Marvin Musquin wrapped up the 2009 MX2 Motocross World Championship in perfect style with a double moto victory in the Brazilian season finale.
Arriving with a healthy 22 point lead over Red Bull KTM team-mate Rui Goncalves, Musquin fought his way past the fading Portuguese early in the first moto - then held off pressure from Teka Suzuki's Ken Roczen - to clinch his first world title with one moto to go.
Roczen once again proved Musquin's biggest rival in race two, where the pair put on an exciting display before Musquin crossed the finish line 1.6sec ahead of the young German.
Musquin began the season with NGS Honda, before switching to the factory KTM team - a move that forced him to sit out the Swedish round while legal issues were resolved.
“I'm very happy to have won the title,” said 19-year-old Musquin. “It was a perfect day for me today. I really wanted to win that first race. In the beginning I had some trouble with my goggles but after I fixed that everything was fine. In the second race I had a great fight with Roczen and I was very happy to ride with him. I think we will have some good clean and fair fights on the track next year and I look forward to that.
“I like this track a lot and I knew before the race that I was going to be fast. After I won the first moto I tried hard to stay concentrated because it was my goal to win both the GP and the title today. Of course I also knew that Rui was going to be very fast and we were both fighting for the same goal.
“It was a little strange to win the title here in Brazil where I don't really have my family and friends to support me but I was still able to show what I can do and how I could win. It really helped that I have such a powerful bike to do it on."
Another Frenchman, Steven Frossard (Kawasaki), completed the overall podium, while Goncalves, who will switch to MX1 with KTM next season, was left to put a brave face on his 5-5 race finishes.
“Being vice champion is also good. I've also made some history for my country. I'm the first Portuguese rider to win GPs and to be the vice champion so that's a great feeling,” he said. “It was my goal to win the title but I had a strange start to the season, especially with my physical fitness. I had concussion and a shoulder injury but I tried to stay strong in my head. It certainly helped that I had a very good team behind me who made sure I had what I needed and who helped me. Now I go up to MX1 next year and that will be very interesting."
