Philippaerts beat former Yamaha GP rider Davide Guarneri in both motos for an encouraging scorecard in what was just his second outing on the new fuel-injected rear slanting YZ450F. The Italian took to the tight, twisty and hard-pack track in order to gather more data and learn more about the settings of the machine under race conditions. It was a useful day as the wet terrain as slick and bumpy and far from easy.

‘I am happy with today, we had two good results and the races were not so easy,’ the 2008 MX1-GP World Champion said. ‘We worked a little bit on suspension and I am pleased with how everything is going. Even though there were not too many Grand Prix riders here the pace was still pretty good.’

In MX2 Paulin, who only returned from the USA and his brief outing in the AMA West Coast Lites SX series last week, was unstoppable in an emphatic opening statement for the team. He took the holeshot in both motos and won the first sprint by almost half a lap, going on to celebrate another victory later in the afternoon.

‘Two good starts and a positive way to begin the year with the team,’ he remarked. ‘I am pleased with what we did here and now we head to Valence and will continue to work and get ready for the season ahead.’