Gp riders tear it up in Lacapelle Marival
By Alex Hodgkinson on 24th Feb 16
There were no shortage of shocks in the final test race before Qatar as most of the GP aces all hit the deck fortunately without adding to the injury tally at some time or another in Lacapelle Marival.
Even Shaun Simpson went down in all three motos but rebounded to top his class in the final face on his way to salvaging third in MX1.
"It was a trying day and a bummer to have so many crashes but it was handy to get all those mistakes and misjudgments out of the way,” said the Scot.
"My speed was great and I felt good on the bike after some changes we made in the morning.
"Anyway, feet firmly back on the ground, the main work is next week in Qatar.”
Victory among the 450s went to Valentin Teillet with Dyer & Butler KTM's Steven Lenoir an impressive and consistent second but the sensation of the day on the jump-littered track in the heart of France was Kemea Yamaha's Benoit Paturel.
Not only did he scorch to three MX2 class wins ahead of Dylan Ferrandis and Petar Petrov on the factory Kawasakis, he was also the top man on the day in either class, only headed once all day by a 450.
Fastest in qualifying, Simpson started badly in the opening moto and cross-rutted to slip off a few laps in before chasing back to fourth as Teillet outdistanced everyone and Paturel was a safe second in a spread-out field.
The biggest shock for the enthusiastic crowd came halfway through the moto when local hotshot Ferrandis, racing for the first time this year after preparing in California, went out.
Simpson again hit the deck in race two when he was wiped out entering turn one and could manage no better than 11th while Ferrandis could only climb to sixth.
Up front Paturel turned the tables on Teillet as Lenoir and Matiss Karro each put in their second top six finish of the day.
Simpson was looking good as he held an early fourth in the final moto but a collision with Karro pushed the Scot back to 11th and he couldn't quite catch Paturel for the overall moto win while Teillet secured the MX1 overall after crossing the line just one place back from Lenoir.
GL12's Lewis Gregory and Lenoir's team-mates Liam Knight and Jordan Divall were inevitably a little out of their depth but each battled all day, Knight in particular racing to a confident seventh in class, his final moto 13th coming in a photo-finish with GP winner Sebastien Pourcel on his RM450.
Results
MX1: 1 Valentin Teillet (F - Honda) 1-1-4, 2 Steven Lenoir (F - Dyer & Butler KTM) 2-3-3, 3 Shaun Simpson (GB - Wilvo Virus KTM) 3-6-1, 4 Xavier Boog (F - Kawasaki) 7-3-2, 5 Harri Kullas (SF - KTM) 4-4-4, 6 Matiss Karro (LV - Honda) 2-2-DNF...12 Lewis Gregory (GB - GL12 Yamaha) 10-11-DNF.
MX2: 1 Benoit Paturel (F - Yamaha) 1-1-1, 2 Sascha Tonkov (RUS - Yamaha) 4-5-4, 3 Hunter Lawrence (AUS - Kawasaki) 7-5-5, 4 Nicolas Dercourt (F - Kawasaki) 6-7-6, 5 Petar Petrov (BG - Kawasaki) 3-2-DNF, 6 Dylan Ferrandis (F - Kawasaki) DNF-4-3, 7 Liam Knight (GB - Dyer & Butler KTM) 8-10-7... 10 Jordan Divall (GB - Dyer & Butler KTM) 13-14-8...
Race one: 1 Teillet, 2 Paturel, 3 Karro, 4 Simpson, 5 Davide Guarneri (I - Honda), 6 Lenoir, 7 Petrov, 8 Tonkov, 9 Brent van Doninck (B - Yamaha), 10 Kullas ...17 Gregory, 18 Knight, 24 Divall.
Race two: 1 Paturel, 2 Teillet, 3 Petrov, 4 Karro, 5 Lenoir, 6 Ferrandis, 7 Boog, 8 Tonkov, 9 Kullas, 10 Sebastien Pourcel (F - Suzuki), 11 Simpson...18 Knight...24 Gregory, 25 Divall.
Race three: 1 Paturel, 2 Simpson, 3 Boog, 4 Lenoir, 5 Teillet, 6 Ferrandis, 7 Tonkov, 8 Kullas, 9 Lawrence, 10 Yentel Martens (B - Husqvarna)...13 Knight, 14 Divall.
