Moto win and podium for Clement Desalle in Italy

By Team TMX on 2nd Nov 20

Although Tony Cairoli was the one to deliver an overall victory for his Italian fans, stuck watching from their homes. It was Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing's Clement Desalle who stole the show sweeping to a moto win and his first GP podium of 2020 in the 16th round of the FIM Motocross World Championship at Pietramurata, Italy.

The 31-year old proved he is still as enthusiastic and gritty as ever with two outstanding rides at the spectacular track in the Trentino region of northern Italy just one week before he will call an end to his amazing career.

The inside gate into the rapid uphill first turn at the hillside track in the shadow of the Dolomites is rarely favoured by leading riders as the tight inside line demands perfect throttle control but the stylish Desalle is a master of this technical aspect and was able to avoid the regular chaos in the centre and outside of the turn to emerge seventh in race one. Maintaining his lap times to the chequered flag in the high-speed leaderboard train he executed an immaculate outside pass for sixth six laps from the end of the race.

Two hours later came the highlight of his season, which had been interrupted during the summer by injury, as he emerged third from the first two corners and immediately put down the hammer to take the lead halfway round the opening lap!

Tackling every obstacle with the immaculate style and energy which has been a trademark of his 15-year MXGP career the Belgian, his lap times fluctuating only by fractions of a second throughout the 35-minute race and his fastest lap half-a-second faster than any other, controlled the race from the front to record his first GP moto win since race one, Russia in 2018 and take his first GP podium of the year with third overall. The last time the MX Panda took a trip to the podium was last year when he finished second overall in the Netherlands. He has now advanced to seventh in the championship standings.

"Its a really nice moment," said Desalle. "I have continued to believe in myself and back at the truck after the first moto I even said to my team that I felt I could be fourth or fifth; mathematically even perhaps the podium was possible.

"That second moto will stay in my memory for a long time. Its a feeling I didnt have for a long time it was so nice and I appreciate it. I took it lap-by-lap. In the beginning I was making some mistakes in one sector I didnt have a good line there at first but I found a better one. After that I was really happy with my riding I found a good rhythm and stayed focused.

"Toni came back at me some laps but I went again and with a few laps to go I realised that perhaps I could do it to the end. I gave what I had and I did it! Im super happy such a nice feeling. I will take the next two GPs race-by-race but for sure I know what I can do and I would like another podium and another race win."

KRT team-mate Romain Febvre faced a difficult day after crashing already on the entry to the first turn in the opening moto when he touched with another rider; run over by the following pack and losing 20 seconds to the pack the Frenchman displayed great determination to pull himself back to 15th, with the top-10 in his sights, within eight minutes, only to slide off as he accelerated on the polished exit from a tight turn when he momentarily lost clear vision in the roost of the rider ahead of him.

Rejoining the race 21st he once more charged through the field to 16th but fell again and had to mount his third recovery of the race to finish 14th. Ninth on the opening lap of a hectic race two he made two decisive passes in the first three laps but then faced a long chase before taking over his eventual sixth place five laps from the chequered flag. Ninth overall in the GP he has advanced to fourth in the world championship standings as the series heads to the two final rounds of the series at the same venue on Wednesday and Sunday next weekend.

Romain Febvre: "It was not a good GP for me; the worst of the season in fact. At the first start I collided with another rider and someone hit my back; its still really painful after the event. I crashed two other times during the race; not a good one. At the start of the second race the rider next to me anticipated the start and that disturbed my concentration; I missed a good start but fortunately I rode a very good first lap to finish the race sixth. Now the goal is to recover from the crashes; Im bruised and Ive only got two days to recover."

Moto win and podium for Clement Desalle in Italy

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