News 13 Jun 2011

Desalle does MX1 double in Portugal, Herlings takes over MX2 title lead

Jeffrey Herlings took over the MX2 title lead with a pair of seconds in Portugal on Sunday.

Jeffrey Herlings took over the MX2 title lead with a pair of seconds in Portugal on Sunday.

Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Clement Desalle has continued his dominant run in the MX1 Motocross World Championship at Agueda in Portugal, retaining the series leader’s red plate with victories in both motos.

Desalle obtained his third overall victory of the season, the Belgian rider struggled a little bit with the track, but he managed to finish on the top of the rostrum. Desalle is still leading the MX1 Championship with 12 points difference over Antonio Cairoli.

Red Bull Teka KTM Factory Racing MX1’s Cairoli was second overall this weekend, but he was close to obtaining another GP victory. Cairoli got the fastest lap in the second heat and challanged Desalle in both the first and second motos.

Honda World Motocross’ Evgeny Bobryshev achieved his second podium of the season thanks to his two fourth positions in Portugal.

His teammate Rui Gonçalves finished seventh in the first heat, but he succeeded in being third in the second one and he ended with a solid overall fourth position in his home GP.

Monster Energy Yamaha’s Steven Frossard scored a solid third in moto one, but things did not start well for the French rider in the second one, rebounding from 18th to claim seventh for the moto. He claimed fifth for the round.

Kiwi Ben Townley opted to sit out the round, hoping to regain full fitness and focus before it’s expected he’ll return for CLS Kawasaki in the coming rounds.

In the MX2 class, Red Bull Teka KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings obtained his third overall win in the MX2 class, while Gautier Paulin was second and Zach Osborne third.

Herlings didn’t win either of the motos in Portugal, taking 2-2 results, however that was good enough for the overall round win.

Monster Energy Yamaha’s Paulin succeeded in being on the second step of the podium with 5-3 finishes and he is still fifth in the championship.

The third overall position was for Bike-it Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha’s Osborne, who also used consistency with 3-5 results during the motos.

Former title leader Ken Roczen (Red Bull Teka KTM) won the first heat of the MX2 class, but he crashed hard at the beginning of the second race, injuring his back and now uncertain for next week’s Spanish GP.

Roczen finished eighth overall for the round, now sitting six points out of the series lead behind teammate Herlings.

Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle won the second race with great authority but he suffered a DNF in the first moto after his back wheel was caught in a track side fence. Searle ended up seventh overall.

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