Photo: CDSClément Desalle certainly made an impact on the US scene with his ride in Washougal last weekend. Check the Alliance of Action Sports video here: http://www.allisports.com/videos/rider-week-clement-desalle
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Sunday 26 July 2009
MX Panda on the podium in Washougal!
Photo: Ray ArcherLS Motors-Honda rider Clément Desalle came ninth overall yesterday in what was his first race on American soil, in Washougal (Washington). However the twenty-year old Belgian made a huge impression on fans and media throughout the day. The ‘MX Panda’ posted a strong third time in qualifying behind series leader Chad Red and Andrew Short. Desalle backed his qualifying pace up in moto one with an excellent third place. Adding a career first AMA moto podium to his fast growing tally. The stage was set for a memorable second moto, but this time Desalle struggled with a bad start, a crash and technical woes. Still Clément kept on fighting in the sweltering heat to finish 25th.
Clément Desalle: ”To ride in the US for the first time was really a big thing for me so it was very cool to be on the podium! Racing in Washougal was a great experience, and the weather was very hot but I felt quite strong actually. Away from the bike it was also a little bit stressful and overall the result coud have been better. We had quite a lot of trouble with setting up the bike and I had some bad luck in the second moto. Still I wanted to continue after the crash I had, but I suffered some technical problems and couldn’t push like I wanted to. I know I can do more when I arrive better prepared.”
Moto 1: 1 Chad Reed (AUS-Suzuki), 2 Tommy Hahn (USA-Kawasaki), 3 Clément Desalle (B-LS Motors-Honda), 4 Matt Goerke (USA-Suzuki), 5 Josh Grant (USA-Yamaha), 6 Jake Moss (AUS-Honda), 7 Andrew Short (USA-Honda), 8 Jimmy Albertson (USA-Yamaha), 9 Justin Brayton (USA-KTM), 10 Jason Lawrence (USA-Yamaha) / Moto 2: 1 Chad Reed (AUS-Suzuki), 2 Josh Grant (USA-Yamaha), 3 Jason Lawrence (USA-Yamaha), 4 Michael Byrne (AUS-Suzuki), 5 Jarred Browne (USA-Suzuki), 6 Nick Wey (USA-Yamaha), 7 Davy Millsaps (USA-Honda), 8 Justin Brayton (USA-KTMi), 9 Ben LeMay (USA-Yamaha), 10 Jimmy Albertson (USA-Yamaha), 25 Clément Desalle (B-LS Motors-Honda),
Washougal overall: 1 Reed 50, 2 Grant 38, 3 Lawrence 31, 4 Brayton 25, 5 Byrne 25, 6 Albertson 24, 7 Wey 23, 8 Hahn 22 9 Clément Desalle (LS Motors-Honda) 20, 10 Tedesco 20
Saturday 25 July 2009
Clément off to a flying start!
Photo: CDS
Washougal MX Park seems to hold few secrets for LS Motors-Honda's Clément Desalle! Clément immediately felt at home on the scenic and fast track. The Belgian qualified third behind Short and Reed. Pretty impressive out of the box, because 'MX Panda' wasn't able to practice this week. It's literally going to be hot for the moto's, because the temperature is 32° C and rising! Full results here:- Chad Reed, Australia, Suzuki, 2:11.449
- Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda, 2:11.673
- Clement Desalle, Belgium, LS Motors-Honda, 2:12.107
- Michael Byrne, Australia, Suzuki, 2:12.944
- Thomas Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Kawasaki, 2:13.264
- Jason Lawrence, Carlsbad, Calif., Yamaha, 2:13.306
- Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha, 2:13.316
- Ivan Tedesco, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda, 2:13.432
- Justin Brayton, Murrieta, Calif., KTM, 2:13.643
- Cody Cooper, New Zealand, Yamaha, 2:13.767
Monday 20 July 2009
Clément off to the US
Photo: CDS
Sunday 19 July 2009
Successful MX2 debut for Verbruggen
Photo: CDSLS Motors-Honda's MX2 rider Dennis Verbruggen rode to an excellent fifth overall in what was his first outing on the Honda CRF450R, yesterday in Nismes at the third round of the Belgian championship. Verbruggen jumps rom a tenth to a sixth in the championship standings..
In the first heat Dennis came back from seventh to fourth but would be overtaken by Josh Coppins in the last lap. Together with team mate Clément Desalle, Crusty would even dominate the opening stages of the second heat. While Desalle extended his lead lap after lap, Verbruggen was a shock third leaving many top MX2 regulars behind hilm. Unfortunately the former European champion was a bit to generous with the power of his CRF450R and lost his thirdposition to Josh Coppins. Dennis ended up fourth in front of Ramon and Priem.
In the last heat Dennis Verbruggen had his weakest start of the day and wouldn’t find the speed of his previous heats. This meant he lost every chance to be on the podium, although he would end the heat in sixth. His fifth overall was also a new career best for Dennis in the open class, who previously raced the United Telecom Trophy in 2007.
Dennis Verbruggen: “My first race on the CRF450R was definitely a confidence booster, although I had very few practice on the MX1 bike. Today, I felt good on it right away and I really enjoyed myself. Despite that the last heat was a bit of a bummer. I really felt that I could do better. I will do the rest of the Belgian Championship on my CRF450R. Mainly because it just increases my chances in the Open class, but also because I want to gain some experience before I could switch to MX1 full time in 2010. That's something I consider, but I haven't made my mind up yet.”
MX Panda dominates Nismes!
Photo: CDSTop privateer outfit LS Motors-Honda struck hard during the third round of the Belgian Motocross Championship in Nismes. The first round of the year in Walloonia was also Clément Desalle’s home race. Desalle took three heat wins and became the dominant victor by doing so. Desalle is also closing in on championship leader Ken De Dycker.
Clément Desalle had been chasing Championship leader Ken De Dycker for almost a full first heat. With only two laps to go, it seemed that De Dycker would take another heat win in the Belgian championship. Desalle made a mistake but the 20 year old would turn the situation completely. In no time he came back, trailing in De Dycker’s wake. At the beginning of the very last lap the LS Motors Honda rider launched his attack. De Dycker would react prompt and professional, but to no avail as Desalle took the lead a few hundred metres further.
The LS Motors Honda duo would dominate the opening stages of the second heat. Desalle would break away from De Dycker and would build his lead lap after lap. Meanwhile Verbruggen was hanging on in third. Being a bit to generous with the power of his CRF450R caused him to lose that position to Josh Coppins. In the decisive third heat Desalle would get rid of holeshot winners Van Daele and Priem. With De Dycker just metres behind Desalle it looked like this would pan out as an absolute thriller. However, a small collision between both top Belgians meant De Dycker would lose valuable time. This enabled “MX Panda” to increase his lead and take his third heat win of the day.
Clément Desalle: “Today turned out to be really positive. Just like last year I won the overall in Nismes. My wins in heat two and three were fairly easy. In the first heat I crashed after I had been pressuring De Dycker. Luckily, I was able to come back and win. It was good to race this close to home, a lot of fans and friends showed up to support me. That makes it extra nice to win this race. Given the points standings I’m already looking forward to the Keiheuvel track.”
Monday 13 July 2009
Can Desalle make it an encore in Nismes?
Photo: CDS
Next up on our schedule is the third round of the Belgian Motocross championship in Nismes. Nismes is an awesome, spectacular hard pack track near the French border. It was the venue for the 1997 MX of Nations and some GP's, the last one in 2005. It was also the place were Clément Desalle gave the Belgian stars somewhat of a shock by coming out (from racing the German series) and beating them all in a guest ride!
This weekend Desalle and his team mate Dennis Verbruggen will be back. However, this time around Clément is not only out for the win in Nismes is also fighting for the Belgian title agains De Dycker and Coppins. Furthermore some a couple of guys you might have heard of are making their comeback on Sunday: Steve Ramon and Kevin Strijbos. Add Aprilia factory rider Manuel Priem, KTM's Jeremy Van Horebeek and Patrick Caps to that and you know it will be quite an exciting race!
Sunday 12 July 2009
Clément and Dennis in MXoN pre-selection
Photo: Racing is an Art
On Wednesday the Belgian GP riders met for their annual team building day. This year’s program included mountain bike training, a BMX race session on the Joël Smets BMX track in Dessel and some log cutting. On the image you can make out a driven 'Panda' attacking some wood with the aid of Steve Ramon (right) and Ken De Dycker (middle) As always the day concluded with a barbecue at “Chez Joël’s”. Desalle is clearly in a strong position, he's the first Belgian in the MX1 GP's, for his first MXoN ride. However team manager Smets will only announce his team on the 15th of August during the fourth round of the Belgian Motocross championship at the Keiheuvel, Balen. Competition for the final selection is tough with Desalle, De Dycker, Strijbos and Ramon all competing for two places.
Sunday 5 July 2009
MX-Panda now fourth!
Photo: Ray Archer
One would almost forget that the weekend started off on the wrong foot for Desalle. He crashed early in Saturday’s qualifying race in the wavesection. TM’s Aigar Leok went down in front of Clément and it was too late to avoid him. Luckily ‘MX Panda’ managed to get going again, contrary to Leok himself. However his GP chances received a heavy blow because the LS Motors-Honda star had to continue with bent handlebars and only managed a miserable 21st position on the gate as a result.
Cool, calm and collected Desalle made the best of the situation powering his CRF450R skilllfully through the first corner, thus putting him near the front of the pack. Settling into third place Clément never looked back even when he came under serious pressure from Cairoli. The second moto saw a slightly less effective start, although Desalle took the fifth place before the end of the opening lap. The Ufo-sponsored rider remained close to Philippaerts (third) and De Dycker (fourth) for most of the race, but settled for fifth in the end.
Clément Desalle ”I’m glad I was able tot turn my chances around after a disastrous qualifying race! The track was not in a great shape either on Saturday, but conditions got better as the weekend went along. In general I’m quite happy with the GP, because I was able to climb up another spot in the championship. I was third in front of Cairoli in the first moto, but in the second race my start was not so good. I was staying close to De Dycker and Philippaerts. Then I had a small battle with De Dycker for fourth but then I lost contact again. I started making up ground on them onceagain but then I made a mistake and settled for my position.”
Heat 1: 1 Nagl (DUI-KTM), 2 De Dycker (B-Suzuki), 3 Clément Desalle (B-LS Motors-Honda), 4 Cairoli (ITA-Yamaha), 5 Philippaerts (I-Yamaha), 6 Coppins
(NZ-Yamaha), 7 T. Leok (EST-Yamaha), 8 Aranda (FRA-Kawasaki), 9 Swanepoel (RSA-Kawasaki), 10 Bryan Mackenzie (GBR-Honda) / Heat 2: 1 Cairoli (ITA-
Yamaha), 2 Nagl, 3 Philipaerts, 4 De Dycker, 5 Clément Desalle (B-LS Motors-Honda), 6 Leok T., 7 Coppins, 8 Vuillemin, 9 Swanepoel, 10 Bill
GP of Sweden classification: 1 Nagl 47, 2 Nagl 43, 3 De Dycker 40, 4 Philippaerts 36, 5 6 Clément Desalle (LS Motors-Honda) 36, 6 T. Leok 29, 7 Coppins 29, 8 Swanepeoel 24, 9 Bill 19, 10 Bryan Mackenzie 18
MX1 World Championship standings; 1 Cairoli 428, 2 Nagl 375, 3 Philippaerts 363, 4 Clément Desalle (LS Motors-Honda) 345, 5 Coppins 343, 6 De Dycker 338, 7 T. Leok 299, 8 Barragan 215, 9 Swanepoel 175, 10 A. Leok 167
Dennis in Turbo diesel mode
Photo: Ray Archer
Seventh in pre-qualifying practice was just another confirmation: Dennis Verbruggen is getting back to where he belongs. The 21-year old showed strong pace again in the qualification race putting him in tenth behind the gate. A determined Verbruggen added a 20-points bonus to his championship tally on Sunday. However things might have been more impressive for Marnicq Bervoets’ protegé had he not missed his start twice. Not unlike Kegums last week ‘Crusty’ was again ripping through the field trading his 30+ opening positions for eleventh in both motos. The Grobbendonk-born Belgian is 16th and only 22 points behind number 13 Anthony Boissiere, Catalunya’s moto one winner. Goncalves won the GP, teenage sensation Roczen was second before France’s Paulin.
Dennis Verbruggen: “The first 180° corner offers some possibilities to make up ground in the start. So twice I tried to slice around the outside, but clearly it wasn’t meant to be! As a consequence I had to hunt from behind in every moto. I think I did a pretty good job with my comebacks getting eleventh in the end. Things could have been a lot worse, because I was a bit scared about the state the track would be after levelling works on Saturday. Luckily there were still plenty of lines to overtake. I’m happy with my riding for the moment and I know there’s more to come. In the meanwhile I will keep on giving it my best shot. I’m 16th now, but I now I can claim back another few places in the coming GP’s ! Between now and Lommel we are going to do some work on the gearbox to dial in the bike for the start. I’m absolutely convinced we can solve that problem as well.”
Heat 1: 1 Roczen (GER-Suzuki), 2 Goncalves (POR-KTM), 3 Frossard (FRA-Kawasaki), 4 Monni (Ita-Yamaha), 5 Roelants (BEL-KTM), 6 Guarneri (ITA-Yamaha), 7 Paulin (FRA-Kawasaki), 8 Karro (LAT-Suzuki), 9 Nicholls (GBR-KTM),10 Triest (BEL-KTM), 11 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda) / Heat 2: 1 Goncalves (POR-KTM), 2 Paulin (FRA-Kawasaki), 3 Guarneri (ITA-Yamaha), 4 Roelants (BEL-KTM), 5 Monni (Ita-Yamaha), 6 Bobryshev (RUS-Yamaha), 7 Roczen
(GER-Suzuki), 8 Karro (LAT-Suzuki), 9 Schiffer (GE-KTM), 10 Nicholls (IGBR-KTM), 11 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda)
GP of Sweden classification: 1 Goncalves 47, 2 Roczen 39, 3 Paulin 36, 4 Guarneri 35, 5 Roelants 34, 6 Monni 34, 7 Karro 26, 8 Nicholls 23, 9 Bobryshev 22, 10 Schiffer 24, 11 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda) 20
MX2 World Championship standings: 1 Musquin 371, 2 Paulin 358, 3 Goncalves 348, 4 Guarneri 331, 5 Frossard 284, 6 Roczen 239, 7 Aubin 203, 8 Monni 199, 9 Boog 197, 10 Roelants 180, 16 Dennis Verbruggen (BEL-LS Motors Honda) 107
Elien De Winter remains ninth
Photo: Ray Archer
The Swedish was the penultimate round in the WMX series. Replicating her MX2 team mate Dennis Verbruggen, De Winter finished the GP in eleventh on her CRF250 R. However Elien had few reasons to be overwhelmed with joy because she produced a great start in every moto. Regrettably she failed to make the best of those starts. In the championship standings she remains the best Belgian and highest placed Honda lady. The GP was won by Steffi Laier in front of Maria Franke and the Irish Nathalie Kane scored her first ever career podium. The world’s fastest girls travel to Holland, Lierop at the end of August to compete in the final round of the championship.
Elien De Winter: “Looking back on Uddevalla I’m not really satisfied. In fact I pulled off my best starts of the weekend twice, getting out of the gate in third, but this weekend I lacked the confidence needed for a strong performance. At the start of the moto my times were pretty good, then they would drop and I bounced back by the end of the race again. That’s surely something that I need to work on. On top of that, I had a hard time to find the right rhythm on this track. I’m not looking for excuses, although I have to admit Uddevalla is not a track that I’m particularly fond off! The changing soil switching from sand to hard pack or gravel stone makes it pretty difficult to read. So in that respect it was good to get the GP of Sweden out of the way!”
Heat 1: 1 Steffi Laier (Ger-KTM), 2 Franke (Ger-Kaw), 3 Nathalie Kane (IRL-Suz), 4 Mann (SWE-KTM), 5 Larissa Papenmeier (Ger-Suz), 6 Marielle De Mol (NED- Yamaha), 7 8. Sara Petterson (SWE-KTM), 9 Chiara Fontanesi (ITA-Yamaha), 10 Brenda Wagemans (BEL-KTM), 11 Elien De Winter (BEL-LS Motors Honda) / Heat 2: 1 Steffi Laier (Ger-KTM), 2 Maria Franke (Ger-Kaw), 3 Kane (IRL-Suz), 4 Larissa Papenmeier (Ger-Suz), 5 Mann (SWE-KTM), 6 Marielle De Mol (NED- Yamaha), 7 Nicky Van Wordragen (Ned-KTM), 8 Borchers (Ger-Suzuki), 9 Sarah Whitmore (USA-KTM), 10 Marie Romlin (SWE-KTM), 11 Elien De Winter (BEL-LS Motors Honda)
GP of Sweden classification: 1 Laier 50, 2 Franke 44, 3 Kane 40, 4 Papenmeier 34, 5 Mann 34, 6 De Mol 30, 7 Romlin 25, 8 Whirmore 20, 9 Elien De Winter (BEL-LS Motors Honda) 20, 10 Fontanesi 20
WMX World Championship standings: 1 Steffi Laier (Ger-KTM) 261, 2 Papenmeier (Ger-Suz) 224, 3 Maria Franke (Ger-Kaw) 223, 4 Nathalie Kane (IRL-Suz) 194, 5 Elin Mann (SWE-KTM) 191, 6 Livia Lancelot (FR-Kaw) 185, 7 De Mol (NED-Yamaha) 145, 8 Veenstra (Ned-Suz) 140, 9 Elien De Winter (BEL-LS Motors Honda) 128, 10 Nicky Van Wordragen (NED-KTM) 104, 15. Ashley Fiolek (USA-LS Motors Honda) 80
Saturday 4 July 2009
Clément and Dennis on Freecaster.TV!
Photo: Freecaster.TV
After Elien De Winter's appearance on the Freecaster pre-race show with Lisa Leyland and Stefan Everts the LS Motors-Honda boys had their turn today. Check it out to get the inside line on the Swedish GP and it's an excellent occasion to see 'MX panda' and 'Crusty' just relaxing and enjoying themselves before the battle.If that's not enough of an incentive, just watch to take part in the Leatt pricedraw, because Clément is giving away one exclusive neck brace!
The other featured riders are Aigar Leok (MX1) and Jeremy Van Horebeek (MX2)
Dennis Verbruggen
Clément Desalle
Of course, as always you can tune in to Freecaster.tv tomorrow to follow the races -with TV commentator Paul Malin and a line-up of guests- live at http://freecaster.tv/live/mx/1007039/mx-gp-of-sweden-09-live-webcast
Here's the schedule: 11h 15: WMX race 2
12h 10: MX2 heat 1
13h 10: MX1 heat 1
15h 03: MX2 heat 2
16h 03: MX1 heat 2
Thursday 2 July 2009
Full force for Sweden!
Photo: CDS
Top privateer outfit, LS Motors-Honda, will be back on full war strength for next weekend’s GP of Sweden in Uddevalla. Clément Desalle (MX1), Dennis Verbruggen (MX2) and Elien De Winter (WMX) are all eyeing good performances on the Swedish round of their respective World Championships. Located some 100 km north off Gothenburg, Udevalla is definitely one of the oldest tracks on the World Championship calendar. The first GP held there was the 1958 Swedish 500cc round. The track is fast, technical with some undulations. Originally it was a hard pack track with some pebble sections. In the last few seasons however sand has been added to its surface. As the race weekend progresses ruts will get deeper and slippery parts will surface there where the sand got roosted away.
LS Motors’ MX1 rider Clément Desalle is currently fifth in the World championship standings but he managed to collect a lot of points in Latvia. This has brought him at 19 points behind second placed Max Nagl. By taking his very first victory in a GP heat Desalle put the icing on the cake after an impressive first heat. Desalle definitely has the pace these last few weeks and clinched his fourth GP podium of the year in Kegums. Desalle now has the second most podiums this year behind hid name. An honor he has to share with Ken De Dycker and David Philippaerts. The 20-year old Belgian has proven that he is capable to ride any kind of track in almost every kind of circumstances. Last season Desalle had his best result of the season in Uddevalla when he finished six overall.
Uddevalla will be the last event out of a grueling series of six GP’s and one Belgian Championship race but Dennis
Verbruggen doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. On the contrary because Verbruggen is getting faster week after week. Verbruggen who missed one GP (Turkey) is currently 19th in World MX2 standings and wants to progress gradually towards the top 15 in the last third of the season. After his excellent seventh place in Uddevalla the former junior MX2 World Champion is eager to repeat that in Uddevalla.
Elien Dewinter, the fastest female rider from Belgium hasn’t had an easy season so far. After suffering from a massive crash at te begin of the season she is now regaining confidence. In Sweden she’ll try to post her best performance of the season. De Winter knows the track from her 2007 World Cup campaign. The Flemish physio therapy student ended eighth on that occasion.
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