The popular circuit of Matterley Basin in southern England will be the site of the 16th round of 17 in the FIM Motocross World Championship this weekend where Clement Desalle will be aiming for his third Grand Prix victory in a row on the factory RM-Z450; and Kevin Strijbos will be gunning for the team's 16th podium finish between both Belgians from the MX1 campaign.
Matterley Basin hosts the British stop on the calendar for the third year on the trot and will entertain the second edition of the MXGP Festival that will see a full compliment of racing classes - from 85cc to Amateurs and Veterans - in action across four days. The undulating layout is normally one of the best of the season for the riders thanks to the fast, ample, flowing course and technical terrain.
Desalle comes into the event with four moto wins from the last eight and overall triumphs in the Czech Republic and Belgium. While '#25' will be unlikely to stop Antonio Cairoli being crowed as World Champion this weekend (the Italian has a 90 point lead in the standings with just 100 left in the two remaining Grands Prix) he can potentially secure his position as runner-up for 2013 by finishing ahead of countryman Ken De Dycker who he fronts by 58 points. Desalle's good form will help enormously at the English site as he rode to just seventh place overall last summer and missed the 2011 British GP due to injury.
Strijbos has also failed to shine at Matterley in recent editions but will remember his first outing at the venue inauguration in 2006 when he classified second behind Stefan Everts. "I feel really good about going to Matterley and I always love to race in England and especially at that circuit," he said. "It is a wide track and with a lot of places to pass. It is normally a lot of fun and I'll be doing the usual programme to make sure I'm in the best shape for it."
The 28 year old trails Frenchman Gautier Paulin by 16 points in the MX1 table and has his eyes firmly set on fourth position. "Two races left and my goal is to try and close the gap to Gautier," he added. "He had a DNF in Belgium and that means it is still possible; I'd really like to get into that final top four for the championship."
MX1 World Championship Classification (after 15 of 17 rounds): 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 690 points; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 600 p.; 3. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 542 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 485 p.; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), 469 p.; 6. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 431 p.; 7. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), 383 p.; 8. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Honda), 314 p.; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 276 p.; 10. David Philippaerts (ITA, Honda), 268 p.
