Smets: I surprised myself.

Joel Smets returned to the podium in the Motocross GP class with a solid second position behind Stefan Everts and in front of world championship leader Mickael Pichon under the hot Swedish sun.

The Belgian has now taken six top three results on the 450 and trails Everts (left on pic) by just four points in the Championship, and Pichon by seven.

"Stefan was really pushing hard and I was doing the same; I think I surprised myself with my riding," said the Belgian. "I was using all of the bike's power and being efficient with my style. I could see that Stefan and I were going at the same speed and I was counting on the last five laps to really make my move.

"I always save a little something at the start of the race because I prefer to have energy in reserve than come up a little short. So I began to push and drew closer but with two laps to go I made a mistake and this lost me some seconds, which probably cost me the race," explained Joel, who nevertheless caught back up to Everts after he was held up by backmarkers.

"At the moment it is strange to say that a 5th is my worst result of the year (so far) and I can take a lot of confidence from this race," he added. "I am getting to know (the 45o KTM) better all the time and now I can make the small progress that I need in order to win. I am only seven points away from first place in the Championship and it is really open now."

Smets was again in action for the 650 category and had little trouble recording his seventh consecutive win of the year.

"The track was much drier after the Motocross GP race and I was trying to use the same lines in the beginning but it was not really working," he said. "I lost some positions in the start when Salminen came fast on the inside line and pushed me a little wide. I knew that I had the speed and this meant that I could afford to be patient. I relaxed and looked where I could change my lines.

"I was behind Edberg and Trampas for a while but I knew I would be able to overtake. I decided to make my move on the second lap because they would have held up Vico and Melotte allowing me more time to pull away," he explained.