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."
