Words: Adam Wheeler

With under two weeks of recovery time, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Clement Desalle contested the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship season opening round with a recently fractured wrist.

The Belgian rider fractured the wrist during a pre-season event just 13 days before the opening round, deciding to contest the event to gather as many valuable championship points as possible.

In the first moto Desalle was forced to pull off the track with just three minutes remaining due to an engine problem, before salvaging just three points with an 18th place in moto two – a physically and mentally challenging day for the experienced racer.

“Physically and mentally it was really difficult, there was too much pain,” said Desalle. “But still I had three points and at the end of the season that could count for something. However we are not here for three points, we are here to win races.”

Desalle has an appointment with his doctor early this week to assess the state of the injury following the Qatar event.

“I will be looking for some positive signs in the next few weeks and on Monday I will visit my doctor and hope for some good news there,” he added. “Hopefully I can go to Thailand with one more week of rest and maybe aim for better.”

Desalle currently sits 20th overall in the MXGP standings with 16 rounds remaining on the 2016 calendar.