At Kegums in Latvia Clement Desalle and Jeffrey Herlings returned to the top of the MXI and MX2 podiums respectively, earning their second Grand Prix wins of the season. In addition to four intense motos taking place throughout the day, Latvian fans were greeted by the country’s Prime Minister Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis.
 
Taking the overall win in the MX1 class was Clement Desalle. The Belgian rider took the Race 1 win from championship leader Antonio Cairoli with Suzuki’s Steve Ramon rounding out the podium.
 
Earning his second career GP win was Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings, who took first overall ahead of Ken Roczen. Kawasaki CLS’ Steven Frossard completed the podium after an intense three-way duel for the lead in the final race.
 
MX1
 
After losing the Latvia Grand Prix last year due to mechanical issues, Rockstar Teka Suzuki’s Desalle was successful in his goal of earning his second victory of the 2010 season. He charged through the field in the opening moto to take second after the first half of the race. Shortly afterward, Desalle flew by Russian Evgeny Bobryshev for the lead which he kept until the finish line. In the second event Desalle took second-place behind current points leader Cairoli, and his 1-2 score at the end of the day proved enough to take the MX1 overall win in Latvia.
 
"I was close to winning here last year so I am glad I could do it this time,” said Desalle. “To take the GP is really good but I wanted to win that second moto as well but Antonio was too fast. I concentrated on my lines and did not want to make any mistake. The first moto win was good and I saw Bobryshev getting tired towards the end so I pushed hard and knew that I was taking seconds on him each lap. No crashes, my shoulder feels very strong and a lot of points; it was a good weekend."
 
Even though Cairoli took second overall, the Italian was disappointed not to have taken the overall victory. Cairoli struggled in the first moto while trying to pass David Philippaerts for fourth, and by the time he made the pass Cairoli was well away from the top-three riders. In Moto 2, however, Cairoli took the lead and dominated the competition to earn the moto victory and second overall for the day.
 
Ramon took the final spot on the podium after two consistent moto performances, earning third-place in both. With Ramon’s third-place overall finish in Latvia he has moved to fourth in the championship while teammate Desalle holds second-place.
 
Honda’s Bobryshev just missed out on his first podium win after coming in fourth overall. In the first moto Bobryshev almost took the win, but Desalle stole the lead from the Russian during the final laps. In Moto 2 the Honda rider proved incapable of repeating his Moto 1 performance and finished in a distant fourth.
 
“It was an awesome day,” said Bobryshev. “In the second race I did not have such a good start and the track was becoming really bumpy and it was difficult to push. I was so close to the podium but I am really happy anyway. It was so nice to be leading in the first race! I was so clean and didn’t even have to clean my goggles. I have always said to myself that I can get these results; I just needed the starts and the right feeling on the track.”
 
2010 FIM Motocross MX1 Latvia Results:
1. Clement Desalle, BEL (Suzuki) 1-2
2. Antonio Cairoli, ITA (KTM) 4-1
3. Steve Ramon, BEL(Suzuki) 3-3
4. Evgeny Bobryshev, RUS (Honda) 2-4
5. Xavier Boog, FRA (Kawasaki) 6-5
6. David Philippaerts, ITA (Yamaha) 5-6
7. Maximilian Nagl, GER (KTM) 7-7
8. Tanel Leok, EST (Honda) 9-8
9. Davide Guarneri, ITA (Honda) 8-10
10. Rui Goncalves, POR (KTM) 11-9
 
2010 FIM Motocross MX1 Championship Points:
1. Antonio Cairoli, 384
2. Clement Desalle, 323
3. David Philippaerts, 298
4. Steve Ramon, 277
5. Maximilian Nagl, 276
6. Ken de Dycker, 269
7. Xavier Boog, 248
8. Tanel Leok, 207
9. Evgeny Bobryshev, 189
10. Davide Guarneri, 189

MX2

Coming out on top in the MX2 event was Herlings, who took a victory in the final moto after his teammate Marvin Musquin crashed in the beginning of the race. After taking the lead in the first few laps, Frossard made the pass on Herlings for the lead. By the end, however, Herlings came back to retake first-place in what was a hard-fought battle for the KTM rider. In the first moto Herlings had a stong start but eventually dropped back to third by the checkers.
 
“I'm really satisfied with my weekend,” said Herlings. “I've had my ups and downs this season. I started really good in the first five rounds then I had three bad rounds so it felt awesome to be back on top again. This was my second GP win. In the first heat I was in the lead after two corners and then I got passed by Marvin and Ken (Roczen) and I finished third. Then I took the holeshot in the second and I had a long fight with Steven (Frossard) but I fought hard and I was able to win the moto and the GP."
 
Making it into second on the podium was Roczen who was a bit disappointed at not taking the overall. In Moto 1 he came extremely close to taking the win over Musquin in the final laps, but couldn’t advance ahead of the championship leader. In the second moto Roczen was overtaken by Frossard and had to settle with a third-place result in the moto and second-place overall.
 
"I don't think the track was as good as last year's because it was so difficult,” said Roczen. “In the first moto I came back strong on Marvin's rear wheel and tried as hard as I could to win. I made a mistake by not looking at the pit-board and wasn't really aware of how much time I had left. I was quite pleased with second however and was confident going into the second moto. We had a really good race together. There were some parts of the track where I did not have the right lines and I made a mistake before the waves so Steven came past me. I didn't win but I am keeping my head up for next weekend."
 
Frossard grabbed the final spot on the podium after making his way up to second in the final moto ahead of Roczen, and he even pressured Herlings temporarily for the lead. In the first moto Frossard held onto fourth-place for most of the contest with Herlings, Roczen and Musquin out in front.
 
After winning five straight GP’s Musquin completely missed the podium and had to settle with fourth overall in Latvia. The championship leader took a fall in the second moto which proved too difficult to come back from. Musquin did, however, go from dead last in the event to finish seventh, which was an impressive accomplishment in itself.
 
"I crashed on the first corner,” Musquin said. “They had put a lot of water on the track so I crashed and stopped my bike. I was very angry but I made a good and strong comeback to finish seventh. This week I lost just three points in the championship so now I need to be very focused and try to be on the podium every weekend. I think Sweden is a good track but not so easy but like all races, I will do my best."
 
Rounding out the top-six finishers were Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross’ Gautier Paulin in fifth with KTM’s Joel Roelants behind him in sixth.
 
2010 FIM Motocross MX2 Latvia Results:
1. Jeffrey Herlings, NED (KTM) 3-1
2. Ken Roczen, GER (Suzuki) 2-3
3. Steven Frossard, FRA (Kawasaki) 4-2
4. Marvin Musquin, FRA (KTM) 1-7
5. Gautier Paulin, FRA (Yamaha) 7-4
6. Joel Roelants, BEL (KTM) 5-6
7. Harri Kullas, FIN (Yamaha) 6-12
8. Christophe Charlier, FRA (Yamaha) 10-9
9. Arnaud Tonus, SUI (Suzuki) 12-8
10. Shaun Simpson, GBR (KTM) 8-13
 
2010 FIM Motocross MX2 Championship Points:
1. Marvin Musquin, 404
2. Ken Roczen, 330
3. Steven Frossard, 308
4. Jeffrey Herlings, 286
5. Zach Osborne, 249
6. Shaun Simpson, 246
7. Arnaud Tonus, 236
8. Joel Roelants, 214
9. Jeremy van Horebeek, 209
10. Harri Kullas, 182