Desalle, Herlings On Top In Portugal
Cycle News Staff | June 13, 2011
Clement Desalle and Jeffrey Herlings won the sixth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Portugal, June 12. Desalle, on the Rockstar Energy Suzuki, won both MX1-class motos, while Jeffrey Herlings, on the Red Bull Teka KTM, went 2-2 in the MX2 class to grab the overall win.Defending MX1 Champion Antonio Cairoli, on the Red Bull Teka KTM, finished second overall, while Russian Evgeny Bobryshev, on the factory-backed Honda, finished third overall. It was Bobryshev second-ever podium, his first came at this year’s U.S. GP at Glen Helen.Desalle leads Cairoli by nine points in the race for the championship.In the MX2 class, KTM’s Ken Roczen took the first-moto win but crashed out of the second and was taken to the hospital complaining of back pain. His participation in next week’s GP in Spain is not yet confirmed.The second-moto win went to Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle but a first-moto DNF kept him off the podium. Searle ran off the track in the first moto and sucked the trackside fencing into his rear wheel, causing the DNF.Herlings, meanwhile, finished second both times out giving him the overall win.Second overall went to Frenchman Gautier Paulin on the Monster Energy Yamaha.Zach Osborne, on the Cosworth/Bike-It/Wild Wolf Yamaha, got on the podium with a third-place finish. Osborne went 3-5.American Michael Leib finally suited up for the first time this season. The Husqvarna rider has been sidelined because of a concussion that he suffered prior to the start of the series. Leib took the checkered flag in 17th place in the first moto and mechanical problems caused him to pull out early in the second moto.Herlings leads Roczen by six points in the points standings.
