Clement Desalle and Jeffrey Herlings came back onto the top of the MX1 and MX2 podium respectively as both collected their second Grand Prix win of the season.
Desalle won from MX1 Championship leader and second heat winner Tony Cairoli with Steve Ramon completing the overall podium. Both Cairoli and Ramon made their comeback to the rostrum.
Securing the second career GP win courtesy of his victory in heat two, Herlings took first overall ahead of Ken Roczen and Steven Frossard, all starring a three way battle for first in a dramatic final heat.
MX1 CLASS
Narrowly missing out on the Latvia Grand Prix victory last year due to a technical problem, Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1’s Clement Desalle completed his mission this weekend and took also his second victory of 2010. The Belgian charged hard in the opening moto to take a provisional second within the first half of the race, then moved on to pass a fast Bobryshev and snatch the lead. In the final moto instead he settled to second behind Cairoli with the result being enough to earn the overall win.
A disappointed Tony Cairoli took second on the podium behind Desalle. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX1 rider struggled to pass David Philippaerts in the opening moto and was impossible to catch the top three riders by the time he had moved up to fourth. The Italian took his revenge by winning the second heat in dominant style and work his way up to the overall podium.
Other Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1 rider Steve Ramon completed the podium, with the Suzuki duo sandwiching the Championship leader on the podium. Ramon rode two steady moto’s to take two third places. The podium brought Ramon up to fourth in the Championship while team mate Desalle is second.
CAS Honda’s Bobryshev narrowly missed his maiden podium finish. The Russian was about to win moto one when Desalle charged hard in the final laps and moved past. Bobryshev took second eventually but could not repeat himself in moto two, finishing a distant fourth. Ending level in points with Ramon, Bobryshev took fourth overall.
Kawasaki Racing’s Xavier Boog completed the top five ahead of David Philippaerts and Max Nagl, who got the holeshot in the final heat.
German GP winner Ken De Dycker struggled and ended twelfth while Steinbergs was the best placed home rider with a 24th overall position.
Clement Desalle: "I was close to winning here last year so I am glad I could do it this time. To take the GP is really good but I wanted to win that second moto as well but Antonio was too fast. I concentrated on my lines and did not want to make any mistake. The first moto win was good and I saw Bobryshev getting tired towards the end so I pushed hard and knew that I was taking seconds on him each lap. No crashes, my shoulder feels very strong and a lot of points; it was a good weekend."
Tony Cairoli: “I had problems in the first moto because I lost a lot of time trying to get past Philippaerts and I only managed fourth. So I wanted to win the second moto and to show my speed and be aggressive right from the beginning. That worked and I won and was second overall.”
Steve Ramon: "It gives me a great feeling to be on the podium because I have been struggling with some injuries since Portugal and have been hardly riding during the week since then. The first moto was OK. The start was really good and Clement and Bobryshev were too fast to follow. My start was not great in the second race but I passed many riders and was feeling quicker and more comfortable. I came closer to Clement but then started to get a bit of pain in my hand and had to back off because I didn't want to take any risks."
MX1 Moto1: 1. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 38:54.633; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:12.451; 3. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:24.131; 4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:33.514; 5. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:39.071; 6. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:44.621; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:46.826; 8. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), +0:48.973; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), +0:50.444; 10. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), +0:54.965;
MX1 Moto 2: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 39:44.581; ; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), +0:13.410; 3. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), +0:25.118; 4. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:32.040; 5. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:37.404; 6. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:41.379; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:42.842; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), +0:44.219; 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:50.391; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), +1:09.611;
MX1 Championship 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 384 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Suzuki), 323 p.; 3. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), 298 p.; 4. Steve Ramon (BEL, Suzuki), 277 p.; 5. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 276 p.; 6. Ken de Dycker (BEL, Yamaha), 269 p.; 7. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 248 p.; 8. Tanel Leok (EST, Honda), 207 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 189 p.; 10. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), 189 p.;
MX2 CLASS
With only six points separating the top four riders of the Grand Prix of Latvia, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2’s Jeffrey Herlings came out on top of the pack courtesy of his final moto victory and of team mate Musquin’s crash at the start of the final heat.
Herlings started strong in the first moto to snatch the lead from holeshotter Marvin Musquin but dropped down to an eventual third. Moto two was different as Herlings found himself at the leap of the first laps but Steven Frossard came past to take the lead. Before the race finished Herlings was back on top and won a three way battle for first with Frossard and Roczen to take the overall win.
Teka Suzuki Europe World MX2’s Ken Roczen made it to second on the podium but was disappointed not to have started his attacks a bit before. In moto one the German came dramatically close to eventual winner Musquin only in the final laps and narrowly missed out on his second heat win of the season after Germany’s second moto. In the final heat instead Roczen was overtaken by Frossard and ended third.
Kawasaki CLS’ Frossard was an eventual third on the podium. With Musquin being another candidate for third overall, Steven Frossard had to work his way up to second in the final moto by passing Roczen and even troubling Herlings for the win otherwise he would have not been on the rostrum. In the first heat instead he was a steady fourth.
After a winning streak of five GP’s, Musquin of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MX2’s missed the podium and dropped down to fourth overall in Latvia. The Championship leader took victory in moto one but a fall in the first corner of the second moto put him out of the potential winners’ list. Musquin recovered from dead last to an eventual seventh to give the crowd a demonstration of his impressive talent.
Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross’ Gautier Paulin completed the top five ahead of Roelants while team mates Kullas and Charlier were respectively seventh and eighth.
After taking three consecutive podiums, Zach Osborne finished 13th overall and even crashed at the first corner of moto one.
Jeffrey Herlings: I’m really satisfied with my weekend. I’ve had my ups and downs this season. I started really good in the first five rounds then I had three bad rounds so it felt awesome to be back on top again. This was my second GP win. In the first heat I was in the lead after two corners and then I got passed by Marvin and Ken (Roczen) and I finished third. Then I took the holeshot in the second and I had a long fight with Steven (Frossard) but I fought hard and I was able to win the moto and the GP.”
Ken Roczen: "I don't think the track was as good as last year's because it was so difficult. In the first moto I came back strong on Marvin's rear wheel and tried as hard as I could to win. I made a mistake by not looking at the pit-board and wasn't really aware of how much time I had left. I was quite pleased with second however and was confident going into the second moto. We had a really good race together. There were some parts of the track where I did not have the right lines and I made a mistake before the waves so Steven came past me. I didn't win but I am keeping my head up for next weekend."
MX2 Moto 1: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 40:02.269; ; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:00.701; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:10.349; 4. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:32.455; 5. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:53.511; 6. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), +1:08.966; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +1:21.629; 8. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +1:42.337; 9. Valentin Teillet (FRA, KTM), +1:43.915; 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:52.417;
MX2 Moto2: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 39:22.107; ; 2. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:02.998; 3. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:05.224; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:39.306; 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), +0:48.873; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:50.140; 7. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), +0:53.176; 8. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), +1:06.550; 9. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:11.730; 10. Jake Nicholls (GBR, KTM), +1:21.620;
MX2 Championship: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 404 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 330 p.; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 308 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 286 p.; 5. Zach Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 249 p.; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 246 p.; 7. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Suzuki), 236 p.; 8. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 214 p.; 9. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 209 p.; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 182 p.;