72nd Rallye de l’Ain: Objectif Moon !

By winning this 72nd Rallye de l’Ain, Maxime Olivieri takes the lead in the championship but the battle was tough between Maximus and Pierre Mouneu, Team Site driver, who almost won this event trusted by the Monos… Story !

So, wet or dry ?

Finally, the rain having stopped at daybreak, it is under a bright sun that the start is given for the first competitors. The road is now dry and some drivers are relieved.

Some, but not all … Because the Team Site had every intention of highlighting the undeniable superiority of Goldspeed Ultra-Street tires on wet roads! The riders of the Journal Moto du net therefore line up at the start but only have carefully performed their now traditional rain dance … After all, these tires are also excellent in the dry so there is more to do. spit in the hands and put on big gas !

We start right away with the Preau special, the badly named one … Not entirely dry when the first pilots passed, it will still be won by Manoel Delaval riding his Buell XB 12 SS in 2’48 ” 535, followed without surprise by Maxime Olivieri on his KTM 690 SM almost 4 seconds behind (2’52”488). Note that Maxime has also become a Goldspeed driver, a significant asset on such a rally! We then find Patrick Cosnuau, the second "Sport" of the provisional, at the controls of his Kawasaki 650 ER6 in 2’55”126.

A long liaison leads the pilots to special 2: Nebois. But halfway through the course, the sky quickly darkens and the drops begin to fall … Drops which will quickly become downpours strewn with hailstones: the total! Did the rain gods have heard us? A little too much, because we didn’t ask for so much !

It is therefore soaked to the bone that we arrive in Nebois and of course, given the sun and the blue sky at the time of departure, it was not worth going in a rain suit … !

Nick Ayrton, in good English, does not let himself be destabilized and puts on a plastic bag transformed into a dry suit! Then suddenly the rain stops and the sun comes back…

The ten additional minutes granted as assistance time during this link allow the pilots to warm up a bit (hail is cold!) And to tell each other anecdotes on this fairly sturdy portion of the course: a few passages in forest roads (very forest) have cost some mishaps to some…

John Comoglio, who got a good (not serious) ride in a small muddy slide, redo a special filthy decoration to his Suzuki 650 SV while Michael Pefaure, who gets caught on a very stoned part, picks up after a mega handlebar making him let go of the handlebars! End of the adventure in the aisle, with a slightly crumpled Yamaha 450 WR (vertical rear loop, straightened by force of the wrist!) But a rider unscathed. Without counting many other pilots, each with its branch which falls in front without warning or another large stone which crosses the road without looking….

But the most embarrassing of misadventures is indeed the one Manoel Delaval suffered: a moment of inattention when he had correctly arrived at a time control … and Mano is 4 minutes early! "I don’t know what got into me, I was stopped in front of the control, I checked my ideal check-in time and I checked in immediately when I was 4 minutes early", tells the Central Team driver to Site … A blunder which costs him 4 times 15 seconds of penalty, in other words any hope of podium on this 72nd Rallye de l’Ain and big points which would have enabled him to increase again his lead at the head of the provisional general…

The special is very wet for the first drivers, but it is not raining. And as in Preau, it will dry up for the following ones! Here is Michel Denozi scratching the handlebars of his KTM 690 SMC (Goldspeed pavement, of course!) In 1’24”350. Second time for Fabrice Nagot on KTM 690 Superduke in 1’25”499 and the surprise of the day begins to show its nose with Pierre Mouneu, one of the Site pilots riding his Husaberg 650: yet gone in the very wet, Moon gets the third time in 1’26”455 while Maximus ends up with the fourth time in 1’26”554.

Marcus HIMSELF – Photos MH and Guillaume LEPRINCE

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