Pichon pinches Le Touquet win
By TMX Archives on 11th Feb 10
CONTROVERSY clouded the end of the Le Touquet, the world's biggest beach race, as Yves Deudon crossed the finish line after the gruelling three hour event in first, but was given a 15 minute penalty as his Kawasaki was making too much noise.This handed the win to former world motocros s champion, Mickael Pichon on his Honda and pushed Deudon back into a disappointing sixth place.
Another victim of noise was two-times winner Jean-Claude Mousse as with just two laps to go, and in the lead, his Yamaha pit crew pulled him in to change a noisy silencer and that pushed him back into third.
Phil Mercer, on his Kawasaki, gave the British crowd something to shout about as he came home in a creditable 33rd place, with Steven Smyth, Nick Life, Craig Trew and Rick Du-Feu all finishing in the top 100.
Sunday's weather wasn't bad as it stayed dry but overcast all day, with just a hint of drizzle as the three hour race came to a close.
As usual, the sight of the 1009 racing motorcycles threading their way from the parc ferme, through the narrow streets of the usually sleepy little seaside town to the beach for the 1pm mass start, was amazing and is something you never get tired of seeing.
Then the red flair was lit as the massive start gate dropped and off they went thundering down the five- mile start straight to turn one with Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren on his Yamaha getting the Holeshot award with the knowledge that there were 1008 riders charging up behind him.
LE TOUQUET BEACH RACE
Le Touquet, France
SOLO: 1 Mickael Pichon (F - Honda) 12 laps, 2 Adrien Van Beveren (F - Yamaha) 12, 3 Jean-Claude Mousse (F - Yamaha) 12, 4 Alexandre Morel (F - Yamaha) 12, 5 Gautier Leclabart (F - Yamaha) 12, 6 Yves Deudon (F - Kawasaki) 12, 7 Ricky Claus (B - Honda) 12, 8 Julien Tournessi (F - Honda) 12, 9 Vincent Cambier (F - KTM) 12, 10 Sebastien Dulot (F - Yamaha) 12, 11 Sergei Potisek (F - Honda) 12, 12 Ton Van Grinsven (NL - KTM) 12, 13 Thierry Bethys (F - Honda) 11, 14 Florent Blanchard (F - Honda)11, 15 Romain Maurez (F - Kawasaki) 11, 16 Milko Potisek (F - Honda) 11, 17 Vincent Thioller (F - Honda) 11, 18 Heikki Van den Berg (NL - Honda) 11, 19 Franck Verhaegue (F - Kawasaki) 11, 20 Richard Leroy (F - Yamaha) 11.
British Finishers: 33 Phil Mercer (Kawasaki),... 47 Steven Smyth (Honda),... 57 Nick Life (Suzuki), 58 Craig Trew (Suzuki),... 79 Rick De-Feu (Kawasaki),... 126 Gavin Johnston (KTM),... 143 Leslie Winthrop (KTM),... 156 Eddie Sloane (Yamaha),... 166 James Price (Honda),... 171 David Thompson (KTM),... 204 Craig Stevenson (Suzuki),... 207 Tom Neesam (Kawasaki),... 228 Craig Smith (Yamaha),... 255 Paul Chippa (Yamaha),... 287 Mark De Sylva (KTM),... 321 Kevin Neesam (Kawasaki),... 394 Bill Haddow (Honda).
JEREMIE Warnia was in a class of his own at last weekend's Le Touquet Quaduro as he ripped the opposition apart on his Can Am with only five-times winner Romain Couprie, riding a Yamaha, staying with him, but never really challenged him for the lead.
The UK riders did very well too, with Jason Wildman bringing his Suzuki home in 13th and Carl Bunce on another Suzuki five places behind him, making it two of our racers in the top 20.
The forecast rain held off for Saturday's three- hour event on a course just a little bit smaller than the solos ride and the sun even shone for a while, but the wind was blowing up the sand making it uncomfortable for the much
larger crowd then normal.
Just over 400 quads made their way through the town to form into five rows with faster riders seeded into the first row with the rest of the rows setting off one at a time with a small interval that seemed to get smaller with the keenness of the riders.
LE TOUQUET BEACH RACE
Le Touquet, France
QUAD: 1 Jeremie Warnia (F - Can Am) 13 laps, 2 Romain Couprie (F - Yamaha) 13, 3 Matthieu Ternynck (F - Yamaha) 13, 4 Jan Vlaeymans (F - WTEC) 13, 5 Joe Maessen (NL - Yamaha)13 , 6 Keveen Rochereau/ Vincent Pinchon (F - Yamaha) 12, 7 Alex Brusselers/ Patrick Van Der Plas (NL - WTEC) 12, 8 Nikky Yaes (F - WTEC) 12, 9 Cyril Lamet/ Franck Allard (F - Suzuki) 12, 10 Mikael Vonchon (F - Yamaha) 12, 11 Michel Trannin (F - Yamaha) 12, 12 Lionel Picot (F - Yamaha) 12, 13 Jason Wildman (GB - Suzuki) 12, 14 Samuel Blancke (F - Yamaha) 12, 15 Jerome Soyez (F - WTEC) 12, 16 Jose Gomes (F - WTEC) 12, 17 Clement Bouvard/ Borgea Sousa (F - Honda ) 12, 18 Carl Bunce (GB - Suzuki) 12, 19 Martin Toovis/ Henri Mundi EST - Yamaha) 12, 20 David Morilleau/ Jerome Bouron (F - Yamaha) 12.
Other British/ Irish finishers: 21 Steve Atkins (Honda),... 33 Cathal Mc Gilligan/ Sean Goss (Suzuki),... 41 Ben Morgan (Honda),... 50 Clint Eagle (KTM),... 77 Jonathan Mc Knight (Honda),... 81 Liam Garbett/ Geoffrey Hand (Yamaha),... 84 Samuel Barrett (Suzuki),... 89 Kieran Power (Honda),... 91 Ameelie Miller/ Beverley Barnes (Honda),... 108 Clyde Alan Thompson (KTM),... 114 Peter Gallagher (Honda),... 148 Chris Murphy (Yamaha),... 160 Paul Davie (Suzuki),... 166 Geoff Sharpe (Honda),... 169 Pete Henson (Honda),... 194 Ian Neill/ Richard Cornett (Polaris),... 208 Sean Rooney (Suzuki),... 248 Dave Hill (Honda),... 250 Geoffrey Hamilton (Yamaha).
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010
Though Yves Deudon crossed the line first, a noise penalty demoted him in sixth.