Desalle opens in Valence!
By Alex Hodgkinson on 28th Feb 11
Arnaud Tonus, MX2 winner on his debut for Bike-It Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha, Matiss Karro of Route77 MVR-D joining him on the podium as the team switch to Honda, Shaun Simpson one place off the podium in MX1 on the LS Honda, and a holeshot for Elliott Banks-Browne on the DB Honda.
Even the rain couldn't dampen British spirits at the weekend as the 2011 international motocross season swung into gear at Valence in southern France!
The scattered showers forecast for Sunday morning ended up being non-stop rainfall from Saturday evening, but the final drops of drizzle petered out an hour before racing began to leave the hillside track heavy but ride-able.
The MX2 boys, and girls, were first out and Tonus ran down early leader Nico Aubin for the win: "I slipped underneath when Nico went wide in a turn and was able to pull away, but I made a couple of mistakes near the end to let him get close again.”
The French dominated the leader-board early on as Joel Roelants pulled out after bending his bike, but Karro stormed from a terrible start – "I hit a soft patch on the start straight” – for a stunning fifth. Banks-Browne was always around the place for seventh, James Cottrell lost a lap early on, and diminutive Liam Garland persevered bravely for 11th, one behind WMX World Champion, Steffi Laier.
The second MX2 race was Aubin's from lap two, but the Frenchman had chased Banks-Browne in vain for more than a lap before the hole-shooting ‘EBB' made a mistake: "I hit neutral! In a flash I was down to fourth!”
It was close at the end as Roelants caught up to his rear wheel and Tonus, the only man to pass ‘EBB' on sheer speed, made it a trio battling for the win on the closing lap after a superb ride from outside the first ten: "I made it hard for myself. I fell on the first lap and again later in the race.”
Karro again had to come a long way after a second lap fall. Cottrell broke top ten this time, and Garland was 13th.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX FEBRUARY 25
VALENCE INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS
Valence, nr Lyon, FRANCE
MX1 oVERALL: 1 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki), 2 Steven Frossard (F - Monster Rinaldi Yamaha), 3 Sebastien Pourcel (F - KRT Kawasaki), 4 Shaun Simpson (GB - LS Honda), 5 Greg Aranda (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki), 6 Julien Bill (CH - Honda), 7 Loic Larrieu (F - Wolff KTM), 8 Steve Ramon (B - Rockstar Suzuki), 9 Davide Guarneri (I - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki), 10 Jonathan Barragan (E - KRT Kawasaki), 11 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda World), 12 Rui Goncalves (P - Honda World), 13 Christophe Martin (F - Honda), 14 Loic Rombaut (F - SR Honda), 15 Pascal Leuret (F - Martin Honda),...
MX2 oVERALL: 1 Arnaud Tonus (CH - Bike It Cosworth WW Yamaha), 2 Nico Aubin (F - HDI KTM), 3 Matiss Karro (LV - Route77 MVR-D Honda), 4 Jordi Tixier (F - JM Nestaan KTM), 5 Elliott Banks-Browne (GB - DB Honda), 6 Charles LeFrancois (F - NGS Honda), 7 Joel Roelants (B - JM Nestaan KTM), 8 Jurgen Wybo (B - Vianne Kawasaki), 9 Dylan Ferrandis (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki), 10 Kevin Fors (B - KTM),...
MX1 RACE ONE: 1 Desalle, 2 Ramon, 3 Simpson, 4 Barragan, 5 Pourcel, 6 Aranda, 7 Larrieu, 8 Frossard, 9 Martin, 10 Bill, 11 Rombaut, 12 Guarneri, 13 Leuret, 14 Manuel Priem (B - Yamaha), 15 Thomas Ramette (F - Suzuki), 16 Josse Sallefranque (F - Honda), 17 Goncalves, 18 Bobryshev, 19 Yentel Martens (B - JM Nestaan KTM), 20 Nathan Parker (GB - Proppa.com KTM),... 22 Martin Barr (IRL - Proppa.com KTM),...
MX1 RACE TWO:1 Desalle, 2 Frossard, 3 Pourcel, 4 Bobryshev, 5 Bill, 6 Aranda, 7 Simpson, 8 Larrieu, 9 Barragan, 10 Ramon, 11 Guarneri, 12 Goncalves, 13 Leuret, 14 Martin, 15 Kevin Wouts (B - Pfeil Kawasaki), 16 Martens, 17 Rombaut,... 20 Barr,... 24 Parker,...
MX2 RACE ONE: 1 Tonus, 2 Aubin, 3 Tixier, 4 LeFrancois, 5 Karro, 6 Ferrandis, 7 Banks-Browne, 8 Wybo, 9 Maxime Desprey (F - Yamaha), 10 Steffi Laier (D - Red Bull Teka KTM), 11 Liam Garland (GB - Proppa.com KTM), 12 Pierre Cohas (F - KTM), 13 Fors, 14 James Cottrell (GB - DB Honda), 15 Jens Getteman (B - Kemea Kawasaki),...
MX2 RACE TWO: 1 Aubin, 2 Roelants, 3 Tonus, 4 Tixier, 5 Banks-Browne, 6 Karro, 7 Wybo, 8 LeFrancois, 9 Fors, 10 Cottrell, 11 Pascal Rauchenecker (A - JM Nestaan KTM)), 12 Getteman, 13 Garland, 14 Julien Lieber (B - KTM), 15 Livi Lancelot (F - Rockstar Bud Kawasaki),...
Superfinal: 1 Frossard, 2 Pourcel, 3 Desalle, 4 Tonus, 5 Karro, 6 Bill, 7 Aranda, 8 Simpson, 9 Goncalves, 10 Guarneri, 11 Larrieu, 12 Ken De Dycker (B - LS Honda), 13 Bobryshev, 14 Roelants, 15 Banks-Browne, 16 Tixier, 17 Aubin, 18 Ramon, 19 Rombaut, 20 LeFrancois, 21 Leuret, 22 Martin, 23 Barragan, 24 Wybo, 25 Cottrell,...