Rockstar Energy Suzuki MX1's Clement Desalle headed a double podium appearance by the factory team on Sunday by winning the MX1 class of the Hawkstone Park International as team mate Steve Ramon occupied third place.
With the FIM Motocross World Championship set to start in three weeks, the Belgian crew used the rough sand of English Hawkstone Park circuit for extra training and testing, particularly with a view towards the second Grand Prix of the season in similar terrain at Valkenswaard.
As seen in several pre-season events already, Desalle was in good form and negotiated the thinning Hawkstone surface to win both motos ahead of Tanel Leok with Ramon following behind on both occasions in third position. The Belgian then took fourth in the Superfinal after recovering from an early slip.
"The track was fun but also hard physically," said Desalle. "I was happy for the good weather! The racing was close and I found a good line on the last lap of the first moto to pass Leok. I saw he was having a battle with Steve in the second race and I think the public enjoyed that one. For the Superfinal I finished fourth. It was strange that the MX2 bikes had a head start; it meant the MX1 guys had a lot of traffic. I also crashed on the second corner so I had a lot of work to do to get near the front. It was a good day overall and for our last race before Bulgaria."
At the same meeting Suzuki Europe MX2 were in action and despite a hefty crash in qualification Valentin Teillet rode two solid motos to finish fifth overall on the RM-Z250.
"I was really enjoying myself out there and I attacked one section just a little bit too hard and had to jump off the bike," said the Frenchman. "I landed heavily on my feet and so was pretty sore for the rest of the day but I was keen to race. I rode within myself for the motos and got involved in some good battles."
The German crew will complete some more testing in Belgium in the coming weeks but its race programme now relaxes until the opening Grand Prix of the year at Sevlievo in Bulgaria on April 10th.
[Press Release and Photo Courtesy of Suzuki]
