Wins for Pourcel and Roelants with their new teamsWinner of both races Sébastien dominates the second round of the French Elite in Sommières, while Joel beats Herlings in the sandy round of the Dutch series in Halle.Moving to south of France after a muddy event in Brittany, the French riders raced on a hard and sunny track in Sommières. Living only a few kilometers away, Sébastien Pourcel claimed his first ‘home victory’ since a while, after his series of injuries during the past season. Second in the timed practice period, Sébastien got the holeshot in both races; despite a small crash during the MX1 race, the Frenchman led all laps to celebrate his first win for team CP377 Kawasaki. Seb is currently second in the standings, only two points behind Soubeyras with four more rounds to go.  Sébastien Pourcel. Image courtesy of Kawasaki Racing Team. Leader of the MX2 classification Valentin Teillet didn’t participate in Sommières, as the Bud Racing leader damaged his shoulder this week while practicing. Unfortunately for the team, Dylan Ferrandis crashed in the free practice session as well, hurting one of his knees. Therefore he was unable to ride for a podium result. Dylan scored a tenth position in the MX2 race, and then finished twenty one in the super final. In Halle (Netherlands) Joel Roelants entered the second round of the Dutch series, and for his third race on the Pro Circuit Kawasaki the Belgian celebrate its first win on a typical sandy track. Winner of the first heat, Joel got a strong second position in the next race behind Herlings to get the overall win. It’s a great reward for Joel, who brings all his experience this winter to develop the bike on sandy tracks. The French series will make a break next weekend, while the Dutch championship will move to Heerlen. For Maxime Desprey, the NGS support rider, it was nearly a perfect day as the young Frenchman who will enter the European series scored a second position overall in the MX2 class. Runner up in the MX2 race behind GP rider Larrieu, Maxime was the best MX2 rider in the super final with a ninth overall; he is currently second in the standings.  Maxime Desprey. Image courtesy of Kawasaki Racing Team. Sébastien Pourcel: "I’m still not ready for the GP’s, but it’s great to win again. I can’t remember when my last victory was! Last week I was fast but I’ve made too many mistakes. Here it was better even if I crashed when I was leading the MX1 race. We decided to race here only a few days before the event. I’ve trained a lot with the team but what I need is to race, as it’s better to recover physically. I got the holeshot twice and that was important. Then I lead both races except in the MX1 race after my crash; I didn’t lose too much time, but Aranda passed me and I passed him back straight away. I know what I have to do to be ready for the GP’s, but we do it step by step.” Maxime Desprey: "It was a good weekend for us. I had pretty good start and that was important. The track was very hard, but we trained on similar tracks this week with Bruno (Losito) so I was ready for it. In the MX2 race I came sixth at the start, but during the first laps my riding was not so good and it took me too much time to come second; Loic (Larrieu) was riding fast, and he made a big gap so I couldn’t come back. The super final was tough physically, but I was the best MX2 rider so overall it’s a great result for me and the team. I feel more and more confident; the feeling with the bike is better every week, we have a strong relationship with my coach Bruno and my mechanic Christophe, and I can’t wait for the next round which takes place on my home track, in Gueugnon.”  Dylan Ferrandis. Image courtesy of Kawasaki Racing Team. Dylan Ferrandis: "It’s a bad day for me! I came here confident but in the first practice session this mistake I can’t explain. I don’t know what happened when I crashed on a small slippery jump. I had a lot of pain in my knees and ankles, and when I came back to the team I was not sure to be able to ride again. Jacky (Vimond) made a strap to my knee and I tried to score some points, it was painful but I did it. In the ruts it was difficult, I had troubles to move my legs and I didn’t have a good feeling with my rear brake. We’ll see what we can do now, we have two weeks prior the next round.” |