Road rallies – A smell of winning for Serge Nuques! –

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A smell of winning for Serge Nuques !

Road rallies - A smell of winning for Serge Nuques! -

It’s done: Serge Nuques won all the stages of a rally for the first time! He thus largely won the Rallye du Morvan, 4th round of the 2007 French rally championship, and consolidated his first place in the provisional classification..

It’s done: the ignoble Serge Nuques, alias "Ze Zalduna" ("the Knight" in Basque), won all the specials of a rally this weekend at Le Creusot! He thus largely won this third Rallye du Morvan 2007, the fourth round of the French championship, while consolidating his first place in the provisional classification..

Serge felt it right from the reconnaissance, by giving his first impressions to Site: "it’s crazy how she is on top of my brèle! It borders on perfection, a position that goes super well, a flawless engine, suspensions that react as it should everywhere, an anti-dribble STM at the clutch which even allows me to drop a gear, serious on the angle, in full curve! Can’t you smell that smell? It smells like winning !"

Congratulations also to "Dody", Pascal Leger, President of Racing Mob Creusotin organizer of this event, for his superb race brilliantly managed despite the timing concerns that have become recurrent in the discipline ….

Reco-relaxation !

The rally is first and foremost an atmosphere, a state of mind of friends who meet at each event for good laughs associated with a fierce fight against the clock.

During the few days preceding the race, the reconnaissance are very appreciated moments of relaxation and conviviality, where everyone meets everyone and where everyone takes his bearings..

Le Creusot, Saturday 11am: serious things begin !

The rain had come to titillate the last days of recce, but the sun tries a timid appearance when the start of this third rally of Morvan is given.

With the foul Basque knight in the lead, we set off for a splendid 121 km loop traced on the slopes of the Morvan by Gilbert Hyppias, a member of the organization but also a former French rally champion (Topsport category) in 1997. A connoisseur therefore, who did not miss out on concocting this superb loop !

Big program today with three loops planned for the day and two specials per lap: Poiseuil, an unprecedented 5 km special, very technical with its 48 turns, its descent and its change of direction "Beaujolais" style which prompted Serge Nuques to opt for his Yamaha 450 WRF instead of his R1 Beaujolaise, and the famous 4 km Aigrefeuille special, which was taken (in reverse) by the Dark Dog Moto Tour in 2005 (read, and).

Special 1: Poiseuil

On arrival at the CH of the first special, a slight wait is requested due to the finalization of the installation of the system "hyper efficient"(who laughed?) transponder timing…

Once the start was given, the wait did not distract Ze Zalduna who started his festival day with a better scratch time, nearly 2 seconds ahead of an Emmanuel Siaux no less concentrated on the handlebars of his superb Buell XB12SST … Alain Amblard and his KTM 660 SM, our good old national "Gaston", sets off a third time 3 seconds behind Manu.

The leaders of the rally appear from this first special: Michael Pefaure, first "Sport" on the handlebars of his old Yamaha 400 WRF from 1999, slams a fourth time just a few tenths behind Alain Amblard! With this remarkable time, the leader of Sports "returned" the reigning French champion, Greg Debize (5th time with 3’12.581), by almost 2 seconds! Revelation 2007 ?

This new special is therefore a special at "Monos", a very good choice on the part of the organization of this third Morvandelle edition. Thanks Gilbert !

Aigrefeuille: the drop that broke the camel’s back !

Confirmation of our fears: the system "ultra modern"timing is not ready! And it is after an even longer wait than in the first special that the start is finally given for the second.

Confirmation also for Serge Nuques who took the best time in 2’05.096, still ahead of Manu Siaux (2’08.445). Following these delays, the question is put to the race director: "will we really do three rounds ?". Dody, who is also running" his "rally, manages the crisis and maintains close communication with the race director to follow developments….

Two "big" falls to report in this special: not only that of the charming point marshal who, as if to draw attention to her, performs a splendid back somersault in the ditch (probably a seat stability problem), but also that of "Firmin", Thierry Lozano, who plunges us into the trees below, bursting from behind at more than 130 km / h! His lucky star was there, he happily comes out unscathed! (see our video).

We do three laps !

At the end of the second day loop, the decision is made: we do three laps! The organization, the rally commission and the efficiency of all the organizing staff handled the crisis really well. They are all on top, well done to them again !

The rain still broke our morale a bit at the end of this second loop … We didn’t really want to go, but the rally is so good! Come on, fire, it goes again !

The day follows its course as it started: Ze Zalduna scratches everything with Emmanuel Siaux on his heels, who still finish this stage with almost 20 seconds behind Serge Nuques !

Day stage classification

  1. Serge Nuques (Yamaha 450 WRF)

  2. Emmanuel Siaux (Buell XB12ST)

  3. Alain Amblard (KTM 660 SM)

  4. Greg Debize (Aprilia 1000 Tuono)

  5. Michael Pefaure

  6. Eric Demaria (KTM 950)

  7. Florent Parret (BMW HP2)

  8. Olivier Aubonnet (Suzuki650 SV)

  9. François Bos (Aprilia 1000 Tuono)

  10. Jerome Argoud (Yamaha FZ1)

Night stage

Two rounds are planned this evening. After a "mini strike" of pilots refusing to take the start of the night without having been informed of the day classification (really not developed this system!), The rally starts again. The "boycot" will only have taken 21 minutes late.

From the first night special, Sergeï’s machine picks up its rhythm at a maddening pace: it sticks more than 6 seconds to Greg Debize, his pursuer of the night! Manu finds himself with the sixth fastest time in the special, between the Guillet / Chanal sidecar crew and Michael Pefaure who confirms his great form of the day.

In Aigrefeuille same scenario: Ze Zalduna takes the scratch with more than 4 seconds ahead of Greg (2’09.175 against 2’13.471). Note also the excellent performance of Jerôme Argoud, the leader of the Espoir Cup on the handlebars of his Yamaha FZ1, who slammed an eighth time with 2’21.439.

The tone is set and the pilots finish their first night loop without a hitch. But the start of the second round will not be given, because the accumulated delays would not allow to finish the race within the times granted by the prefectural authorities..

The rally will therefore end on this single night loop which will still be counted as a full stage..

Night stage classification

  1. Serge Nuques

  2. Gregory Debize

  3. Alain Amblard

  4. Eric Demaria

  5. Laurent Guillet / David Chanal (Choda 1300)

  6. Michael Pefaure

  7. Jerome Argoud

  8. Frederic Martin (Ducati 900 SS)

  9. Emmanuel Siaux

  10. Nicolas derrien

Awards

It is in the main lounge of the Château de la Verrerie, in Le Creusot, that the awards ceremony for this third Morvan rally took place..

A particularly majestic setting to reward the performance of the best pilots … and not just the best! Because when he was called to receive the winner’s cup, Serge Nuques took the microphone, explaining that he was offering his Scorpion helmet to the last classified !

Now this famous last classified is none other than one of the emblematic figures of motorcycle rallies: Didier Caroff, the eternal pilot of his no less eternal Honda 750 VFR! A man of legendary kindness, who always arrives at rallies the night before the race and also consistently ranks in the last places, and has been for 17 years now! If it’s not passion that !

Before returning the microphone, Serge Nuques recalled that the pilots were well aware that the timing problems were not due to improper use of the equipment by the timekeepers, but only to equipment itself that was working very poorly, at least. in road rallies.

Scratch podium: 1st Serge Nuques, 2nd Alain Amblard and 3rd Greg Debize.

Sport podium: 1st Michael Pefaure, 2nd Olivier Aubonnet and 3rd Nicolas Derrien.

Side-Cars podium: 1st Guillet / Chanal (unofficially already French champion of the category before the final!), 2nd: Marlin / Jeandemange and 3rd Laur / Ferrieu.

Espoir Cup: Jerôme Argoud once again wins the Espoir palm, while finishing in 9th scratch place … A good future, without a doubt !

And following this memorable awards ceremony, it was in an incomparable atmosphere for his good humor that a wine of honor was offered..

The final round of the championship, the Rallye du Dourdou in Villecomtal on July 14, 2007, promises to be euphoric !

The Grolandais Zalduna has launched a challenge: if he wins the first stage of this final, he will have acquired the scratch title of French Rally Champion 2007 and will participate in the last stage in the "Old" category … on the handlebars of a Yamaha 350 RDLC! Scratch podium? To be continued in July on Site…

Marcus HIMSELF – Photos MH and Zezette

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