What a magnificent opening round to the french championship last weekend in the « Basque Country » in south west of france. Three very different tests, some nice weather and a good bunch of spectators on this early april weekend !
Our national championship is looking as tight as a leggins that hasn’t hit the gym in a looong while. From the very first day, each categories’ winners are seperated by a thin slice of seconds… if not much less !
I will begin with the E1. Three riders were battling very closely for top honors all weekend long. Thibault Giraudon, Anthony Geslin and Till DeClercq. The young and talented Giraudon has made a remarkable entry to the Elite category and set the tone early on his little 125cc Sherco by signing off the best scratch time in SP1. He would hold on to the win by a thin margin on saturday, against some more experienced competition. Who ever said you needed a beard to go fast ?
Anthony « Toto » Geslin battled hard all weekend on home turf. He would lead the E1 categorie mutiple times throughout the weekend but a small mistake in the very last test on Sunday would see him hand over the lead. Despite this little misfortune, he was happy with the battle, satisfied with his speed and all smiles on the podium in front of his home crowd. With a third and second place, Geslin sits third in the championship standings.
Till DeClercq seeked out a far fetched victory on sunday. Some kind of revenge against his current form where he hasn’t felt too much in his plate so far on the first races of the season. After a strong second place on saturday, he presented himself to sunday’s last test with a 5 second defficit to current leader Geslin. Determined and focused, he will make a strong effort and win the last test AND the day by a very narrow 0,71 seconds on Geslin and 2,5 seconds on Giraudon in third ! Sheeeeshhh ! A relieving victory for Till. Good vibe and big smiles at the Dafy Enduro Team with their E1 rider leading his overall standings, and that’s not it….
In the E2 class, it is looking very much like a Clash of the titans with some very strong riders including Ruprecht, Blanjoue, Espinasse, Alix, Lunier and Marchal ! The E2 boss Blanjoue will edge out a very agressive Espinasse by a tiny 0,10 seconds with his very composed style. Wil Ruprecht is 0,3 from the win. Any closer than that and that leggins rips for sure…
On sunday morning, our favorite policeman (Blanjoue) was on a short lived quest to re-iterate, however will suffer from a big « handlebar to abdomen » crash in the first enduro test of the day. He will unfortunately retire from the race and take a little trip to the local hospital where he will stay a few days on observation. Final verdict : at least fifteen days off before getting back to work. Could be better, could be worse. Good luck Hugo !
By crashing out of the day, Blajoue has cleaned up the runway to the podium. Espinasse would carry his team mate Antoine Alix with him to the podium. Dumb and dumber would finish first and second respectively, with a narrow 3,32 seconds between them at the end of the second day. They will leave the basque country with those same places in the championship standings.
After a third place on saturday, Wil struggled more and could only manage a 5th place on Sunday. With up and down times throughout the day, Wil is paying the high price for his recent winter injuries. « I got to get some balls before spain ». He really wants to find the confidence to get to his real speed back with his brand new 2024 engine 300 Sherco.
Our « not so Junior » Killian Lunier, who can be soooo damn fast on his home « Lozere Grass » , will get onto that 3rd step of the E2 podium with very regular test times, consistently in top 5. This tidy riding will open the door to his first Elite Podium, where he will show a very big smile. Way to go Kiki !
Only 4 seconds off the podium, we find Enzo Marchal and his 450 fantic from Bonneton 2 Roues. Second test time in the last lap’s SP1. Not bad for the boy who works all week, eats fast food and leads the Enduro GP Open category. He returns to his home in Le Puy en Velay, in 4th place in the Championship.
In the E3 class, a misfortunate Magain who suffered a DNF from and electrical problem on saturday, will wake hungry and set things more than right on sunday. Behind him, a very experience Loic Larrieu on the 500exc battling hard with Leo LeQuere’s Reiju in third. In this big mamma (bike) categorie, Magain blistering speed will be the fastest of all riders on the Sunday. Larrieu going 1 - 2 will leave the basque country as E3 leader. Fred Di Giambattista : happy manager with both Elite riders leading E1 and E3.
Now with the Junior classes, we could only expect a total domination from she Sherco Factory Racing rider. Jeremy Sydow takes the Junior 2 win and Junior Scratch win on both days as well as a second place scratch behind his team mate Magain on the Sunday. The German youngster came to continue his winter training and was « only here for the scratch ». He will not race the whole french championship. Second and third in Junior 2 class on both days were Diego Haution and hard grinding youngster Quentin Clerc Tournier.
In Junior 1, the quiet kid Romain Dagna takes a strong win on both days by winning 11 of the 18 tests throughout the weekend. Behind him, Atomic moto’s second « adopted Chilean » Augustin Cortez will battle hard all weekend with B2R’s Maxime Clauzier and will switch places on both days by going 2 - 3 and 3- 2 !
Nice battle in Junior 3 between David Guillemot and Killian Bremont. Killian riding privately, just out here riding without pressure and Guillemot demonstrating his first love for motocross and whips all weekend long on the jumps in SP3.
In the Youth Class , it was Valentin Mersin who takes top spot on both days on his first French Championship race. As a ex motocross guy, he showed ever more speed when the track got rough on sunday. Good job kid !
For the girls, Justine Martel and her Atomic Moto Beta takes the win on both days with a slighlty bigger lead on sunday. Behind her, Marine Lemoine is very confortably settled in second place. Whiles behind these two, an ongoing battle goes on between Mauricette Brisebard and Marie Froment, who are both highly motivated to fight for this third place or better ! As Mauricette’s father would say « We didn’t drive all the way through France to finish in 4th place for God’s sake » .
In the National classes, who make up the majority of our championship, it was our Belgian friend Jeremy Herrine who leaves the Basque Country P1 in National 1 class. Very good battle with Jeremy petit, who seems to have found the instruction manual for the Bonneton 2 Roues Sherco going 1-2 on the weekend ! Another Bonneton 2 Roues rider finishing P3 both days : Charles Cottet .
In National 2 it was Max Morteveille who took a dominating ride on both days . He will edge out Mel Mazaudier, recently returned from Canada where the tracks were much wider and faster !
Last but not least, in the National 3 class, Thomas Baratange takes the win on both days followed by Cyril Moisset et Joffrey Saves from the GP motos Team.
Well, what can I add ? That’s a hell of a lot of guys that like hauling the throttle. If you have read this far, I tip my fedora to you.
As far as I’m concerned, I had a great time in the Basque Country. I bumped into Serge Nuques without his jet ski. Lost a bet against Hugo Blanjoue and really enjoyed this cute little part of France that has welcomed us. I tanned more that in Italy, I saw less rocks too and that wasn’t so bad and most of all I was very happy to bump into all my French Championship friends.
Next round in St Jean d’Angely on the 20 and 21st Mai. Can’t wait to discover what we missed out on last year due to a last minute cancelation due to the severe heat wave.
Until then, we will attend the third round of the Cross Country Championship in Usson-en-Forez (42, Haute Loire). I will have some interviews, slowmotions and more in stock for you. Rumor has it that there will be not two, but three Criq family members riding, and another film guy that goes by the name of Jules Langeard making his Cross Country debut in Soft class. All of this mixed up with 300 riders wanting to go hard on their bodies, as confessed Swan Servajean, who will also be joining the party.
Onto the next adventure ! Thanks for your support,
RP
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