A breathtaking Portuguese Grand Prix ended with an unexpected victory for Clement Desalle, securing the MX1 Grand Prix with two laps to go in moto two while Marvin Musquin instead came back to victory by taking both motos.
Tony Cairoli took second in the GP to maintain the MX1 red plate as team mate Max Nagl rounded off the podium in third. Xavier Boog and David Philippaerts rounded off the top five.
Jeffrey Herlings took second overall in the MX2 class as previous Championship leader Ken Roczen took third but handed the red plate back to Musquin.
Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Desalle made up for the bitter DNF of Valkenswaard where he dislocated his right shoulder, with his first grand prix victory of 2010 coming in Portugal. The Belgian went on to take two second places and the overall.
In race one Desalle cruised comfortably in second for the whole moto but in heat two he recovered from a crash to take another second place as well as the overall win.
Team Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1 completed the podium with Cairoli and Max Nagl.
Championship leader Cairoli recovered from a bad start in heat one to take fifth. In heat two instead he dominated form the start to the flag but was snatched the overall win by Desalle – after the Belgian’s crash Cairoli was the virtual GP winner.
Nagl instead won heat one in dominant style but had to recover from a bad start in heat two and took a final fifth place – basically the same as Cairoli in heat one.
Kawasaki Racing’s Xavier Boog narrowly missed the podium to take fourth overall at the end of a solid grand prix. Two great starts and hard fights made it the best GP of the season for the French MX1 debutant.
Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross’ David Philippaerts was fifth overall. He took third in heat one despite a crash but a strong pain to his hand slowed him down in the final moto where he was a final eighth.
Honda fellow riders Tanel Leok and Evgeny Bobryshev ended sixth and seventh from Sebastien Pourcel, Steve Ramon and Ken De Dycker.
In the MX2 class, this Portuguese Grand Prix marked the comeback to victory of Musquin, who also snatched the red plate from rival Roczen. The French of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2 did it in dominant style as he went on to take both heats. Musquin dominated moto two but had a hard time to win heat one as he had to get rid of team mate Herlings, leading until three laps to go.
Herlings was second on the podium. The Dutch teenager dropped down to third in heat one due to a crash but a second place in moto two guaranteed the overall podium.
After finishing second in moto one, Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s Roczen was again in the runner up position in the second heat but a tangle with a lapped rider saw him crash and drop down to an eventual sixth.
In both heats Roczen tried to keep up with Musquin but never managed to find an open door and move past. He finished third on the podium.
Bike-it Cosworth Yamaha UK’s Zach Osborne was a solid fourth overall as he ended this GP with third in heat two. The result definitely made up for last year’s crash and wrist injury.
Kawasaki CLS’ Steven Frossard instead had a weekend to forget despite he ended fifth overall. After a DNF in qualifying, the French also crashed at the start of heat one and was forced to recover in both heats.
After a solid fourth in moto one, Shaun Simpson crashed and ended 21st in heat two.