Belgian rider Clement Desalle’s luckless run in the FIM Motocross World Championship continued last weekend at Latvia, finishing ninth overall after an incident-marred round.

Desalle fronted the MX1 qualification heat for almost the entire distance on Saturday and his flowing speed was a good sign that the Belgian is returning to fitness.

His luck deserted him on Sunday, however, as two bright starts were undone by racing incidents. A duel with Steven Frossard for fourth position ended with the winner of three GPs this season on the floor and rapidly having to reclaim his motorcycle.

Another spill on the last lap, when he entered a 180 degree turn too fast and the front end dug into the loose soil on the outer line, pushed a frustrated Desalle down to eighth.

In the second moto, a collision mid-air with Evgeny Bobryshev cresting the finish-line table-top yanked the 21-year-old’s weak shoulder and from that point he had to accept another eighth position for nine overall.

“In the first moto I was fast and started third. Frossard passed me and I didn’t want to take any risks,” Desalle explained. “I was close to passing him back but he shut the line and I had a big crash. Luckily I was not hurt.

“I was sixth but on the last lap I lost control of the front end in a corner and dropped back to eighth. It was really bad. In the second moto I was in the top five around the first corner and when Bobryshev passed me he touched me in the air over the table-top.

“I had a ‘shock’ to my shoulder because the bike was pulled out of my grip. I was a bit scared after that move and didn’t feel good on the bike. I was riding badly. I will go home now and try to get my injured finger better and think about Lommel.”

Desalle is still second in the MX1 title chase but stares at a gap of 42 points to Tony Cairoli.