Over the last two weeks, the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship has seen two Belgians from the FIM MX1 Motocross World Championship series jump into the 450 class. Rockstar/Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos and Clement Desalle used the break in the MXGP schedule to try their skills in AMA Motocross, and both have found themselves battling inside the top-ten with Clement Desalle battling inside the top-five in two of his four motos. Overall, Strijbos has gone 10-8-14-7 and sits 12th overall in the 450 Championship points, while Desalle has gone 5-7-5-9 and finds himself 8th overall in the Championship at the end of his American vacation.
Both riders are podium threats in the MX1 World Championships and are currently inside the top-five in the 2013 MX1 World Championhip points standings, so they are probably not overly exited with their results in the U.S., but both should head home proud of what they have accomplished. With the competition, tracks and race day programs being completely different in the U.S., it’s no easy task to jump in and run with our top guys, but both the Belgians showed they are world class talents while here.
After their final 2013 appearance at the 2013 Tennessee National Chase Yocom caught up with Clement Desalle to talk to him about his race and his time in the States. You can hear what Clement had to say in the interview below.
Clement, today was your second race in the U.S. for 2013. How did the day go for you?
It was not too bad. We had a little bit more time to train. It was really warm today again, humidity was really high. The last two weeks, we had a long trip—a lot of flights, a lot of different hotels—but it was nice to train in California. Today, I was doing good in the morning. I did second fastest lap-time for qualification, so that wasn’t too bad. First moto start, I was not too bad, I was like six…eight, and then came back to five. I almost passed [James] Stewart on the last lap, but I finished five.
Second moto, I had a good start, and the first corner I crashed. I think somebody hit me on the wheel of my bike. I start last and managed to come back to 9th.
Last weekend, we were at Thunder Valley. How was it dealing with the elevation? Do you have anything in the MXGP series that compares to that?
Not really, that’s really high. We really feel it in the bike and in the body. So no, we don’t have something so high like this to compare to that place.
Muddy Creek is a brand new circuit on the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, so what did you think of it?
The track in the afternoon was better. The track is so narrow. Actually, not so easy to pass so much, but the track was nice—uphills, downhills and nice jumps.
Yeah, the track seemed to rut up well, and line choice seemed more important here than most tracks. Would you agree with that?
Yeah, sure it was very important because it could make you much faster in some corners, so lines were very important.
You’ve now raced four races in America and done well. Do you think there’s a chance we’ll ever see you here full time in the future?
I’m open to it. Yeah, sure. I’m open to speak about it. I hope I will get some offer for something, then I can choose.
Thanks for talking with us Clement. Is their anyone you would like to thank for bringing you to the States?
Yeah, for sure. I would like to give a big thanks to all the team here. They really helped us a lot to make the trip. Yeah, everybody in the Rockstar team. It was nice. We had fun with the guys. Also, thanks to my team, so I could do this experience.
