Fabien Iz' the champ!
By TMX Archives on 27th Nov 08
FABIEN Izoird is the new European SX champion. The 21-year-old from Sete, on the French Mediterranean coastline 60 miles from Spain, showed the best nerves on Saturday to come out on top in his series duel with Benjamin Coisy to clinch the title through consistency, having not won a single round!
It was a fitting reward for the 2007 series runner-up, one of the few riders to have contested all seven rounds.
Coisy had dominated the early rounds before collisions in the French event at Marseilles last month and his non-participation at the Milan Show – a race which had conflicted with his Bercy commitments – reduced his series lead to a single point going into the Genoa finale.
With nobody else in contention, it was a winner-takes-all situation for the two Frenchmen – no matter where they finished, the first man home took the title.
Coisy initially had the better cards as he advanced quickly to third in the main event with Izoird stuck in fifth but, on the third lap, it all happened.
Matteo Bonini – who had grabbed the holeshot – crashed out, Coisy's Honda spluttered to a halt and in the confusion Izoird stormed past Antoine Meo, on the two-stroke Husqvarna, and Marvin Musquin to take the lead.
With the title in his sights, Izoird relinquished the lead to Musquin again within a couple of laps rather than risk throwing it all away, but the Suzuki rider remained clear of the pack. Khounsith Vongsana eventually took the final podium place from Meo.
Pascal Leuret, having his first ride on the JK Honda he will ride in the 2009 GPs, finished in seventh place.
The packed house had witnessed a disappointing start to the main event as Jason Lawrence, hot favourite for the race win, crashed out at turn two.
This was J-Law's first race since the AMA suspended him back in the summer for incidents away from the race-track. Racing an Italian Yamaha, he had won his heat with ease.
EUROPEAN SUPERCROSS SERIES
Rd 7 (Final) – Palafiera, Genoa, ITALY
MAIN EVENT: 1 Marvin Musquin (F - Honda), 2 Fabien Izoird (F - Suzuki), 3 Khounsith Vongsana (F - Honda), 4 Antoine Meo (F - Husqvarna), 5 Ryan Beat (US - Yamaha), 6 Stefano Dami (I - Honda), 7 Pascal Leuret (F - Honda), 8 Mike Valade (F - Honda), 9 Jean Cros (E - Kawasaki), 10 Matteo Bonini (I - Yamaha), 11 Benjamin Coisy (F - Honda), 12 Jason Lawrence (US - Yamaha).
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Fabien Izoird 71 points (CHAMPION), 2 Benjamin Coisy 62, 3 Marvin Musquin 59, 4 Bonini 48, 5 Valade 39, 6 Cedric Soubeyras (F - Yamaha) 34, 7 Stephan Demartis (F - Honda) 27, 8 Vongsana 25, 9 Dami 24, 10 Beat 24.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2008
The main event gets off to a flying stat at Palafiera, led by Matteo Bonini (36), Antoine Meo (101), Mike Valade (140) and Stefano Dami (511).