A damp and fast Matterley Basin circuit was the site for the first day of action at the British Grand Prix/ MXGP Festival and Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 emerged from the practice and qualification programme with Clement Desalle taking third place and Kevin Strijbos fourth on their works RM-Z450s.
The 16th round of 17 in the FIM Motocross World Championship started under dark and ominous skies but the rain never arrived at the vast track adjacent to the historic town of Winchester.
Desalle, winner of the last two rounds of the series, took his time to study the long leaps and terrain of the English course that mixed rutty turns with soft and slippery dirt. In the 20 minutes and two laps of the qualification heat race, the Belgian slotted into fourth position in the opening circulations and then pushed to take third behind Antonio Cairoli and Jeremy Van Horebeek.
Strijbos, running a new configuration with his front forks, set a satisfactory pace throughout the sprint and moved into fourth with a healthy distance over countryman Ken De Dycker.
Sunny skies are predicted for late morning of race day today as the MXGP Festival continues with its hectic schedule.
Clement Desalle:
"Everything OK today. I did not put myself under too much pressure and just took it easy. I had a good look at the track and the jumps today. It was not so simple to judge them because they are fast and long. I chose the inside gate for the heat and it was not a bad decision as I was in the top five straight away. I got up to fourth, then third and then worked on closing the gap to Van Horebeek and Cairoli, and in some places I was gaining time and in others I was losing. It was OK for tomorrow. I was expecting the track to be a bit better. The section after the finish-line jump was a bit risky and it was OK to do it for 20 minutes, but when fatigue starts to arrive, then a small mistake can turn into a big one. The main thing will be to make a good result tomorrow and go back home on two feet!"
Kevin Strijbos:
"OK, not so bad. We changed the front fork before the weekend with some harder springs and it worked out well. In the Heat race I got a good jump out of the gate but Pourcel was ahead of me and a bit faster. For some reason he got on the brakes early and it held me up. Anyway I was sixth and got stuck behind Aubin for a couple of laps. I was confident, didn't have any arm-pump; and was happy with my speed."
MX1 Qualification Heat result: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 25:17.340; 2. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:03.818; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), +0:07.902; 4. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1), +0:12.175; 5. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:27.942; 6. Sebastien Pourcel (FRA, KTM), +0:29.503; 7. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:37.504; 8. David Philippaerts (ITA, Honda), +0:42.146; 9. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Honda), +0:46.246; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:48.651.
