The Lommel circuit is known as a circuit with rougher conditions than any other Motocross circuit in the World and this year wasn’t disappointing, deep holes, long ruts and tricky conditions saw many riders crash out of contention.

In the championship points Musquin leads Roczen by 78pts in the MX2 class and Cairoli leads Desalle by 79pts in the MX1 class. With rounds in Czech Republic, Brazil, Holland and Italy it's going to be hard work for the Suzuki riders to capture the KTM riders.

The opening moto of the day and Musquin took the early lead ahead of Herlings, Simpson and Roczen. Roczen had recovered quickly from a bad first corner and was putting huge pressure on third placed Simpson.

Herlings passed Musquin in a nice move around the outside on a slow left hand corner.  A few laps later Herlings slipped over after losing control on a small right hand corner and gave the lead back to Musquin and also let Roczen past.

Roczen was slowly closing in on Musquin and further back Herlings held six second led over Simpson, with Joel Roelants a further five seconds behind. Filling out the top ten after 11 laps was Harri Kullas, Jake Nicholls, Gautier Paulin, Arnaud Tonus and Jeremy Van Horebeek.

On lap 12 Roczen blasted past Musquin and begin to quickly pull away. Roelants swept past Simpson on a long right hand corner with two laps to go and moved into fourth place.

The win though went to Roczen from Musquin, Herlings, Roelants and Simpson.

The opening MX1 moto and Max Nagl led early from Antonio Cairoli, David Philippaerts, Steve Ramon, and Brad Anderson in fifth place. Well back were Ken De Dycker in 10^th, Jonathan Barragan in 11^th and Evgeny Bobryshev in 21^st after a first lap crash.

Cairoli quickly passed Nagl for the front spot and Ramon soon moved into third place while Bobryshev went from 21^st to 13^th in a couple of laps. The race pretty much stayed that way with Cairoli holding a few seconds on Nagl, and Ramon, Philippaerts, Desalle and Tanel Leok all getting into a nice battle for third place.

Once the riders crossed the finish line it was Cairoli, Nagl, Desalle, Philippaerts, Ramon, Goncalves, De Dycker, Swanepoel, Coppins and Strijbos in 10^th place.

The second MX2 moto and Musquin led Herlings and Simpson while a first corner crash saw British rider Jake Nicholls go down with a bunch of other riders.

Herlings passed Musquin quickly and rounded out riders in the first lap. Tonus went down also in the first lap. Roczen held fourth position and was putting pressure on Simpson for third.

Roczen passed Simpson and set out after Musquin in second place. Herlings was desperate to get a gap on the others and after just two laps were miles ahead of Musquin who was starting to feel pressure from Roczen and Simpson.

Roczen found his way past Musquin on lap two and started trying to pull in the six second lead of Herlings. Roczen clocked the quickest lap time of his race so far as he really started looking strong, although Herlings continued to pull away.

Herlings controlled the remaining laps pulling a 20 second lead, while Roczen held seven seconds over Musquin and Paulin was nearly a minute behind the race leader. The top ten finishing order was Herlings, Roczen, Musquin, Paulin, Roelants, Kullas, Simpson, Frossard, Van Horebeek and Osborne in 10^th place.

The final moto of the day was the second MX1 moto and just as he did in the opening MX1 moto Cairoli looked brilliant as he passed early leader Nagl to take the lead on the opening lap. The Italian looked in amazing form as he totally controlled the race.

Ramon was able to also pass Nagl and moved into second place, while Cairoli held a 15 second lead over Ramon on lap 10 and Nagl was a further nine seconds back. Soon after Ramon went down and lost several spots, giving Nagl second, although the German was 26 seconds behind leader Cairoli.

In the end Cairoli won the moto and overall, second overall was Max Nagl and third Clement Desalle.

Rider comments

Antonio Cairoli comments

For sure today was a tough race, the track is really rough. I like it when it gets rough and technical, I like to race in the sand, it’s my favorite ground. I was fast in training and I was feeling good and the bike is working good, the 350 is good in the sand. First race I had a little arm pump and I couldn’t pull away from Max, the second race I wasn’t tired and I could ride good and make no mistakes. I wrote on my race pants that I am also a little from Lommel. I am six years here and it’s nice, it’s like a second home Grand Prix. I always try and do my best, but sometimes bad luck and bad starts. This track is easy to pass, I like this Grand Prix.

Max Nagl comments

Of course the last Grand Prix’s were tough for me, the last week more problems because I didn’t feel comfortable enough. I talked to Stefan and he cleared my mind. I think I still miss something. I can’t push for 40 minutes, after 30 minutes I was really tired, but it’s coming back and I will fee ok soon. The crash in the second moto was really bad, I landed on the front wheel first in a big hole and I got passed by Tanel, which was disappointing.

Clement Desalle comments

My home Grand Prix it’s close to my house, but it’s difficult for me. The problem with my shoulder was ok today. I wasn’t happy with my riding, but I didn’t crash and that is good. I have the 2011 FOX riding gear, it is nice to have new gear and it’s beautiful really. It’s fun racing David Philippaerts, bad luck for him he made a small crash. I will go to Unadilla in two weeks and we see there (what talks he has with Suzuki). I want to keep going with Suzuki, in USA or Europe I don’t know yet, maybe Supercross there and Motocross here, we see, I don’t know yet.

Ken Roczen comments

Actually I had this weekend and it was perfect. I have improved a lot in the sand, because I remember when I arrived two years ago and I wasn’t any good in the sand. Here it is like a home Grand Prix, it’s special with the deep sand. First moto I felt good, I had a good rythem, and the second moto I had a better start, but I couldn’t go as fast as Jeffrey. I was happy when the race was done. Marvin is riding good and he can take it easy, I am not looking at being World Champion this year, I just try and keep my second place. Couple of times I have been close getting a GP win, and this is my first this year, but maybe I can get one or two more.

Jeffrey Herlings comments

Of course I am disappointed, I really wanted to win, but I screwed up and crashed. I tried to close the gap on Ken, pushing hard, but I made some mistakes and finished third. I knew I had to win the second moto, I knew if Ken finished second he would have won (the GP) anyway. I pushed hard the first 20 minutes, but I just got a good lead and cruised around. It’s my sixth podium of the year. I am pretty used to tracks like this, many of the dutch tracks a rough like this, but for sure this is one of the roughest of the year.

Marvin Musquin comments

It’s not so bad, better than in Sweden, I finished third on the podium and these conditions are really bad. The sand is soft and Saturday I struggled, the warm-up was better for me today. I took the holeshot in both motos and I was happy about that. It was good, Ken and Jeffrey were better than me this weekend, but I stayed on the podium and in front of the championship. I would like to win every Grand Prix, but this is okay. I want to come back to victory in Loket. Two years ago I had an injury there and last year I broke my engine. I hope next week I can get the same type of starts.

Grand Prix of Limburg - Results

MX2 moto one: 1. Ken Roczen (Suz); 2. Marvin Musquin (KTM); 3. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM); 4. Joel Roelants (KTM); 5. Shaun Simpson (KTM); 6. Harri Kullas (Yam); 7. Gautier Paulin (Yam); 8. Arnaud Tonus (Suz); 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (Kaw); 10. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 11. Ceriel Klein Kromhof (Yam); 12. Matiss Karro (Suz); 13. Dennis Verbruggen (KTM); 14. Nokilaj Larsen (Hon); 15. Glenn Coldenhoff (Yam)

MX2 Moto two: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM); 2. Ken Roczen (Suz); 3. Marvin Musquin (KTM); 4. Gautier Paulin (Yam); 5. Joel Roelants (KTM); 6. Harri Kullas (Yam); 7. Shaun Simpson (KTM); 8. Steven Frossard (Kaw); 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (Kaw); 10. Zach Osborne (Yam); 11. Arnaud Tonus (Suz); 12. Jake Nicholls (KTM); 13. Christophe Charlier (Yam); 14. Ceriel Klein Kromhof (Yam); 15. Nick Triest (KTM)

MX2 O/A: 1. Ken Roczen 47pts, 2. Jeffrey Herlings 45pts, 3. Marvin Musquin 42pts, 4. Joel Roelants 34pts, 5. Gautier Paulin 32pts, 6. Harri Kullas 30pts, 7. Shaun Simpson 30pts, 8. Steven Frossard 24pts, 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek 24pts, 10. Arnaud Tonus 23pts

MX2 Championship points: 1. Marvin Musquin 480pts, 2. Ken Roczen 402pts, 3. Steven Frossard 379pts, 4. Jeffrey Herlings 371pts, 5. Shaun Simpson 298pts, 6. Zach Osborne 290ts, 7. Joel Roelants 274pts, 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek 268pts, 9. Arnaud Tonus 266pts, 10. Harri Kullas 233pts, 11. Gautier Paulin 200pts, 12. Jake Nicholls 198pts

MX1 Moto one: 1. Antonio Cairoli (KTM); 2. Max Nagl (KTM); 3. Clement Desalle (Suz); 4. David Philippaerts (Yam); 5. Steve Ramon (Suz); 6. David Philippaerts (Yam); 7. Ken De Dycker (Yam); 8. Gareth Swanepoel (Hon); 9. Josh Coppins (Aprlia); 10. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 11. Davide Guarneri (Hon); 12. Evgeny Bobryshev (Hon); 13. Tanel Leok (Hon); 14. Jonathan Barragan (Kaw); 15. Manuel Priem (Aprilia)

MX1 Moto two: 1. Antonio Cairoli (KTM); 2. Tanel Leok (Hon); 3. Max Nagl (KTM); 4. Clement Desalle (Hon); 5. Ken De Dycker (Yam); 6. David Philippaerts (Yam); 7. Rui Goncalves (KTM); 8. Josh Coppins (Aprilia); 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (Hon); 10. Gareth Swanepoel (Hon); 11. Steve Ramon (Suz); 12. Kevin Strijbos (Suz); 13. Jonathan Barragan (Kaw); 14. Davide Guarneri (Hon); 15. Yentel Martens (KTM

MX1 O/A: 1. Cairoli 50pts, 2. Nagl 42pts, 3. Desalle 38pts, 4. Philippaerts 33pts, 5. Leok 30pts, 6. De Dycker 30pts, 7. Goncalves 29pts, 8. Ramon 26pts, 9. Coppins 25pts, 10. Swanepoel 24pts, 11. Bobryshev 21pts, 12. Strijbos 20pts, 13. Guarneri 17pts, 14. Barragan 15pts, 15. Martens 6pts

MX1 Championship points: 1. Cairoli 484pts, 2. Desalle 405pts, 3. Philippaerts 364pts, 4. Nagl 348pts, 5. Ramon 341pts, 6. De Dycker 299pts, 7. Boog 276pts, 8. Leok 249pts, 9. Bobryshev 244pts, 10. Guarneri 213ts