FSBK – First French title won in Albi! –

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First French title won in Albi !

FSBK - First French title won in Albi! -

Penultimate race of the season, the sixth round of the French Superbike Championship in Albi allows Matthieu Lussiana to win the Pirelli Junior Trophy. But in the other categories, everything remains open for the last round ! Report.

The penultimate round of the 2007 French Superbike Championship season took place under heavy and hot conditions, last weekend in Albi: with air at over 30 ° C and tires at over 100 ° C, the temperature under the helmets must have been near records !

Masterfully orchestrated by Jean-Jacques Lapeyre – director and president of the Albigensian circuit – this new round attracted many spectators who witnessed first-rate fights in all categories..

125

For the second time this year, the championship has a luxury guest in the person of Alexis Masbou, entered in the Grand Prix 125 within the FFM Honda GP 125 team. Even if he does not ride on his usual motorcycle , n ° 7 risks being a serious customer !

But for the sixth consecutive time, it’s Alexis Michel (Aprilia n ° 5) who sets the best time at the controls of his Aprilia. Alexis Masbou is only 31 thousandths ahead of Clement Dunikowski (Honda n ° 180), Jimmy Petit (Honda n ° 32), Louis Rossi (Honda n ° 69), Anthony Loiseau, Steven Le Coquen and Valentin Debise.

Initially, Masbou takes command and expects to see Michel reply: "I had to create a significant gap. I knew that Alexis Michel, leader of the championship, could come back to the end of the race. I was nevertheless surprised to see that it was in fact Clement Dunikowski who was following me".

Indeed, the reigning French champion Dunikowski remains glued to the wheel of the GP driver: "I had a bad start, then I got back into Alexis’ wheel and just followed him", explains Clement.

A few cables away, Alexis Michel, Jimmy Petit and Louis Rossi engage in a superb fight for the third step of the podium: "in my group, it was a great fight with Jimmy and Louis: braking, aspirations, fairing against fairing throughout the race, all embellished with a few friendly cuckoos in the straights with Jimmy !", says Alexis Michel.

Behind, the rest of the peloton is dropped and loses nearly a second per lap! Not letting go of Alexis Masbou with a sole, Clement Dunikowski briefly takes the lead of the race, scores the best lap but is passed by Masbou, determined to make forget his misadventure of Ledenon (read).

On the penultimate lap, however, Masbou failed in braking and widened: Clement slipped in and started the last lap in the lead! Behind, it’s Alexis Michel who occupies the 3rd step of the podium…

Redoubling his efforts, Alexis Masbou pushes Clement to the fault in the penultimate turn, while the two young men overtake the retarded. "Duni" in turn widens and lets out the victory, which therefore goes to an equally deserving Alexis Masbou: "it was the best anyway", testifies Dunikowski fair-play.

The respect between the two pilots is mutual, since Masbou declares after the race that he "take the opportunity to congratulate Clement who, abandoned during the championship, was able to demonstrate to his detractors as to those who supported him his driving skills. If today I win, I only do it in front of excellent pilots".

But the final word goes to Alexis Michel, third in the race, who thus widens the gap on Louis Rossi in 5th position behind Jimmy Petit: "it is not all over, although I would rather have a 21 point lead over a final event. Today, I did not take any risk but I had a good fight until the finish with my pursuers".

Pirelli Junior Trophy

Despite the domination of Matthieu Lussiana (Yamaha n ° 93) in practice, it was finally Dylan Chevalley who took pole position. He is ahead of the category leader (Matthieu Lussiana), Alexandre Le Quère and Louis Bulle, one of the Dark Dog Academy riders (Honda n ° 6).

At the start, Matthieu took the lead in the race but he was closely followed by Dylan. Louis Bulle made a small mistake: "at the end of the second straight line, I forgot that with a full tank and the wind at my back, I had to brake earlier"… He is sanctioned with a" straight ahead "and starts again in 18th position !

In a fight for ten laps, Matthieu Lussiana unfortunately loses the front of his Yamaha. He lets Dylan Chevalley’s Honda escape … and the possibility of being titled from this event !

"This drop is not due to the pressure. I was good, calm, I knew that Dylan is a good driver who can go fast", specifies the leader of the championship. The desire to win was simply too strong … During this time, Bulle goes up the peloton and at this rate there, can still hope for a podium !

Five laps later, luck smiled on Lussiana: Nicolas Pouhair’s broken engine (Honda n ° 72) spilled oil on the track … So at the head of the race, Dylan Chevalley fell on the puddle while the red flag had just been waved. The race is interrupted and the classification in the previous round serves as the final result.

Finally, Dylan won the event ahead of Alexandre Le Quère and Axel Maurin. But the latter can no longer return to the championship on Matthieu Lussiana, who grabs 4 points from 12th place. "This year, Matthew was the strongest", simply recognizes the Kawasaki rider.

Supersport

In Supersport on Saturday, Mathieu Andrieu achieved the feat of improving his best time in practice during the Superpole event despite a hot track. David Perret (Kawasaki n ° 18), Kenny Foray (Triumph n ° 78) and Matthieu Lagrive (Suzuki n ° 60) complete the first row ahead of Jehan d’Orgeix (Honda n ° 2), David Marsac (Yamaha n ° 44) , Gregory Lefort (Yamaha n ° 5) and Arnaud Vincent (Yamaha n ° 21).

A first start is given but at the start of the second lap, the race must be interrupted after the fall of Mathieu Andrieu. During the second start, David Perret got the better of Kenny Foray and Arnaud Vincent. Matthieu Lagrive, decidedly unsuccessful, fell in the sixth lap and retired.

In front, the top trio have a blast and stand in the same second! The fight rages on, but David Perret is almost perfect: Arnaud will only take advantage of David’s error during braking to temporarily take the lead. Behind, Jehan d’Orgeix leads the chase but gradually lets the gap widen.

It is only in the very last laps that Perret and Vincent manage to get rid of Foray, provisional leader of the championship. Behind Kenny and his 675, another Triumph piloted by Mathieu Ginès (n ° 4) leads the chasing pack.

Finally, David Perret won ahead of Arnaud Vincent and Kenny Foray. Mathieu Ginès takes 4th place and Mathieu Andrieu – unbeatable in qualifying – ranks 9th.

In the championship, Kenny Foray is only 21 points ahead of David Perret and even Arnaud Vincent has a tiny chance of winning the national title. But for that, in addition to the 25 points of victory, Arnaud will have to score the point of the Superpole and count on a poor performance of David and Kenny … Suspense !

Superbike

The Superpole event is largely dominated by Yamaha riders who take the first four places on the grid: Erwan Nigon (Yamaha n ° 37) ahead of Olivier Four (Yamaha n ° 94), Patrick Piot (Yamaha n ° 6) and Denis Bouan (Yamaha n ° 26). The second row is occupied by Gwen Giabbani (Kawasaki n ° 7), Julien Millet, David Muscat (Ducati n ° 1) and Guillaume Dietrich (Suzuki n ° 45).

Like Supersport, the first start in a Superbike is not the right one, and especially not for Fabrice Auger, victim of a heavy fall, fortunately without too many consequences for him. A few minutes later, the race is restarted…

Denis Bouan again takes the best start ahead of Erwan Nigon, Julien Millet, Patrick Piot and Olivier Four, that is to say five R1 in the lead! Nigon then Piot take command until the rain appears in the middle of the 12th lap…

A third start is therefore given after ten minutes of interruption! In the meantime, the rain has stopped and the track has become almost dry again … "In this case, we have chosen the riding of our competitor in the championship", explains the GMT94 team:"thus, no risk of losing everything in an attempt to win everything. The goal for Olivier was to finish ahead of Guillaume".

A superb duel – with corrected times – ensued between Olivier Four and Guillaume Dietrich, happily refereed by Denis Bouan, Erwan Nigon and Patrick Piot who finally emerged victorious from this two-stage race! Lucas de Carolis, Team Dark Dog Academy rider (Honda n ° 10), finished 9th.

"This victory makes me happy", rejoices Patrick,"because it is the fruit of a lot of work. I was able to benefit from good tires at Albi, which allowed me to ride with the best. This victory can open the doors of professionalism to me for next year".

"I am disappointed that I was wrong about the choice of my front tire", explains Guillaume Dietrich, third in this grueling race."I chose a soft slick which handicapped me on braking … Now, I have only six points behind and this challenge, I will take it up at Magny-Cours !"

Olivier Four, who had "considered winning", ends 2nd but says to himself super happy that it is Patrick who wins. He deserves it, if only for all the work he has done. Of course, everything will be played out at Magny-Cours. But this is the first time that I arrive in Albi with a lead and that I leave with more points", concludes the GMT 94 pilot.

The Magny-Cours final, on July 28 and 29, promises to be particularly tense: Olivier Four has a 6 point lead over Guillaume Dietrich and behind, four men will compete for third place: Patrick Piot, Denis Bouan, Freddy Foray and Gwen Giabbani … yum !

Sidecar

Finally in a sidecar, the Lebail / Chaigneau crew must take advantage of the absence of Delannoy / Cluze – who had gone to compete in the World Cup – to pocket big points. But a mechanical failure prevented them from doing so: forced to retire while they occupied the lead in the first round, they took revenge by winning the second. !

Overall, Ducouret and Gandois come out victorious in the Albigensian event ahead of the two Bessy and Baer / Dury. In the championship, the last event will therefore have to decide between the new leaders Le Bail / Chaigneau, and Delannoy / Cluze…

See you on July 28 and 29 at Magny-Cours !

Rankings

125 cc

  1. MICHEL Alexis (Aprilia): 104 points
  2. ROSSI Louis (Honda): 83
  3. DUNIKOWSKI Clement (Honda): 74
  4. PAGAUD Randy (Honda): 66
  5. DEBISE Valentin (Honda): 64
  6. MASTER Romain (Honda): 62
  7. LITTLE Jimmy (Honda): 62
  8. THE COQUEN Steven (Honda): 42
  9. LOISEAU Anthony (Honda): 34
  10. MAJOR Nelson (Honda): 28
  11. CARTRON Julien (Honda): 26
  12. ROUVIERE Thomas (Honda): 26
  13. MASBOU Alexis (Honda): 25
  14. QUELLET Erwan (Honda): 25
  15. BAILLOT Brice (Honda): 22

Pirelli Junior 600 Trophy

  1. LUSSIANA Matthieu (Yamaha): 119 points
  2. MAURIN Axel (Kawasaki): 91
  3. POUHAIR Nicolas (Honda): 80
  4. CHEVALLEY Dylan (Honda): 62
  5. MASSON Etienne (Honda): 57
  6. MARCOLINI Guillaume (Honda): 52
  7. LE QUERE Alexandre (Kawasaki): 51
  8. KALUZNY Nicolas (Kawasaki): 50
  9. BULLE Louis (Honda): 49
  10. GUITTET Baptiste (Kawasaki): 46
  11. VAN PAEMEL Morgan (Yamaha): 31
  12. BUSH Dylan (Honda): 28
  13. BARRIER Sylvain (Yamaha): 25
  14. DILLER Charles (Kawasaki): 21
  15. EGEA Stephane (Suzuki): 19

Supersport

  1. FORAY Kenny (Triumph): 121 points
  2. PERRET David (Kawasaki): 100
  3. VINCENT Arnaud (Yamaha): 95
  4. D’ORGEIX Jehan (Honda): 73
  5. ANDRIEU Mathieu (Yamaha): 67
  6. LEFORT Gregory (Yamaha): 57
  7. LUSSIANA Yann (Yamaha): 46
  8. BRIAN Laurent (Honda): 42
  9. BOUFFIER Cyril (Kawasaki): 38
  10. MARSAC David (Yamaha): 36
  11. STEY Bertrand (Honda): 26
  12. LAGRIVE Matthew (Suzuki): 20
  13. RUIZ Julien (Kawasaki): 19
  14. MIZERA Eric (Yamaha): 18
  15. PAVONY Franck (Yamaha): 17

Superbike

  1. FOUR Olivier (Yamaha): 112 points
  2. DIETRICH Guillaume (Suzuki): 106
  3. PIOT Patrick (Yamaha): 87
  4. BOUAN Denis (Yamaha): 80
  5. FORAY Freddy (Suzuki): 77
  6. GIABBANI Gwen (Kawasaki): 69
  7. NIGON Erwan (Yamaha): 64
  8. METRO Thomas (Ducati): 40
  9. DELHALLE Anthony (Suzuki): 35
  10. MUSCAT David (Ducati): 25
  11. TANGRE Jerôme (Suzuki): 23
  12. MILLET Julien (Yamaha): 22
  13. BY CAROLIS Lucas (Honda): 19
  14. DUTERNE Stephane (MV Agusta): 17
  15. HUVIER Cyril (Yamaha): 14

Sidecar

  1. LE LEASE / CHAIGNEAU (Auto Moto Yamaha): 108 points
  2. DELANNOY / CLUZE (LCR Suzuki): 95.5
  3. DUCOURET / GANDOIS (LCR Suzuki): 74
  4. BAER / HULLOIS (LCR Suzuki): 73
  5. BESSY / BESSY (LCR Suzuki): 72.5
  6. MARZELLE / LAVIDALIE (LCR Suzuki): 61
  7. BARBER / CHAPERON (LCR Suzuki): 56.5
  8. BOURC’HIS / SCELLIER (Shelbourne Honda): 45.5
  9. BENETEAU / CHAUSSADE (LCR Suzuki): 43
  10. BRUNAZZI / LE CROQ (LCR Suzuki): 35.5
  11. LEBLOND / LEBLOND (Shelbourne Honda): 29
  12. GALLERNE / LELIAS (RCN Suzuki): 27
  13. GUIGUE / THEVENEAU (LCR Suzuki): 22
  14. GEFFRAY / MAIROT (LCR Kawasaki): 22
  15. BAJUS / DARRAS (Windle Kawasaki): 15

Matthieu BRETILLE – Photos Olivier POLAK

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