the series traveling East, with Latvia and Sweden following back to back to the German Grand Prix. The fast and hard pack Talkessel track just outside Leipzig offers spectators excellent viewing conditions due to the many elevation changes and bowl-type layout. In contrast it’s reviewed with mixed emotions by the riders because it’s very fast and overtaking can be difficult.

Clément Desalle will be keen to get back on the podium in Teutschenthal, after what was a disappointing French GP for the young Belgian. Desalle was clearly one of the fastest riders in the MX1 class but he was only rewarded with fourth place, tied with Tanel Leok. Still Desalle managed to climb one spot in provisional standings, he’s currently fifth, only one point behind Josh Coppins and eleven points behind third placed Max Nagl. MX Panda continued to show great form this weekend at the Belgian championship race in Kester where he was runner-up behind De Dycker, but in front of GP stars Coppins, Leok and Cairoli.

Honda CRF250 R mounted Dennis Verbruggen will be on the hunt for a top ten result this weekend. His best result in Teutschenthal so far was 14th overall in 2007. “ The 21-year old has gradually improved since the start of the season. Dennis is regaining his speed and confidence after a troublesome kickoff, and shows a more than decent rhythm lately. Verbruggen says: “Sunny weather in Germany would be nice after all the mud we had in Kester last weekend! I’m quite happy with my riding for the moment, the bike works great and I’m happy with the support I received from the team when things weren’t going so well. I just need needs better starts to show what I’m capable of.”

LS Motors-Honda’s WMX rider Elien De Winter is lying eighth in the championship, although she’s having a difficult season after her preparation was severly hampered by injury. However De Winter showed flashes of her pace in Ernée and aims to continue her rise of performance in Germany. Elien posted her best result of the season last year at the Talkessel track coming home sixth and she knows the track well because the WMX ladies already visited Teutschenthal in 2007 and 2006 as well, making the German round one of the ‘classics’ of the series together with Uddevalla. De winter: “Actually most of the girls know the track well, so it’s going to be one where we fight on equal terms! The weather forecast for Saturay looks rainy, but I’m not too bothered because most of the time we have to ride on a watered track anyway. I quite like the track, but getting a strong start will be very important.”

On Saturday night De Winter will be one of the guests of the Freecaster.tv pre-race show presented by Stefan Everts and the lovely Lisa Leyland.

Interview with Clément Desalle

Photo: CDS - Words: Tom Jacobs

One thing is for sure, Clément Desalle is a versatile racer like few others. The talented Honda rider feels at home on any soil and in spite of his age he has a wide experience on a variety of tracks. With Teutschenthal this weekend ‘MX Panda’ gets to ride a track he’s very familiar with. Not only has he raced GP’s on the ‘Talkessel’ he participated in a few German nationals as well. Desalle in fact grabbed an ADAC MX Masters podium in Teutschenthal two years ago. An encore of that feat at GP level is not unlikely given Desalle’s recent form. Or can Clément immediately follow the footsteps of Mickael Pichon (on the picture next to Desalle), the last Honda mounted MX1 rider to win the German GP? The iconic Dane surprised friends and foes alike with a shock double heat win in 2004...

What’s your take on the track in Teutschenthal?

Clément Desalle: “It’s a track that doesn’t seem to change a great deal over the years. So we all know what to expect! I heard they have made minor modifications this year so that will be interesting. Teutschenthal is obviously hard pack so it’s hard to make the difference, but I’m sure we’re going to have fun with the track.”

Teutschenthal is a special track for you as well?

Clément Desalle: “Absolutely, it’s the place where I got my first ever GP point in 2006! That’s something I won’t

forget, because getting your first point in GP’s is something to rememember for every rider.”

In Ernée you slid off twice in a short amount of time. Was this a typical case of overeagerness and a

youthful lack of experience?

Clément Desalle: “I didn’t have a great start in the second race, but I knew I had the speed to push to the front quickly. So after my first mistake I went down twice, the second crash right after the other. Still I don’t think that’s a case of lacking experience. It’s just one of those things that can happen in a mechanical sport. David Philippaerts made mistakes in Ernée as well, and there’s a guy with plenty of experience! So if even the Worldchampion went down, it could happen to anyone, don’t you think? Man, Ernée on Sunday was just one of those

days you want to forget as quick as you can!”

Since the French GP you ticked another box on the list of milestones, by taking you’re first pole pole

postion. I guess now the waiting for your first heat and GP win has now really begun?

Clément Desalle: “(smiles) Obviously it’s cool to get your first pole position, and the Lovemytime award but winning a GP is something different alltogether. In the end it’s more symbolic when you win a pole, because it doesn’t earn you points and you have to start all over again on Sunday. As far as winning goes that’s just part of the expectations that start to build with people. That’s natural I guess, but Id on’t feel any pressure because of that. Will I win before this season is over? No one knows, and I can’t predict when it will happen, all I know is that I will push as much as I can to make it happen.”

You’re the first privateer in the MX1 World Championship. Don’t you think it’s a pity not to be on a

factory team?

Clément Desalle: “No, it’s not such a big deal really. Besides it was my own choice to ride for a private team! I’m having a good time with LS Motors-Honda and they’re working hard to give me the best possible equipment. In the end there isn’t such a big difference either. On the positive side riding for a privateer team allows you to ride more carefree as well, there’s no pressure to reach a fixed objective. The team just wants me to do my best.”

Clément claims second in muddy Kester

Photo: CDS

In spite of its splendid natural surroundings the Kester track -close to Brussels- has rarely been blessed with good weather conditions. The 2009 edition was no exception for this former GP track. True to form LS Motors-Honda’s Clément Desalle wasn’t complaining and aimed for his first ever win in Kester. Over 6.000 race fans saw how ‘MX Panda’ animated the races together with Ken De Dycker, although it was the latter who won the overall. Clément won the opener and took two seconds. The CRF 450 mounted Belgian is now second on 127 points, trailing De Dycker by 13 points. New Zeland’s Josh Coppins was third, Tanel Leok fourth.

Dennis ‘Crusty’ Verbruggen (eighth in qualifying) only marked points in the last heat with a tenth place finish. However Verbruggen showed more than decent speed, and he’s currently the second MX2 mounted rider in the series behind Joël Roelants. LS Motors-Honda’s support rider Dennis Dierckx best result in Kester was tenth in heat 1. The third race of the championship takes place on July 19 in Nismes.

Clément Desalle: ”All in all I did all right, but I couldn’t be satisfied with my last heat where I made too many mistakes and crashed twice. In the end the gap with De Dycker was too big and I had to settle for second. A pity really, because I felt I was fast enough today to beat Ken. It seems that the championship will be between me and Ken so that’s going to be interesting. I’m really looking forward to the next race in Nismes, where I won last year.”

Solid result for Elien De Winter in France

Photo: CDS

Elien De Winter qualified in seventh on Saturday, showing some decent speed. However, she couldn’t reproduce that same pace during the races. The winter ended the heats in tenth and ninth which meant ninth overall. In the World championship standings Elien jumped from ninth to eight . The French GP was won by home favourite Livia Lancelot who took both heats. German rider Stefi Laier ended up second in front of another German rider Lasissa Papenmeier. In two weeks De Winter takes part in the fifth GP of the season in Teutschenthal (Germany).

Elien De Winter: “In the first heat I took a reasonable start, taking the first turn in sixth. But in the first lap I was already losing some places. Unbelievable really. During practice everything went smooth, but during the race things just didn’t pan out. That’s how I ended up tenth on Saturday. Today (Sunday) I had a good start. I hung in fourth when, just before, the first jump, I tangled with another rider. Luckily, I kept the bike upright. Besides that I had to give in during the last three laps, until then I had been in seventh.”

Hard-charging Desalle misses the podium

Photo: CDS

Clément Desalle dominated Saturday’s (dry) qualifying race in Ernée. However, the treacherous weather conditions on Sunday didn’t favour the young Belgian’s chances. But even in these difficult conditions 'MX-Panda' proved to be one of the best MX1 riders of the moment. In the fist heat he even finished fourth without goggles. In the second heat he would end up sixth despite three crashes. Desalle finished fourth, on equal points with Tanel Leok, in the overall of the GP. Clément is now fifth in the World MX1 classification, trailing only one point behind Josh Coppins. The GP was won by Max Nagl, who ended up second behind Desalle in Saturday’s qualifying race.

Clément Desalle: "I had a fairly good start in the first heat. But almost immediately I had a problem with my goggles and I had to throw them away. It was really tough to ride without goggles in rain and mud. I ended up fourth but I couldn’t be happy with that. I didn’t have a good start in race two, laying in 6th or 7th. Maybe I wanted too much and that meant that my back wheel just stepped out. I remounted rather quick and was able to pass Cairoli and Leok, but after that I slipped twice. That meant I had to come back from 13th. Finally I would finish sixth. Top five wasn’t too bad after all. But it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. I really feel I could have done better."

First pole position for Desalle

Photo: CDS

Today, Saturday, LS Motors-Honda rider Clément Desalle raced to his first ever pole position of the season on Saturday when he convincingly won the Qualification Heat. Clément came first ahead of Max Nagl and David Philippaerts. His dominant performance also allowed him to pick up a Lovemytime qualifying award.

MX2 rider Dennis Verbruggen qualified in 25th for tomorrow's race.

Elien De Winter gets ready for the mud!

Photo: CDS

This weekend’s French motocross GP in Ernée will be the fourth round of the WMX, The Women’s MX World championship. Twenty year old Elien Dewinter who hails from Denderleeuw in Belgium is with a provisional ninth in the standings, the best Belgian rider in the WMX. After suffering from an heavy injury (a complex pelvis fracture) things have been on the up for Elien. She aims to improve further in Ernée. The French GP being the first in a crucial series of three in one month’s time.

On the French GP I regularly compete in France but strange enough I have never ridden in Ernée. It’s the first time they hold a WMX GP as well. From what I gather it’s a typical French track: located on the side of an hill, hard pack and very technical! I don’t know if we will be able to jump all obstacles because some pretty heavy rain is expected towards the end of the week. Let’s hope things won’t be too bad. As far as the GP goes, everybody will be expecting Livia Lancelot. Especially because its her home race. It will be hard for her to deal with that pressure. Last year her race in Saint-Jean-d’Angely was her worst performance. Personally I feel pretty fit, last week I did a fitness test with my trainer, Yves Demeulemeester. The test was quite positive. But at the end of the day you just have to perform on the bike!

MX as a distraction Right now I’m in the middle of my exams (Elien is studying Physiotherapy at the Brussels University). It’s a good thing that I don’t have to do all of my exams this month. After the French GP we’ll have the German GP in two weeks time and early July the Swedish GP. Because the way my exams are spread I have to do some of them in July and August. That way it looks a bit like I’m constantly in the middle of my exams.

WMX level is rising Sometimes it annoys me to get passed by girls I used to beat on a regular basis earlier on. But it means the level is just getting better and better. Besides that, the top girls are totally committed to racing. They have been living like Total pros for quite some time now. Because of their higher training intensity they sometimes seem to be in a league of their own. I’m pretty realistic about that. My goal is making the top 10, if I’m doing better I just take that as an added bonus. Because female riders hardly make any money at all, I find it a bit strange to commit solely to racing. My study prepares me for a professional career besides motocross.

Countdown to Ernée has begun

Photo: CDS

Fresh from his third podium out of seven GP’s Clément Desalle and his LS Motors-Honda team mates are looking forward to the French GP in Ernée this weekend. The venue of the epic 2005 MXoN once again is set to be on of the

best attended races on the tour. The organizing club MC Ernée has also revamped its panoramic ‘Raymond Demy‘ track with the aid of the world famous track builder Jean-Luc Fouchet. True to form Fouchet has injected more than a

few Supercross elements: wave section, triples, cameljump, ‘dual-line’ sections. This is going to be a spectacular one!

Although Clément Desalle is still sixth in the MX1 championship, it’s apparent that the LS Motors Honda rider is reeling in several higher ranked riders. In fact the points gap between the Belgian and second placed David Philippaerts is only 17 points now. Desalle: “By now everyone knows I don’t bother talking about numbers or making predictions. Probably that sounds lame to some people, but considering there’s so much that can be happen I feel that’s the only realistic mind set. I can only try damn hard and see how it goes! I think the French GP is going

to be cool, the track looks promising and there’s always a massive crowd. You could say it’s my second home GP, becaue I’ve been racing in France a lot in junior classes. So that makes it a bit special.”

LS Motors-Honda’s sports manager Marnicq Bervoets has fond memories of Ernée. He won the 250cc GP in the North of France in 1999. Bervoets says: “Actually Ernée in itself is more difficult than it seems, especially with the off-camber turns. One mistake can cost you an awful lot of time there. Things are even more technical now with the changes they have made! Obviously we can expect a French invasion this weekend, since most of the French riders are technically very adept and used to riding SX-styled terrain. Clément should be fine there, he has a good timing on the jumps and we know he likes that kind of track.