Road rallies – It just failed! –

Posted on by admin

It almost failed !

Road rallies - It just failed! -

By winning two of the first three rounds of the championship, Philippe Richelmi comfortably occupies the head of the provisional classification. But in a rally anything can happen … The Velay event is already shaping up to be hot and the asphalt … melting !

Philippe Richelmi is well motivated this season: by winning two of the first three rounds of the 2005 championship, he comfortably occupies the head of the provisional standings and, like the appetite that comes with eating, his victories have given him wings! But in rally anything can happen … and precisely, the knight Sergeï, back from the TT, is not there to make things easier for Philippe…

It is 11:35 a.m. on Saturday when Sebastien Bompuis, former French rally champion (2002), member of the Moto Club des guidons Vellaves, organizer of this round of the championship, takes the start with the opener motorbike..

From the first special Philippe Richelmi announces the color: by sticking 8 seconds to the Chevalier, he wins the best time! Sergeï is calm and "learns" his R6 "TT" in the large handlebar version … With three specials scheduled per day loop, he will have the opportunity to come back in the second lap! Two loops of 136 km each are planned, which also allowed the Velay rally to refuel with nearly 140 entrants !

At Salette, the second special of the loop, Philippe drives home the point by posting another scratch time ahead of Greg Debize … Things are clear: Richelmi is in good shape, his bike is ready and he knows how to use it! Greg is in good shape too. He adapts perfectly to his "old" Geisix grafted with a swinging arm from Hayabusa suspended by an Ohlins shock absorber following his Morvan misadventures (read) and wins the second scratch time !

Arriving at the third special of the course, the "predictable" arrives: because of the heavy sun of Velay, the special of La Voute, with doubtful asphalt, is at the limit of the practicable so much the coating is melted! By taking the start behind Richelmi, Marc Troussard, already not very bright in the previous stages (10th fastest, 15th fastest … there are days with and days without!) Manages to follow the trajectories of the 1000 Aprilia! These are downright ruts that widen in the molten tar, making the stage very slippery !

Marc finished this time in 10th position trying to avoid a fall … Goodbye second place in the provisional, the knight is back! Contrary to appearances, it was not the condition of this special that posed the problem but rather the accumulated delay (almost 2 hours!) After a competitor fell in the first special and which forced the organizers to cancel the second loop.

Sergeï therefore remains hungry for the day classification, while he came back slowly by securing himself the second fastest time in the tarry quagmire of La Voute. He who bet everything on the second loop … too bad! Philippe Richelmi for his part therefore won "hands down" this event by signing the three scratches! Patrick CURTAT also shines with his new mount, having exchanged his Voxan for a Katoche 950 "SUPER DUKE", he occupies the third place of the day stage !

In short: first Richelmi, second Nape, third Curtat! Debize having surrendered his hand in the tarmac special, he finished in 4th position of the day !

At night, we erase everything and start over! The night loop is shorter: 98 km with only two specials, Chadron and La Voute.

Once a year, Chadron fills up with people, the stage passing right in the middle of the village. The two improvised baffles in bales of straw particularly attract the spectators. Because there the spectacle, there is! And straw on the road too! Richelmi passes quickly, clean, smoothly and wins the scratch of this first night special! It just goes to show that the spectacular does not necessarily pay off because Troussard, who goes through this chicane on his screaming FZ6, flirting with straw, while wheeling, only obtains 10th time. Ben then Marcus ?

Serge Nuques gets the second time in this special almost 3 seconds from a confident Richelmi … A little too much, moreover, since arriving at the next CH, he is one minute ahead because of … nothing ! He got the wrong minute, that’s all! Staring at the clock while waiting for his minute, he only looks at the seconds while patiently waiting 00:01:00 … But it is 11:59 p.m. He goes on the time clock at the round hour. Marcus, surprised to see him check in at 00, recalculates his time then runs to Philipe, assuring him that he must not check in until 01. Too late! Philippe realizes his mistake and pushes a little anger against him (after having accused the whole world … reaction which he will apologize for later). "You really have to be stupid, it was too easy !"he admits. Despite his 11 seconds lead during the day stage, the 15 seconds penalty calls into question his chances of winning the rally..

Philippe will have to continue to “scratch” the following stages extensively to regain the lead. The good deal is for the Knight, who now sees the possibility of the final sacrament! But that’s without counting on Richelmi, who signs three scratches out of the four in the night event! Sergeï may well put the package, he must be satisfied with the last scratch, 2 tenths ahead of Philippe! Following Philippe’s penalty, the Chevalier Nuques wins the night stage ahead of Richelmi and Pierre Lemos, local of the stage, on his 660 KTM.

So it was almost … Philippe almost made all the scratches and Sergeï almost won the rally (day / night cumulative, he was missing a second!). The podium of the 6th Velay rally is therefore as follows:
1st: Philippe RICHELMI
2nd: Serge NUQUES
3rd: Pierre LEMOS

In the provisional championship, Richelmi consolidates his position as leader, Sergeï takes back his second place and Marcus passes 3rd … See you at the Dourdou rally, in Villecomtal, on July 16 and 17 !

Marcus HIMSELF

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *