Desalle interview

Clement Desalle picked up his first Grand Prix victory in two years last weekend at the Assen circuit. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider has not had the season he would have liked. Down in 8^th place in the MXGP series points, you can be sure with the little bit of extra confidence he will again be a threat in Charlotte this weekend.

“Yes, I am really happy about winning,” Desalle said. “To be on top of the box, it is a special moment and I waited a long time for this. To be in the first place, I enjoyed it a lot. To win in the sand, I know many people don’t think I can ride the sand, so I am really happy to do it here. It’s a good thing for myself and the team.”

As mentioned, with his confidence building, you can be sure Desalle will be much more competitive in the coming weeks, and leading into the Motocross of Nations. Having recovered from his injures the Belgian is now 100% fit.

“Of course I want to win again. It is always a wrong time to get injured, and I started the season with injuries. We also changed the team, so a new bike, and I changed suspension and tyres and everything.”

“Sometimes you need to work hard, but the last few weeks the base is good and I have ridden better in the second motos. I have some good feeling and we have two more GPs and my goal is to win every moto I race. I want to thank the team, because we did a lot of work in the last weeks and thanks to them for doing that.”

Last weekend, with the terrible weather the Assen circuit did become a little one lined and this caused problems for all the riders. Desalle himself struggled to pass riders and was happy to get two good starts.

“The start is important, like 60% of everything. Maybe too much, it was difficult to pass and the start was everything. The level of the top ten is very high, higher than before and that makes the start even more important. I could manage to have good starts in Assen. The first moto after the storm was like enduro and I just needed to be consistent. Shaun was really fast and I finished second. The second moto I passed early, but Glenn was pushing really hard, and I fought until the last corner and I said to my dad I will fight until the finish line and I got the GP win.”

Now onto the two Monster Energy USGP’s in Charlotte next weekend and Glen Helen a week later. Desalle has ridden in America on a few occasions and the American public will enjoy seeing him return to his best form as he continues to try and rejoin the front runners on a more regular basis.