Rockstar Energy Suzuki MX1 World Championship contender Clement Desalle rode through the pain of a dislocated shoulder to finish seventh overall in Sweden on Sunday, keeping himself in the championship hunt.

Desalle suffered the injury just one week prior to the round, however the 23-year-old Belgian was heroic on his way to 7-8 finishes on Sunday.

“I was not sure if I could ride on Friday and the only plan was to see how it would go on Saturday,” Desalle explained. “It felt strange in the first session but the next time I got on the bike I felt better.

“In the qualification I crashed on the same right shoulder and afterwards must have been riding a bit tense, trying to protect it, because I hit a big braking bump and hurt the other shoulder. I had more pain in the left than the right!

“I had another crash in the warm-up on Sunday and did something to my knee. After warm-up I couldn’t understand what was happening to me – I think when things go wrong then they keep going wrong. I just went out to try my best in the motos and came away with eighth and seventh.

“I took some points but I’m really not happy because this is not where I should be. I had a bad time last week because I have difficulty accepting things like this and now before Germany I want to switch off a little bit and try to find a good approach.”

After leading the FIM MX1 World Championship since round three, Desalle was finally forced to relinquish the red plate and now holds second position, 10 points from new leader Antonio Cairoli.