By taking his third consecutive Lovemytime MX1 Pole Position Award today in Sweden, Clement Desalle has become the one with the most pole positions to his credit of the 2010 season.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1’s Max Nagl took the holeshot and started pulling away from the rest of the field with the intention to win in dominant style. But the German, who has a broken collarbone since the French GP, slipped at the eighth lap and dropped down to fourth which he kept until the chequered flag.
Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Desalle was handed the lead by Nagl and rode strong to take his third consecutive pole. The runner up in the championship is all set on winning the Swedish Grand Prix, with the result being his only chance to make up points on series leader Antonio Cairoli.
CAS Honda’s Evgeny Bobryshev was second in the MX1 qualifying, with the result giving the Russian hope for tomorrow’s races. Bobryshev came close to taking his maiden podium in Latvia and will try his luck again this weekend to enter the summer break with a podium under his belt.
Other Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1 rider Steve Ramon completed the top three ahead of an unlucky Nagl, while championship leader Cairoli rounded off the top five due to a bad start.
Italy fellow rider Davide Guarneri was sixth ahead of Rui Gonçalves and David Philippaerts. France rounded off the top ten with Xavier Boog and Nicolas Aubin. Boog recovered after stalling the engine at the opening lap which he had started in second place.
A dramatic qualifying race ended with Belgian Jeremy Van Horebeek taking his first Lovemytime MX2 Pole Position Award of the year after he chased early leader Christophe Charlier.
The Kawasaki CLS rider, who suffered from a heavy crash last weekend in Latvia, put pressure on the French until he made a mistake on the downhill after the finish line with five laps to go. Charlier went wide, Van Horebeek and Jeffrey Herlings moved past, and eventually the Belgian stopped Herlings’ attacks to cross the finish line in first.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2’s Herlings tried his best to close in on Van Horebeek and crossed the finish line only four tenths of a second behind. The Dutch teenager aims at his second consecutive win after Latvia last weekend.
A disappointed Charlier took an eventful third place finish after he had led for most of the race. The 2009 EMX2 European Champion made a mistake that cost him his maiden pole position but will be eager to fight for a podium finish in tomorrow’s two heats.
Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s Arnaud Tonus took fourth ahead of series leader Marvin Musquin. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2 rider recovered after a tangle with Herlings at the start.
Another tangle at the start compromised the qualifying of top riders Ken Roczen and Steven Frossard, both going down after turn one. The German was an eventual 13th while Frossard followed in 14th.
A bad start and a crash left Gautier Paulin in 18th place while Yamaha fellow rider Zach Osborne crashed and pulled out of the heat.