Team Suzuki Press Office – May 9.
A full-strength Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP squad tackled the first day of the Grand Prix of Spain at the hard and undulating Talavera de la Reina circuit today with Clement Desalle and Kevin Strijbos using their works RM-Z450s to finish second and ninth respectively in Qualification for round six of 18 in the FIM Motocross World Championship.
Hot sunshine, tough terrain and a busy compact venue southwest of Madrid were characteristics of the third visit by MXGP to Talavera this century. Desalle, winner at the track in 2014, was fifth fastest in both Free Practice and Timed Practice with minimal alterations to his base set-up of his RM-Z450. He then started well and circulated several seconds adrift of pole position-setter Antonio Cairoli for what was a lonely run.
Team-mate Strijbos was back in the paddock for the first time since round two at the Grand Prix of Thailand. The Belgian had a fresh scar on his right wrist as a result of surgery to fix an infection and painful joint. After almost two weeks of building-up his riding and practice time, ‘#22’ was confident enough to steer his RM-Z to impressive seventh and third positions in practice. Strijbos rode within his limits in his first qualification heat in almost two months to seal ninth choice in the start gate for Sunday.
Some disappointing news for Glenn Coldenhoff: The Dutchman was quick today, flying to second and sixth positions in the initial sessions of the Grand Prix. He was attacking a top-10 slot during the Heat race when he suffered a crash by hitting a corner too wide and had to visit the medical centre with a painful left thumb.
Cloudy conditions but temperatures around the mid-20s are predicted for race day tomorrow.
Clement Desalle:
“A good day and my qualification race was OK. Cairoli was next to me in the gate and made a slightly better jump. I got into second by the second corner and stayed there the whole way. Not much more to say really. I made two or three mistakes but everything was more-or-less under control and I had some good lap-times. I’m hoping for some good starts tomorrow because it is difficult to pass here.”
Kevin Strijbos:
“It was good to be back and I used the first practice to get back into it. For the qualification race I tried to start a little bit more on the outside and it came out OK. The beginning of the race was not too easy and I was struggling with some lines. Glenn crashed and Paulin passed me and then I knew there was a gap so I tried to set a rhythm. My wrist was OK and I didn't have any problems. I’m happy about that and pleased to be back here racing. We’ll see what happens in the motos now.”
MXGP Qualification Heat Classification: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 25:16.852; 2. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), +0:01.877; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:12.839; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:13.833; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:14.368; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:22.953; 7. Steven Frossard (FRA, KTM), +0:24.680; 8. Tommy Searle (GBR, KTM), +0:37.093; 9. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Rockstar Energy Suzuki), +0:39.460; 10. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:47.124.
