Valentin's day came late
By TMX Archives on 26th Feb 09
A FIRST race error cost Shaun Simpson his unbeaten run and the MX2 overall win at Valence on Sunday, but KTM still swept the podium indeed they went one better than at Mantova by ending the day 1-2-3-4 as victory sensationally went to European champion Valentin Teillet, the 18-year-old from Nantes, racing for the first time at this level.In MX1 world champion David Philippaerts was in command, only a vibrant Ken De Dycker preventing Josh Coppins completing a Yamaha 1-2. Keen to give the home talent a chance to shine, the Valence organisers separated MX1 and MX2 in their first two rides before the best from each class faced each other head-on in the ‘Superfinal' that completed the programme.
And in the opening MX2 race it seemed to be paying dividends as an unforced error by Simpson left the French rider to take a 1-2-3.
The uphill start had been shortened, but with no 450s to get in their way the 250F KTMs scorched to the front, Teillet on the Juha Kempainen-tuned bike from the Jacky Martens stable out-dragging even the full factory machines of Simpson and Rui Goncalves.
On a hard-pack surface, which was even throwing up a veil of dust after a sun-baked couple of days, the MX2 boys were exceeding 62 km/h and a high-speed chase developed, Simpson edging closer to the leader, seemingly ready for the kill, until that single costly slip four-laps in.
"There was a soft patch on the approach to the table top at the back of the track. The back end sunk in and I hi-sided on the take-off. The bike started first kick, but I had to straighten all of the levers first.”
Rejoining the race on the edge of the top 15, even the Scot could make little headway, his final desperate dive under 2007 85cc champ, Jason Clermont, for 11th failing by inches.
Goncalves couldn't hold the pace on the other factory bike and slipped back into the clutches of Marvin Musquin on the NGS Honda and Nico Aubin with the Ricci Yamaha, but Teillet's nerves held and it was the very last lap before Musquin could finally get in his wheel tracks and slip through for the win. And Aubin simply couldn't close the gap.
The early laps were chaotic, Frossard and Boissiere colliding, Van Horebeek pulling out early with the flu, Paulin suffering rear-brake failure and Boog's CDI fizzling out. Pascal Leuret gave a confident display to pick off the youngsters on his way to sixth aboard the JK Multitek Honda.
Race two was Simpson's almost all the way after he quickly displaced Goncalves at the head of the pack and only Teillet, a secure third, flew the French Tricolour with dignity. Frossard and Boissiere crashed again, Paulin, Aubin and Boog battled away 20-seconds down for 5th as Leuret again ran down Verbruggen, and it was the turn of Swiss teenager Arnaud Tonus to place another orange bike fourth. Musquin had exited early, blood streaming from his nose after taking a rock at 100 km/h velocity.
Simpson's first moto lapse would normally have put him out of contention for the overall, but the decision of the organisers to score the final moto on general classification rather than in class opened up the possibility of the Scot salvaging the day if he could put enough 450s between himself and the rest of his class-mates.
And it nearly worked!
VALENCE INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS
Valence, FRANCE
MX1 – Moto One: 1 David Philippaerts (I - Rinaldi Yamaha), 2 Josh Coppins (NZ - Rinaldi Yamaha), 3 Kevin Strijbos (B - Martin Honda), 4 Ken De Dycker (B - Teka Suzuki), 5 David Vuillemin (F - Bud Kawasaki), 6 Julien Bill (CH - Aprilia), 7 Steve Ramon (B - Teka Suzuki), 8 Julien Vanni (F - HM Honda), 9 Marc De Reuver (NL - Martin Honda), 10 Gareth Swanepoel (ZA - KRTE Kawasaki), 11 Manuel Priem (B – Aprilia), 12 Pierre-Alexandre Renet (F - Schmidt Suzuki), 13 Loic Leonce (F - JK Aprilia), 14 Cedric Melotte (B - CAS Honda), 15 Kris Salaets (B – Honda).
MX1 – Moto Two: 1 Philippaerts, 2 De Dycker, 3 Coppins, 4 De Reuver, 5 Strijbos, 6 Ramon, 7 Vanni, 8 Bill, 9 Gregory Aranda (F - CLS Kawasaki), 10 Vuillemin, 11 Swanepoel, 12 Renet, 13 Priem, 14 Gert Krestinov (EW - Silver Action KTM), 15 Salaets.
MX2 – Moto One: 1 Marvin Musquin (F - NGS Honda), 2 Valentin Teillet (F - Red Bull Junior KTM), 3 Nico Aubin (F - Ricci Yamaha), 4 Rui Goncalves (P - Red Bull KTM), 5 Joel Roelants (B - Red Bull Junior KTM), 6 Pascal Leuret (F - JK Multitek Honda), 7 Arnaud Tonus (CH - HDI KTM), 8 Dennis Verbruggen (B - LS Honda), 9 Harri Kullas (SF - Nordic KTM), 10 Yohei Kojima (J - Teka Suzuki), 11 Jason Clermont (F - NGS Honda), 12 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - Red Bull KTM), 13 Ceriel Klein Kromhof (NL - Van der Haar KTM), 14 Loic Rombaut (F - CLS Kawasaki), 15 Robin Kappel (F - KTM).
MX2 – Moto Two: 1 Simpson, 2 Goncalves, 3 Teillet, 4 Tonus, 5 Gautier Paulin (F - Bud Kawasaki), 6 Aubin, 7 Xavier Boog (F - Teka Suzuki), 8 Leuret, 9 Verbruggen, 10 Roelants, 11 Kojima, 12 Rombaut, 13 Kullas, 14 Jordi Tixier (F - Bud Kawasaki), 15 Paulo Alberto (P - Suzuki).
Superfinal: 1 De Dycker, 2 Philippaerts, 3 De Reuver, 4 Strijbos, 5 Coppins, 6 Simpson, 7 Ramon, 8 Bill, 9 Vanni, 10 Vuillemin, 11 Paulin, 12 Teillet, 13 Goncalves, 14 Leuret, 15 Boog, 16 Tonus, 17 Priem, 18 Krestinov, 19 Rombaut, 20 Verbruggen.
MX1 Overall: 1 Philippaerts 72 points, 2 De Dycker 65, 3 Coppins 58, 4 Strijbos 54, 5 De Reuver 50, 6 Ramon 43, 7 Bill 41, 8 Vanni 39, 9 Vuillemin 38, 10 Priem 22,...
MX2 overall: 1 Teillet 51 points, 2 SIMPSON 49, 3 Goncalves 48, 4 Tonus 37, 5 Leuret 35, 6 Aubin 35, 7 Roelants 27, 8 Paulin 26, 9 Verbruggen 26, 10 Musquin 25,...
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2009
The MX1 class riders get a clean getaway for Moto Two with Josh Coppins (6) and Rinaldi Yamaha team-mate David Philippaerts leading the pack.