Team mate Clement Desalle crossed the finish-line after the 20 minute and two-lap sprint in eighth place.

The first USGP this century and the first at Glen Helen since 1992 began in tricky circumstances as strong winds forced cancellation of the opening half of the timetable on Saturday. The Belgian duo had only 10 minutes of free practice before entering the Pre-Qualifying period and then the race; leaving precious-little time to refine their set-up for the fast and very long Californian layout. which is a markedly-different prospect compared to a routine Grand Prix circuit. Ramon made a reasonably-good start in the race, taking place under blazing sunshine, and was tussling for a slot in the mid-top-10 with Desalle when a rock hit him in the stomach and he had to slow his pace while recovering his breath. Desalle had pushed his way up to fifth after a poor launch from the gate but made a mistake on the final lap and his crash, through losing the front wheel, caused him to slip several positions down the leaderboard. The weather forecast for Sunday predicts even warmer conditions with temperatures set to reach the mid-30s.

Steve Ramon: "Today was pretty good considering that we had hardly any time in practice to find a good set-up for the bike. I had a positive feeling on the track from the first few laps but had a little bit of arm-pump because I haven't been practicing since Portugal as I wanted to recover from a few bruises. The race was OK but it was hard out there and the track was slippery and far from easy. A stone hit me in the stomach and I could not breathe properly three or four laps from the end, so I had to take it easy."

Clement Desalle: "I had a bad start and must improve on that tomorrow. I was in 11th and came back to fifth which was a good job, but then I lost the front wheel on the last lap going up the mountain. It was unbelievable; a stupid mistake. The track is very fast and very physical, so I hope it might be a bit more technical tomorrow."

MX1 Qualification Heat result:
1. Mike Alessi (USA, KTM), 25:24.830;
2. Ben Townley (NZL, Honda), +0:08.431;
3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:10.173;
4. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:20.216;
5. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Honda), +0:28.445;
6. Steve Ramon (BEL, Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1),+0:29.758;
7. Ryan Hughes (USA, Honda), +0:31.036;
8. Clement Desalle (BEL, Rockstar Teka Suzuki World MX1), +0:34.224;
9. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki),+0:43.217;
10. AnthonyBoissiere (FRA, TM), +0:49.521.