Clement Desalle starts 2011 with a win at Valence

Clement Desalle has taken victory at a cold and wet Valence in France for the first of the European pre season International meetings with with two wins and a third position.

The shallow hillside circuit just south of Lyon was battered by rain through Saturday evening and Sunday morning and forced a generous gathering of Grand Prix stars to take their opening meeting of the year with a degree of caution: Overtaking was difficult on a terrain chiselled into one line.

2010 MX1 World Championship runner-up Desalle, on the RM-Z450WS, roared away with the first 20-minute moto after obtaining the holeshot and working a lead of over 10 seconds from his Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 team-mate Steve Ramon ; equally-comfortable in second place.

But the works RM-Z450s could not hold the formation in the second race as Ramon missed the jump out of the gate and crashed while running 10th. Desalle was into first place by the second lap and didn't look back, even during two moments of brief pressure from Sebastien Pourcel .

In the third and final sprint of the day, Desalle was holding a comfortable second position but suffered rear brake trouble courtesy of an errant stone. In the final laps he had a small tumble and finished third. Ramon hit the mud in the opening phases and eased his way through the rest of the race distance.

"Yesterday we tried some new parts on the bike and it was good to try but I was not super-sure for this track so we kept with the same set-up we had before," said Desalle. "The results were good today because the track was very slippery and I struggled when the stone hit my rear brake in the last heat. I did not want to crash and hurt myself like last year."

Yamaha's Steven Frossard finished second overall and put a win in the books with the final moto victory. with Kawasaki's Sebastien Pourcel rounding out the podium.

In the MX2 class Arnaud Tonus claimed a strong win after a great battle with Nicolas Aubin . Both dominate the MX2 races, with one win and one second position for each and entered the super final equal in the points. Tonus got a good start against the power of the 450's and lead the MX2 class during the 20 minutes period. Aubin lost his chances when he suffered technical troubles mid race. European 125 champion Jordi Tixier had a great day but a bad start in the super final cost him the final podium spot, which went to Matiss Karro .

Valence International MX1 overall result:

Valence International MX2 overall result: