Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 rider Clement Desalle was able to use the past week to recover from an exhausting and painful Grand Prix of Portugal on May 5 and is now looking firmly forward to the trip to Brazil this week for the seventh round of 17 in the FIM Motocross World Championship.
The Belgian finished third overall at Agueda for his fourth podium result of the season on the factory RM-Z450 and his fourth piece of silverware in a row at the venue. Desalle fought with Gautier Paulin and Antonio Cairoli during both motos under the Portuguese sun and a hefty crash on the penultimate lap of the second race meant the 23 year old had to take it easy in the days following round six.
“I’m feeling better but I needed a day or two to recover from that crash and was happy when a scan showed there was no major damage; I just needed to be a bit patient,” he said before riding the 450 for the first time on Tuesday.
“I did some light sport like swimming and then mountain-biking and finally some enduro towards the end of the week.
“It was a pretty big fall,” he added of the spill that saw him nevertheless recover his motorcycle and see-out the distance to the chequered flag. “I think my head was the only part of my body at that time that wanted to finish the race!”
The Grand Prix of Brazil is on Desalle’s birthday so we’re sure he’ll have his fingers crossed for one extra present on Sunday.
Teammate Kevin Strijbos will be with Desalle at one of the more popular and busier Grands Prix on the schedule and Strijbos will be hoping for more this year. He was victorious at Catalinha in 2009 and made the podium at Indaiatuba in 2011, suffering some misfortune with mechanical issues at Campo Grande in 2010 and then in the heavy mud conditions of Beto Carrero last summer.
Beto Carrero will host the Brazilian fixture for the second year in a row and the wonderfully-presented and tight and jumpy course is expected to be a sell-out once more. The layout is located on the fringes of the theme park complex and an hour north of the city of Florianopolis. Strijbos will have positive memories of the mud – one of the very few – as one of his three podium finishes in 2012 arrived in front of the enthusiastic Brazilian public.
The weather forecast for the weekend predicts changeable conditions with cloudy skies varying between sunny spells and showers. Temperatures are expected to hover around the 20-degree mark.
