Road rallies – Turnaround in Belgium! –

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Turnaround in Belgium !

Road rallies - Turnaround in Belgium! -

Nothing is ever easy in rallying: Fred Fiorentino makes a mistake and Denis Bouan finds himself leading the Belgian Dark Dog Tour ahead of Fred Lejeune, while Philippe Pinchedez takes the virtual third step of the podium… Report.

Yesterday promised to be long, very long, with its four stages. And the tribulations of the day were not the most relaxing: Fred Fiorentino lost the lead in the race and several other drivers tumbled in the standings !

Until the midday break on the Marche fairground, all was well, apart from a small crash by Fred Fiorentino in the Thelin special, relegating him to 3 seconds behind the best time pocketed by Denis Bouan. But things got more complicated between the second and the third special of the day…

Tellin Special

In the heart of the green meadows of Wallonia, a beautiful special rather fast but very technical and brittle, with two hairpins at the end of the course. Fred Fiorentino made a superb pass before slipping into the gravel at the penultimate turn! Leaving immediately he lost only 3 seconds on the first time and achieved the fifth fastest time in 1’40.27 !

Denis Bouan scratches his Buell 1125 R in 1’37.22 ahead of Gregory Fastre on Ducati 1100 Hypermotard (1’38.52) and Fred Lejeune on the handlebars of his BMW HP2 (1’38.97). Philippe Pinchedez, always on the lookout at the foot of the virtual podium at the controls of his Ducati 1100 Hypermotard, follows him five tenths behind, in fourth position, in 1’39.44…

It gets complicated…

A real quack in the organization or just a bad idea? Still, an unexpected power check, followed by an "assistance" neutralization, sows trouble among the competitors: pilots arrive late, including Fred Fiorentino "blocked" for 30 minutes at the assistance park…

So big mess and heavy penalties weigh on 22 pilots! Grumbling seizes the competitors and protests rain … In history, Fiorentino receives a 2-minute penalty (for 8 minutes late at CH, or 8×15 seconds penalty), taking him considerably away from the head of the Belgian Dark Dog Tour by relegating it to 12th position.

Special "hill climb" at Houyet

Denis Bouan is excited! He scratched this time "on a regular basis" with a time of 1’19.25, followed by Didier Jadoul still present in 1’20.12! Fred Fiorentino only obtains the third time, 5 hundredths behind Didier in 1’20.17, ahead of Philippe Rousselin fourth two hundredths further in 1’20.19.

Fifth position goes to Philippe Pinchedez in 1’21.31, ahead of Fred Lejeune sixth in 1’21.91. Denis Bouan takes the lead of the race with 4.16 seconds ahead of Fred Lejeune !

Gendron Hill Climb

Fred Fiorentino, truly heated to white, atomizes everyone in 1’28.43 in this very special stage, because it is full of cobblestones at each hairpin bend. He stuck nearly three seconds to Denis Bouan (1’31.38) while Fred Lejeune finished third in 1’32.42.

Note the superb 5th place in this special for local Patrick Orban (1’33.53) on Kawasaki ZRX 1100! But Patrick is not a new kid: he is now a record holder of 22 speed champion titles in Belgium! Finally, the fourth fastest time goes to Gregory Fastre with his Ducati 1100 Hypermotard in 1’33.39.

In the anecdotes section, we will note the neutralization of the special for 12 minutes due to the irruption of a group of riders on the road !

Night Special in Huy

It is after 9:00 p.m. when the first drivers arrive at the final special of this second day of racing. Special tricky, because very fast and crossing a village, while the finish is on a long straight uphill line…

Denis Bouan returns to the front of the stage on the handlebars of his Buell 1125R with a time under the minute! (58.20). More than 2 seconds behind, four pilots are in a pocket handkerchief of a few tenths: Gregory Fastre (Ducati 1100 Hypermotard) in 1’00.23 ahead of Patrick Orban and his flagship Kawasaki 1100 ZRX (1’00.37), Fred Lejeune (1 ’00 .50), Philippe Pinchedez (1’00.93) and Philippe Rousselin (Yamaha R1) in 1’00.95.

In the provisional ranking

It is therefore after 22:00 when the pilots return to Stavelot: morale at half mast for Fred Fiorentino, now in eleventh place in the rally … It’s party time at Buell: Denis Bouan is the new leader of the Belgian Dark Dog Tour 2008 !

Good operation also for Philippe Pinchedez the metronome: his regularity since the start of the race allows him to find himself in third position in the provisional general classification, but he is still 39 seconds behind the leader…

  1. Denis Bouan (Buell 1125R)

  2. Fred Lejeune (BMW HP2) at 6.46 s

  3. Philippe Pinchedez (Ducati 1100 Hypermotard) at 39.07 s

  4. Olivier de Spa (Triumph Tiger) at 1’01.62

  5. Damien Denil (KTM SMC) at 1’04.83

  6. Didier Jadoul (Ducati 1100 Hypermotard) at 1’13.85

  7. Benjamin Colliaux (Kawasaki ZX10-R) at 1’14.58

  8. Gregory Fastre (Ducati 1100 Hypermotard) at 1’20.70

  9. François de Spa (Triumph Tiger) at 1’20”73

  10. Alan Lehmann (Honda 450 GRF HM) at 1’28.96

  11. Fred Fiorentino (KTM Supermotard) at 1’42.04…

To be continued today

Three specials are on the program for this Saturday (Nandrin, Gedinne and Vresse / Semois), before the very last event of this Belgian Dark Dog Tour: a time base … at night! There may still be twists … stay tuned !

Marcus HIMSELF

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