LS Motors-Honda waves goodbye to Desalle

Photo: CDS

Belgian star Clément Desalle, currently fifth in the MX1 World Championship, and his team LS Motors-Honda have mutually agreed to end their relationship at the end of this season. In spite of a two-year contract that saw Desalle racing for LS Motors-Honda until the end of 2010 the rider will be released before.

The partnership between the leading privateer outfit and the ‘MX Panda’ has proven massively successful so far. From an 11th overall placing in 2008 Clément went on to guide his CRF450R to one heat win, four podiums and two pole positions in GP racing so far. The LS Motors-Honda rider is still fighting for the title in his domestic series as well and he’s also a favourite to be picked for the Belgian MX of Nations team.

Clément Desalle, rider LS Motors-Honda: ”I have to thank Steven and the LS Motors-Honda team for their trust and support. They have worked hard to provide me with the best possible equipment and create good conditions. On a personal level there is always been a good understanding between us and this has resulted in great results on the track. You will hear more about my future team and program in the next few days.”

Steven Lettani, team manager LS Motors-Honda: ”Of course we are sorry to see Desalle go, but unfortunately we

couldn’t offer him the long-term career options that he is looking for. Nor could Honda. I’m convinced that Desalle from his side will go on to do amazing things. As we will from our side for the years to come. But first let’s continue to kick ass together!”

Marnicq Bervoets, sports manager LS Motors-Honda: ”First of all I want to thank Clément and his family for their

professionalism and enthusiasm. They were a joy to be working with. It’s clear that the combination between Clément, the bike and the team gelled really well. Probably because we have so much in common: as a team LS Motor-Honda is young and hungry as well. We maintain a no-nonsense professionalism and give everything we got. That’s a part of the ’MX Panda’ style that will stay with us, so next year Clément will be gone but not forgotten!”

Bad luck for Clément at home GP

Photo: Ray Archer

Starting from pole position, whilst sporting a new outfit in his national colours, Clément Desalle took the holeshot. He held the lead for a couple of laps, then he battled with Ken De Dycker who proved too fast for Clément. However the LS Motors-Honda rider could hold off Steve Ramon to take second. The second heat would however turn into a bit of a nightmare for the fledgling young Belgian. Crashing in the first bend Desalle damaged his exhaust pipe. In true “Panda style” he made his way back from 27 th to 7th in just two laps. Soon he would find himself fifth, a place he would lose on the finish line to Manuel Priem. However, Desalle would loose a lot more places when he got docked a time penalty of one minute because of his damaged exhaust. That meant Desalle would be classified ninth and fifth overall. The time-penalty meant also he lost 4 points and his fourth place in the provisional World championship standings. Desalle now trails 4 points behind Ken De Dycker.

Clément Desalle ”I was happy with my pole position, still I knew Sunday was going to be something else. My new engine was working really well this weekend and it was great to get the holeshot in the first race. De Dycker was just a bit faster, but in the first place my goal was to be on the podium in my home GP. Unfortunately I went down in the first corner. I was able to come back quickly, although my exhaust was getting more and more damaged and I was loosing power. It’s a shame, but things like this happen. On the positive side, I was not feeling tired after my race in the US and my speed was good.”

Heat 1: 1 De Dycker (B-Suzuki), 2 Clément Desalle (B-LS Motors-Honda), 3 Ramon (BEL-Suzuki); 4 Coppins (NZ-Yamaha), 5 Cairoli (ITA-Yamaha), 5

Philippaerts (I-Yamaha), 6 Nagl (D-KTM), 7 Philipaerts (ITA-Yamaha), 8 T. Leok (EST-Yamaha), 9 Strijbos (BEL-Honda), 10 Priem (BEL-Aprilia)) / Heat 2: 1 Nagl, 2

Cairoli (ITA-Yamaha), 2 Nagl, 3, De Dycker, 4 Ramon, 5 Priem, 6 Leok T., 7 Coppins, 8 Swanepoel, 9 Clément Desalle (B-LS Motors-Honda), 10 Philipaerts

GP of Limburg classification: 1 De Dycker 47, 2 Nagl 40, 3 Cairoli 38 4 Ramon 38, 5 Clément Desalle (LS Motors-Honda) 34, 6 Coppins 32, 7 T. Leok

28, 8 Priem 27, 9 Philippaerts 25, 10 Terreblanche 14

MX1 World Championship standings; 1 Cairoli 466 2 Nagl 415, 3 Philippaerts 388, 4 De Dycker 383, 5 Clément Desalle (LS Motors-Honda) 379, 6 Coppins 375, 7 T. Leok 327, 8 Barragan 215, 9 Swanepoel 188, 10 A. Leok 167

American video starring "MX Panda"

Photo: CDS

Clément 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

MX Panda on the podium in Washougal!

Photo: Ray Archer

LS 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

Clément off to the US

Photo: CDS

At 4 AM on Monday morning LS Motors-Honda team rider Clément Desalle has left his native Belgium for the US. Twenty-year old Desalle has been the MX1 sensation in Europe this season. He's currently fourth in the MX1 world championship and second in the Belgian Nationals. Desalle will compete in the eighth round of the 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. With the next GP on the 1st and 2nd of August in Lommel, 'MX Panda' was keen to get his first taste of racing in America and Washougal is the perfect occasion!

MX Panda dominates Nismes!

Photo: CDS

Top 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.”

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

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.”

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...”

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.”

MX Panda podiums again!

Photo: CDS

LS Motors-Honda rider Clément Desalle took third in today’s GP of Great-Britain, the seventh race in the FIM MX1 world Championship. More than 35.000 people witnessed how Desalle was one of the pace setters at the technical and demanding track filled with jumps. Unfortunately the 20-year old Belgian come up one point shy off Germany’s Max Nagl, while world champ Philippaerts won the GP. However ‘Panda’ is gaining momentum in world standings closing in on both fifth placed De Dycker and fourth placed Josh Coppins, rescpectively four and five points away.

Desalle clearly felt comfortable in the UK, in spite of the elevated temperatures, many ruts and bumps the Mallory Park venue had in store. Clément’s Saturday performance in qualifying was just a sign of things to come, because he bounced back twice from crashes but managed to come home sixth. Desalle saw his first heat efforts rewarded with second place, climbing up from sixth and finishing 3.5 seconds behind Philippaerts. Again Desalle climbed up from sixth to third in the second moto but a crash set him back to where he started. However Desalle managed an impressive comeback guiding his CRF 450R ahead of Coppins, Pichon and Mackenzie, only second placed Philippaerts remained out of range.

Clément Desalle: "Finishing second only one point behind Nagl was quite disappointing! Especially because my speed was so good. It’s a shame about the mistake I made in the second moto because I’m sure there was more to come. On the other hand, I’m happy with my championship standings and closing in on De Dycker, Coppins and Barragan."

Preview GP of Benelux-Valkenswaard

Photo: CDS

LS Motors Honda rider Clément Desalle will enter the fourth round of the World championship in Valkenswaard keen on improving his current ninth place in provisional MX1 standings. Like most Belgian riders the nineteen year old enjoys racing in heavy conditions. Desalle had an excellent build-up to Valkenswaard winning the International in Mons on Sunday ahead of Jonathan Barragan and Kevin Strijbos. Clément swept the first heat and was runner-up in the second.

Desalle’s best result on the demanding Eurocircuit, south of Eindhoven, was 11th in last year’s GP. But he should be more than capable to top that result aboard his CRF450R, given his current form and his outstanding fourth place finish in the punishing second race in Lierop at the end of last season.