"I am very happy with how it went today," Rui said. "I was a strong second and I put in some good lap times. I am looking forward to a good start and I want to ride two strong motos tomorrow. I am feeling very strong both mentally and physically and I am confident that tomorrow will be a good day."

In other action, Jeremy van Horebeek of the KTM Factory Junior Team took third place behind Rui, while Anthony Boissiere of HDI KTM France was fifth and put in the fastest lap during the qualifying race.

Jonathan Barragan on Saturday put himself in a good position for a top result in his home MX1 GP in Bellpuig, Spain, when he finished in fifth place in the qualifying race to be the top KTM factory rider of the day.

The Spanish KTM factory rider for Team Silver Action has been resting an injured shoulder this week but was much improved health-wise compared to last weekend in Portugal.

"I feel very good here in Bellpuig. This is my home GP and I know this track very well. Today my shoulder feels much better. It's a big improvement on last week and today I didn't push too hard because I wanted to save my energy for tomorrow and pick up as many point as possible."

Looking forward to the next race in Britain's Mallory Park, where he won last year, Barragan he hoped to be completely recovered by then and planned to go for another good result. Max Nagl of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team had some bad luck at the start of the qualifying race when his wheel got tangled in the start gate. Nagl, known for his usual blitz starts, lost his balance and crashed, then had to chase down the rest of the field from last position.

"I am still quite happy with how things turned out because even though I had a bad start, I managed to fight my way back to twelfth place. This is a track I like so I want to be better tomorrow. I hope to put in two good motos," the German rider said. Nagl was pleased that a hand injury that hampered him last weekend in Portugal was much improved on Saturday.

Teka Suzuki World MX1's Ken De Dycker will enter the gate in fourth position for the Grand Prix of Catalunya at the Bellpuig circuit and the sixth round of 15 in the 2009 FIM MX1 World Championship.

The Catalan venue was blessed with sunshine, blue skies and high temperatures for the first day of action; a stark contrast to the severe rain and mud last encountered more than 12 months ago. De Dycker was 3rd and 4th in the two practice sessions across the hard-pack and fairly simple layout.

The Belgian experimented with his bike set-up and altered the compression to draw more power from his fuel-injected factory RM-Z450. The revised engine configuration bore him in good stead as he made a reasonable start in the Heat race and then pulled through from the lower top ten to capture 4th place.

"Everything went well; we tried different things in the practice and changed the bike around a little bit. It is very strong now and I am happy. We had the database back on this week and we could see that I was hooking first gear quite a lot in Portugal. We made the changes and the power is stronger everywhere. My start was OK in the heat but I did not push too hard in the beginning. I had a good feeling on the bike though and could see the best lines. It is not such a difficult track and in some parts there is only really one line to take."

Red Bull KTM Factory Racings' Steffi Laier set herself up for victory in Bellpuig, Spain on Saturday when she won the first moto in the third round of the women's MX world championship a the GP of Catalunya.

Laier never looked threatened as she led the field from the first corner to finish some four seconds in front of her nearest rival, fellow German Larissa Papenmeier.

It was sweet revenge for the German rider who has clearly put the disappointment of a first moto disqualification behind her last weekend in Portugal. Laier, who spent time training with factory teammate Rui Goncalves in the days between the two women's round, was clearly in top form.

She was out of the gates like lightning and charged to a two second lead in the first lap. By the tenth lap she had extended that to seven seconds then coasted comfortably to the finish while her arch rival, Livia Lancelot of France languished back at fifth place more than 33 seconds off the winner's pace.

"I had good start and I was second going into the first corner, then I managed to take the lead and tried to ride well and control the race from that point on," Steffi said. She lapped many of the slower riders, a situation that is not without its dangers, and goes into tomorrow's second moto hoping for a good second moto.

The German rider is in her first season as a full factory rider with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team. Laier's first moto victory and the 25 points she picked up as a consequence put her within just 13 points of Lancelot, the current championship leader.

Steffi now assumes second place in the standings, displacing American Ashley Fiolek, who returned to the USA after Portugal. American Sarah Whitmore, who was invited to ride with the factory team for the first time last weekend in Portugal, was a solid twelfth in the first moto in the big field of 31 riders contesting the round.