Rain stops play!
By TMX Archives on 1st Apr 09
THE final session of play fell victim to the elements on Sunday as torrential rain on the already saturated Faenza hillsides left FIM race director, Dave Nicoll, with no other option than to cancel the second moto of both the MX1 and MX2 classes at the GP season opener after Tanel Leok (MX1) and Gautier Paulin (MX2) had won the opening motos.
It was not a good day for the British contingent. Buildbase CCM teamsters Tom Church (eighth) and Jason Dougan (11th) were the top Britons in MX1, and Jake Nicholls was the only UK entry to break into the top ten in MX2 – yet all three were lapped either two or three times!
Shaun Simpson crashed three times and had to push back to the pit-lane for an eventual 11th. Fellow Scot, Stephen Sword, twice got stuck on the hillside on his way to 17th. Billy MacKenzie missed the points by one place after grinding to a halt three times, and James Noble salvaged 18th.
MX2
PAULIN'S performance in MX2 was remarkable. Back in 14th on lap one – "I crashed into Goncalves in the qualifier yesterday and had a bad choice of gate, so I had to back off at turn one as the pack came across me” – the French teenager was in a class of his own as conditions became worse as the race wore on. He set lap times 20 seconds faster than pace
setter, Jeremy Van Horebeek, to snatch the lead two laps from the end.
The Belgian had inherited the lead when Jeremy Tarroux got stuck on the hillside for 20 minutes – a fate shared by virtually every rider in the race at some time – but it was not until the closing stages, as Paulin closed in for the kill, that he realised he was in front.
"I got good drive up the hill after the start and was third, but after that I just tried not to crash.”
Saturday qualification winner, Arnaud Tonus and Pascal Leuret had both been pulled down at turn one as Anthony Boissiere fell in front of the pack and was taken to hospital with leg injuries, and Shaun Simpson, initially second, fell three times on his way to 11th.
"I already fell on a downhill on the opening lap, and the third time I jumped off the side of the jump before the pit-lane. The kill switch was clogged up with mud, and I had to push the bike into the pits.” After the mechanics had cleared the problem, Simpson rejoined many laps in arrears.
Stephen Sword was up to third at one point, but twice got stuck on the hillside. Unable to restart his bike for ages, he was eventually classified 17th.
His team-mate Jake Nicholls was a lap down before he got on the chart: "I was in that crash at the first turn, then went down again halfway round the lap, so I stopped for fresh gloves and goggles and just kept plugging away.”
The victory for Paulin – his first ever GP podium – was some consolation for the disappointment of losing last year's Spanish GP in similar conditions when the race was red-flagged just after he had taken the lead and the results were counted from one lap before that point.
MX1
STEVE Ramon and Marc De Reuver were the early leaders in MX1 before the hillside claimed them both. The Dutchman ran out of track and ended up in a trackside ditch for more than ten minutes before he could continue after setting a furious early pace.
Meanwhile, Tanel Leok rode unspectacularly to victory by more than a minute: "It was a matter of survival today, and I did just that!”
Ken De Dycker passed Clement Desalle for second on the very last lap after a traumatic opening circuit: "First I got stuck behind some guy in a rut at the third corner, then I chose a rut which was too deep on a downhill and got stuck again. I looked up and saw the leaders were already completing their first lap, but I put my head down and eventually got second.”
It was Desalle's first podium: "I'm happy about that, and I had no chance to hold off Ken (De Dycker). He was much faster than me.”
VETERANS
THE competitors in the Veteran's class also had a traumatic time, though at least one of their motos was run under relatively normal conditions on Saturday evening.
Defending champion, Peter Iven, was dominant both times, winning the ‘dry' race by 14-seconds from Sandro Puzar as the ‘red flag' came out to allow concussion victim, Walter Bartolini, to be treated. Then he topped the opening event on Sunday by 27 seconds from Jan Blancquaert as only three rivals avoided being lapped even though Iven needed much of the moto to take over the lead after an early error.
Terry House was fifth on day one, and was holding down second to Mats Nilsson on Sunday until he got helplessly stuck on an incline. So few riders were still circulating in that race that he was still classified fifth!
Michael McEvoy, the only other Brit to cough up the 500 Euro entry fee, was classified 34th on Saturday evening.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009