Racing on a chalky track is never easy, but if you add some rain it’s even worst! The racing conditions were pretty tough in Plomion (north of France) for the penultimate round of series, but it was another good day for the Kawasaki riders who are now leading both classes. Sébastien Pourcel from team CP377 Monster Energy Kawasaki is the new leader of the MX1 class, while Valentin Teillet leads the MX2 category with his Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki. Both will go to the final round (Gaillac Toulza on May 27th) with a minor advantage: one point for Teillet, and two for Pourcel!
Always suffering from a hematoma in his lower back, Valentin Teillet had a difficult opening moto; he was in third position behind Maxime Desprey, his main rival for the title, when both crashed. They lost all their chances in this crash, and finally the best Kawasaki rider was Dylan Ferrandis who scored a second position, followed by Teillet in third and Desprey in fifth. In the super final Valentin got a good start and scored a fifth position far ahead the other MX2 riders; fifteenth overall and fourth MX2 rider, Maxime is now runner up in the standings while Dylan Ferrandis retired when he had to stop twice with a stone in his rear brake pedal.
In the MX1 class Sébastien Pourcel got a double win in Plomion, and in both races his main rival was Cédric Soubeyras. The MX1 heat wasn’t a problem for Seb who led the entire period, but the super final was more difficult as he lost time due to a couple of mistakes. He had to recover from a crash which relegates him in seventh position, and made a winning pass only in the last lap of the race. Twice winner ahead of Soubeyras, he is now leading the series by two points.
MX1 standings: 1.Sébastien Pourcel (CP377 Monster Energy Kawasaki), 218 pts; 2.Cédric Soubeyras (Honda), 216; 3.Gregory Aranda (Yamaha), 147; etc…
MX2 standings: 1.Valentin Teillet (Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki), 195 pts; 2.Maxime Desprey (NGS Junior Monster Energy Kawasaki), 194; 3.Loic Larrieu (Husqvarna), 160….6.Dylan Ferrandis (Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki), 136; etc..
Sébastien Pourcel: “I struggled a little bit in the timed practice session, but in the MX1 race I just needed one lap to lead the race. I pushed to get a ten seconds lead, and then managed the gap with my rivals. The super final was tougher; I had a bad start, came back third, crashed and later made another mistake! I came back second and pushed really hard to join Soubeyras; in the last lap I made a pass to win this race. I know that the final round will be tough as we’ll just be back from South America, but I’m happy to have again the red plate on my Kawasaki. After my DNF in Italy, that’s good to win races!”
Valentin Teillet: “I was not so happy with my riding in the MX2 race, and I lost too much time when I crashed on Desprey’s bike. It was better in the super final, and to finish fifth among the 450 is a good result as the track was slippery. I didn’t train during the previous week as I spent most of my time with my doctor; I still have pain in my body, in fact even if I had some injuries in the past it has never been so hard and painful than actually. But the most important this weekend was to take points in the series and to keep all chances for the title.”
Hard to think that Teillet had that massive crash only a few week ago.
Good to see Cedric up there. He can do it in the Gp´s, he just needs a result to work from.
*Monda* I don’t know if you listened to Bikerfm the other night with EBB on there. I asked the “Q” How does someone like you make the gap between lets say Searle. His answer was to stick on the back of these guys if only for 2-3 laps or whatever and learn where these lads a faster. My point is that Cedric is doing just that, Improving every GP it would seem.