Suzuki dominated the qualifying races of the Latvian Grand Prix with Clement Desalle taking pole in the MX1 class and Ken Roczen topping the MX2 qualifying race.
Both fought hard for the pole as runners up Antonio Cairoli (MX1) and Steven Frossard (MX2) kept close to make it a harder qualifying for the Suzuki pair.
Cairoli became very dangerous in the final laps of the MX1 qualifying when he moved past David Philippaerts and Evgeny Bobryshev to chase Desalle from second. The championship leader was an eventual second ahead of Philippaerts and Bobryshev.
Roczen instead moved past early leader Steven Frossard towards the end of the race with the French settling for the runner up spot. Jeffrey Herlings was third ahead of Jeremy Van Horebeek. Musquin crashed and recovered to sixth.
Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Desalle went out with the victory in Saturday’s qualifying race and it is actually his second Lovemytime MX1 Pole Position Award in a row.
Although the Belgian got the holeshot, CAS Honda’s Bobryshev did not let him ride with the lead easily showing his confidence in a track which he described as being as his home one after having ridden here many times while he lived in his birth town in Russia.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1’s Cairoli was second after a tough battle with his compatriot David Philippaerts, who managed to close repeatedly the door to the Sicilian but he had finally to accept his deserved third position.
Bobryshev was really pleased with his fourth position and is looking forward to Sunday in order to check with himself how far he can get riding with top riders throughout the two heats.
Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci’s Ken De Dycker, who took his first season’s win in Germany last weekend, was fifth ahead of Steve Ramon, Max Nagl and Xavier Boog.
After taking the holeshot, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2’s Musquin crashed and handed the lead to French countryman Frossard.
The fall added drama to the qualifying as the championship leader made no more mistakes and put together an impressive recovery from the bottom of the top 20 until an eventual sixth place.
As the lead passed onto Kawasaki CLS’ Frossard, Roczen moved past Herlings to chase Frossard for the victory.
The German of Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2 followed in second until five laps to go, when he decided to make his move on the French and win what had become a two way battle for first.
Frossard settled for an eventual second after trying to keep up with Roczen, who has now become the MX2 rider with most Lovemytime MX2 Pole Position Awards to his credit courtesy of this third win of 2010.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2’s Herlings rode a steady race in third place to finish in front of Van Horebeek of Kawasaki CLS.
Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross’ Gautier Paulin completed the top five ahead of a hard charging Musquin.
Karro managed to be the best placed Latvian by completing a strong recovery after a bad start. The youngster was an eventual 14th and aims at a top ten finish for his home grand prix.