Road rallies – 43rd Beaujolais Rally 2007: the Knight in absolute master! –

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43rd Beaujolais Rally 2007: the Knight in absolute master !

Road rallies - 43rd Beaujolais Rally 2007: the Knight in absolute master! -

The third round of the French rally championship took place again under the sun this weekend in Beaujolais. A 43 edition dominated by the sinister Grolandais Chevalier Serge Nuques who gets almost all the scratches…

Perfect organization and ideal progress: tip of the hat to the Beaujolais Motorcycling Club for this 43rd edition of the Beaujolais Rally, the third round of the 2007 French rally championship, which took place in a burr on a typical "rally" route. All in an incomparable atmosphere that is that of the road rally: another memorable event !

Serge Nuques also rode flawlessly, earning himself almost all scratches! All but one, because a time recorded during the second special gives him a surprising ninth place to say the least….

But the Chevalier does not let himself be demoralized and systematically offers himself all the other best times on the handlebars of his faithful black R1, which has come to replace his white 450 WRF from the Corsican rally (read).

On the weekend’s program: departure from Villefranche-sur-Saône for a long and grueling 178 km loop, first passing through Blace which will be the daytime arrival point and nighttime departure, to be done twice during the day and shortened to 143 km for the night stage (also to be done twice).

Two specials are on the menu for each loop: that of Blace (Col de Saint-Bonnet, 3.3 km) and that of Claveisolles (Col de la Croix-Rozier, 3.7 km)

Day stage

Saturday morning, 11h00: after the chapter "technical control" started early in the morning (07h00), the start is given in an authoritarian tone by a motivated and confident Knight !

"I have magic tires that stick to the asphalt (Pirelli SC0), the motorbike runs seriously from home, it’s going to snap !", proclaims the black Grolandais Zalduna upon departure:"this wheel is too good, too good !"

Greg Debize, the reigning champion, is on the attack again after his big fall in Corsica and does not intend to play the supporting roles: with his Aprilia 1000 Tuono reconditioned by his Team D n ‘D, he is setting off again on a good basis.

In the first link, Thierry Canazzi falls "stupidly" and breaks an engine crankcase: he has to forfeit and will spend the rally watching his friends…

Special 1

It is the traditional special of the Rallye du Beaujolais, with its change of direction of almost 180 degrees followed by a long series of "hot" curves at full speed. !

Serge Nuques immediately took the fastest time (2’19.649) ahead of Gregory Debize (2’21.483) and Emmanuel Siaux (2’24.120): Manu admits that he "preserve"for the Belgian Moto Tour, to follow on the Site next weekend.

The first two "Sport", Olivier Aubonnet and Nicolas Derrien, respectively agree the 8th and 9th times in 2’27.729 for Olivier on the handlebars of his 650 Suzuki SV and in 2’30.341 for Nico on his Suzuki 400 DR.

On the second round of this special, Serge improved his time even further and went to 2’17.672, under the pressure of a supercharged Greg who completed the special in 2’18.340.

During the reconnaissance, faithful to his original enduro culture, the ignoble Sergei had shamefully spotted a cut during the famous change of direction … He wanted to try it at the time of the race, but the staff of the organization, warned, had judiciously placed a camping chair in its path…

The sinister character thus remained correctly on the road, which did not prevent him from making times of extra-terrestrial … Did the valiant Grolandais knight have other secret cuts higher up in the Mountain ?

As for the Site rider, dressed in his new Ixon outfit in the colors of the Journal moto du net, he does his best despite his wrist "strapped" and immobilized in the left glove (read the Corsican event,) so as not to be left too far behind in the rankings and try to get back in the top 10, finishing this rally in 11th place in the day / night total…

Special 2

A beautiful coating, beautiful curves with a straight stretch from the start that ends with a pin: big heart essential to brake at the latest! A very fast 3.7 km special covered in 1’37.380 on Greg Debize’s first pass !

Second time for Emmanuel Siaux in 1’38.079 … and only a strange 1’42.622 for the Black Knight, who immediately draws a 1’35.206 of very good size during his second passage !

"As far as I can remember I didn’t stop on the way for a drink", testifies Serge, to say the least surprised at the announcement of his time…

A little lower in the ranking but while remaining in the top 10, we find Alain Amblard at the head of the Monos riding his 660 KTM, doped with the magic recipe that he proudly displays on the side of his motorcycle…

In the Sport category, we are witnessing a festival of chronos from Olivier Aubonnet, followed in the category by an equally promising Nicolas Derrien…

On the side-car side, the Marlin / Jeandemange team leads their Choda Kawasaki team on pole from the first special (2’35.559), followed by Guillet and Chanal on their Hechard 1300 GSXR.

After these 350 km of a road course as magnificent as it is varied, the day stage comes to an end: Sergeï keeps smiling, convinced that the first lap of Special 2 will be rectified….

Some pilots take advantage of their assistance time to repair their little problems of the day, such as this little problem with the exhaust mounting for Laurent Guillet and David Chanal…

No correction will ultimately be made to the time for Serge Nuques’ special 2. The organization, moreover very focused on the tracking of times throughout the race thanks to the "Enduro" system and its luminous display panel which announces the times at the top of each special, in fact considered that the recorded time was necessarily the good.

We therefore find for the day classification:

  1. Greg Debize – Aprilia 1000 Tuono – 7’55.100 (cumulative special times)

  2. Serge Nuques – Yamaha R1 – 7’55.149

  3. Emmanuel Siaux – Buell XB12 SST – 7’59.517

  4. Pascal Leger alias "Dody" – Triumph 675 – 8’08.481

  5. Eric Demaria – KTM 950 SM – 8’11.623

  6. Florent Parret – BMW HP2 – 8’11.727

  7. Alain Amblard – KTM 660 SMC – 8’14.921

  8. Olivier Aubonnet – Suzuki 650 SV – 8’21.030

  9. François Bos – Aprilia 1000 Tuono – 8’25.406

  10. Julien Tonuitti (non-league) – 8’25.946

Night stage

At 10:30 pm, we put the cover back! But Serge Nuques does not see this classification in the same way and takes the start of the night stage a little on the nerves … This good old Nick Ayrton tried to calm him down before his departure, Sergeï the revolutionary Basque Groland had the intention to prove good faith…

As with every night departure, a few last small electrical problems come to increase the adrenaline rate of some, especially for the machine of Gregory Debize or that of Olivier Aubonnet…

From the first night special, Serge the implacable still farts a scratch in 2’21.872, still ahead of Greg who turns in 2’24.416.

During the first pass of the second special, the Black Knight strikes again with a time of 1’36.771, six seconds faster than during the dubious passage of day !

The night stage goes as well as the day stage and the dark knight grants himself all the scratches. Some competitors got lost a bit during the loop, but no big difficulties. Rallies like that, we want more !

Night classification:

  1. Serge Nuques (8’00.628)

  2. Greg Debize (8’16.198)

  3. Emmanuel Siaux (8’21.571)

  4. Eric Demaria (8’29.789)

  5. Florent Parret (8’35.969)

  6. Thierry Lozano said "Firmin" on Aprilia 1000 RSV (8’38.115)

  7. Alain Amblard (8’40.069)

  8. Pascal Leger (8’42.164)

  9. Olivier Aubonnet (8’49.656)

  10. François Bos (8’50.064)

Awards

Sunday noon, the traditional and folkloric Beaujolaise awards ceremony takes place in an atmosphere just as warm as the previous editions: the winners of each category are inducted and must take an oath on Saint-Vincent, the patron saint of winegrowers. !

Scratch podium of this 43rd Beaujolais rally:

  1. Serge Nuques

  2. Gregory Debize

  3. Emmanuel Siaux

On the Monos side, we find Alain Amblard ahead of Guillaume Giannini (Yamaha 450 WRF) and Wilfried Cally (Honda 650 XR).

In the Sport category, Olivier Aubonnet occupies first place followed by Michael Pefaure (Yamaha 400 WR) and Didier Chambost (Suzuki 400 DR).

Among the old cars, a world first occurred at Blace during this rally: by winning the G1 category (before 1976), Eric Martin was the first to hoist a Suzuki RE5 (with rotary engine) on a podium. !

Absolutely not intended for competition, this machine would never have had another opportunity to "make its place" in a race … In G2 (from 1976 to 1981) it is Rodrigue Gambier who takes down the timpani.

Finally in sidecars, the Guillet / Chanal team won ahead of Marlin / Jeandemange and Laur / Ferrieu. A superb, impeccably organized rally is coming to an end: let’s hope that the next one goes as well since, for the fourth round of the French championship, it will be the Rallye du Morvan, at Le Creusot on June 1st and 2nd..

In the meantime, see you in Belgium on Thursday for the Belgian Moto Tour, the opening round of the International Rally Championship. !

Marcus HIMSELF – Photos MH and Zezette

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