Photo: CDS Local hero Clément Desalle again beat the established MX1 stars at the Belgian International in Mons - repeating his Grobbendonk shock win at the start of the season. The spectacular LS Motors-Honda rider collected a win in the first race ahead of Honda’s factory pairing Strijbos and De Reuver. Clement ‘Panda’ Desalle crashed in the second heat while leading the race, but quickly managed to pass Manuel Priem and De Reuver to capture third. Desalle gave his home crowd something to cheer about when he caught up with Strijbos. The 19-year old passed Strijbos and pushed on for the lead, but his attempts stranded at Barragan’s rear wheel.
In the overall standings Desalle beat Jonathan Barragan and Kevin Strijbos. Clément said: "I’m really happy with my victory today. I had strong starts in both races and that’s absolutely vital here. After two corners I grabbed the lead in the opening race and I never looked back. Of course I knew I had Kevin Strijbos behind me, but I never felt any pressure and it was easy to control the race. I was a couple of laps behind Barragan in the second, and right after I had passed him I went down! I lost valuable time, but I was quickly climbing up from fifth to the lead again. Unfortunately time ran out and Jonathan (Barragan) resisted till the end."
