Road rallies – 44th Beaujolais Rally: Manoel Delaval above the crowd! – Saturday morning in Villefranche-sur-Saône …

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44th Beaujolais Rally: Manoel Delaval ahead of the pack !

Road rallies - 44th Beaujolais Rally: Manoel Delaval above the crowd! - Saturday morning in Villefranche-sur-Saône ...

Brilliant winner of this 4th round of the 2009 French Rally Championship, Delaval strengthens his lead over Maximus: the Buell XB 12 Central Team driver left nothing but crumbs to his pursuers by winning most of the specials. !

Saturday morning in Villefranche-sur-Saône…

It is finally a clear blue sky that honors the competitors of this 44th Beaujolais rally at dawn: a definitive good weather awaits us !

The technical controls and the departure take place in Villefranche-sur-Saône (partnership of the municipality requires). Blace is only about fifteen kilometers away and the layout of this 44th Beaujolais edition will first connect the two municipalities by a first link called "prologue", passing through the special of Saint-Bonnet and back to Blace. Then, a second start will be given from Blace for the big loop of a good hundred kilometers with the two specials. This route is to be done twice during the day and once at night.

Manoel Delaval, leader of the French Elite Championship, more at home than in Corsica, intends to confirm his position and impose his Buell XB 12 SS of the Central Team in front of the KTM 690 SM of Maxime Olivieri !

But the places on the Elite podium will be expensive … Between Mano and Maximus who want to snatch the top step, dangerous locals are likely to come and intervene. In particular Olivier Aubonnet, pilot of the organizing club, Club Moto du Beaujolais, then in fifth place in the provisional Elite riding his Triumph 675 Street Triple, or Julien Toniutti, Team Site rider during the last DDT, where he had done shine his KTM 690 SMC by finishing second in Mono behind Gilles Salvador. Julien also obtained second place in Topsport (3rd Elite) in the 2008 French Rally Championship riding a 990 Superduke (read).

Julien Toniutti, absent from the championship this year, just came to this rally for fun. It would have been a shame, his father living almost on one of the two stages! For the occasion, he drives a Suzuki 750 GSXR loaned by a friend, the boss of the Grolandais team Nounours Racing…

It will also be necessary to count on Thomas Garcin, rider of the official Moto-Morini 1200 Corsaro, 3rd Elite of the provisional: Thomas does not intend to let it go. !

10:30 am: first departure

10:30 am: departure of the first competitor for the first part of this rally: the prologue !

A nice little road takes us to the Col de Saint-Bonnet special. But not that nice for everyone, because the unlucky Bruno Schiltz gets a one minute penalty at the time control following a small error of the course (not easy to navigate without a road book!) Maxime Olivieri and his KTM 690 SM announce the color by scratching the first time trial of the day: in 2’20”882, Maxime is already taking a clear advantage for the rest of the operations. For his part, Mano Delaval will post 2’21”470.

After the return to Blace and the 15 minutes of assistance, departure for the large loop. After some hesitation on the course – not very well signposted, so much so that some have taken pawns while gardening – here we are at the Col du Chêne special (Le Saule d’Oingt).

Here it is Olivier Aubonnet at the controls of his Triumph 675 Street Triple who gets the best time in 0’58”170! The stage is as short as it is quick and the seven best times are in the same second. The first three are decided with hundredths: Thomas Garcin riding the Moto-Morini 1200 Corsaro gets the second time in 0’58”181 and Manoel Delaval hangs his Buell XB 12 SS "Central Team" in third place in 0’58”199 !

The first lap ends with a brilliant driver (with a few more devious intersections … Thanks again to Patrick Curtat on his KTM 990 Supermoto n ° 4, which started right behind me and who did me a good service with his road book! , like a beginner, I did not see fit to ride one on my Katoche … The route brings us back to the prologue special, namely Le Gay, the Col de Saint-Bonnet.

Marcus HIMSELF – Photos MH and Guillaume LEPRINCE

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