Serge Nuques becomes 2011 driver of the year at the Scorpion Masters
After a fierce battle against Adrien Chareyre (2010 winner) and the impressive David Knight, Serge Nuques seized the title of best motorcycle rider during the Scorpion Masters 2011 this weekend in Alès. Report.
This year for its second edition, the Scorpion Masters 2011 still featured the same four disciplines (trial, enduro, speed and supermotard) but with two speed heats to give the "trackers" one more opportunity to score points. Last year in fact, the tests gave a slight advantage to the "all earthy" pilots over the "bituminous" ones..
As for the pilots, Adrien Chareyre had of course come to challenge his title of Scorpion Master 2010 against the Grolandais Serge Nuques, fourth last year, but also David Knight: seduced by this new challenge, the British multiple world champion of enduro came to rub shoulders with the best riders such as the Frenchman Johann Zarco, vice world champion in 125cc speed, the Swiss Dominique Aegerter, Moto2 Grand Prix rider, Sylvain Bidart, Julien da Costa, Yves Demaria, Fred Bolley or the trialists of the best world level such as Jerôme Bethune, Loris Gubian or the Japanese Takahisa Fujinami, and many other renowned drivers.
Without forgetting the amateur pilots Brice Nunnari, Cedric Parmentier, Luc Breban, Olivier Besnard or Lucas Mahias, the young orphaned orphan deaf mute blind adopted by the knight Sergei.
That is a total of 36 pilots from all disciplines who came to battle during the five events of the day (trial, enduro, first speed round, supermotard and second speed round), but five of the planned drivers had to withdraw like Marc Coma, winner of the Dakar 2010, or Johnny Aubert, double enduro world champion, due to tests for the next Dakar.
There are therefore 31 pilots who compete in the second Scorpion Masters, for a race that promises to be thrilling in an always friendly and convivial atmosphere. A mega fluff of the highest level … but "between friends"! With this year as arrival bonus a Yamaha FZ8 offered by Yamaha Motor France !
Make way for the show !
Make way for the show: more than 20,000 spectators made the trip on Saturday to the Pôle Mecanique d’Alès circuit (free entry).
8:30 am: trial, just to get everyone in the mood … The rain the day before (luckily it isn’t raining today) made the areas slippery and the obstacles even more difficult to overcome without setting foot…
Takahisa Fujinami gets the best score ahead of Loris Gubian and Jerôme Bethune. But everything remains to be done because we continue at the end of the event on that of enduro.
A special just as "hard" as that of 2010, but even more technical and physical due to the weather which made the ground greasy..
Pierre-Alexandre "Pela" Renet, world motocross champion (MX3) in 2009 and passed to enduro since 2010, is not in the lace: he wins ahead of David Knight, master of the discipline with his three world titles, and Sebastien Guillaume.
Noon: meal break
While the drivers are eating in the circuit canteen, spectators can roam the paddocks and exhibition stands, or stop at the various refreshments installed on the site..
At Scorpion, in addition to the exhibition stand for new helmets or the customer service stand which offers free visor replacement on his Exo 1000 or a check of his helmet, a VIP stand houses a country restaurant where Jean-Michel Pfrimmer, the boss of Scorpion Sports Europe, receives Site for a beneficial snack break !
At 1:30 p.m., the festivities resume with the first sprint race. In the front row, following the qualifications which took place just before lunch, we find Johann Zarco in pole position. The vice world champion 125, who was unable to participate in the off-road events this morning due to his right hand injury following his fall in Valencia (see video), does not intend to go unnoticed and announces the color in a remarkable way during the qualifying times this morning (1’22.6) at the controls of his 125 Aprilia !
At his side is Lucas Mahias on the handlebars of the fuchsia pink Yamaha R6 "Zezette", which surprises with a stopwatch a few tenths behind Johann Zarco and ahead of Julien da Costa himself, recent winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans !
Denis Bouan, six-time winner of the Dark Dog Moto Tour and 2011 French Supersport champion, is fourth on the line riding a Yamaha R6.
In the second row are the Chevalier de Groland, Serge Nuques, on Yamaha R1, then Louis Rossi, Brice Nunnari and Dominique Aegerter.
Everything is still possible…
Lucas Mahias took the lead, followed by Julien da Costa who passed him at the first corners. The race lasts eight laps. Lucas resists and even manages to get back into Julien’s wheel over the laps, but finishes in second position ahead of Denis Bouan.
In total points, David Knight (4 points in trials, 2 in enduro and 13 in speed) is leading the provisional ahead of Serge Nuques (6, 12 and 6) and Adrien Chareyre (11, 8 and 9). But there are still two races (Supermotard and second speed race) and everything is still possible, including for Fred Bolley (9, 7 and 10), fourth in the provisional.
In the Supermotard event, David Knight does not give way but his pursuers are fierce! A bit too much for Fred Bolley, who left the track when he was leading the race. He set off again quickly but the round was not long enough (15 minutes) for him to be able to return to the forefront and he finished eighth.
Yves Demaria wins the event ahead of Sylvain Bidart and Adrien Chareyre. Serge Nuques ranks seventh. In terms of cumulative points, David Knight retains his place as leader, followed at 8 points by Serge Nuques and Adrien Chareyre tied. We could not hope for a better final: the second speed round, the last race of the Scorpion Masters 2011, will be decisive !
This time, Julien da Costa takes the lead from the first meters and widens a comfortable gap that allows him to win the race. Behind, it’s war: Denis Bouan follows the hellish train led by Da Costa and Johann Zarco maintains third place. Dominique Aegerter is 4th, Serge Nuques 5th.
Lucas Mahias, 6th, sticks to the train of his master and maintains the assaults of Adrien Chareyre. Further on, David Knight can be satisfied with his 13th position to win the Scorpion Masters 2011 if Serge Nuques remains 5th and Adrien Chareyre 7th. But he was overtaken by Jeremy Guarnoni and Loris Baz! For his part, Adrien Chareyre does not pass Lucas Mahias: Serge Nuques is therefore the Scorpion Master 2011 !
On his arrival at the stand, it was euphoria: the knight of Groland proudly seized the amphora, emblem of Groland, under the deafening honks of the Groland supporters.
A happy organizer
Laurent Corric, organizer of this extraordinary race, can be proud: his race is superb, as much for the pilots who spend exceptional moments in an atmosphere of camaraderie as for the spectators who are entitled to an unparalleled spectacle for free! "I am happy and relieved with the progress of this edition", welcomes the director of the Mechanical Division:"seeing the smiles of the pilots, spectators and partners, I think the event has reached maturity and that the concept has found its audience. And then not a single injured, the weather with us … I am a happy organizer !"
"It was a fantastic day in terms of competition", also rejoices Jean-Michel Pfrimmer, boss of Scorpion in France:"Serge Nuques is the first pilot to have worn our colors in Europe and his victory is a huge satisfaction for us, we couldn’t ask for better! The 2011 edition is a great success and we have already planned the 2012 edition, with I hope even more foreign pilots".
Finally Serge Nuques, pilot of the year 2011, admits that "David Knight was my favorite for this event. When I did the Tourist Trophy in 2005, he was my first supporter. Finally, I impose myself in front of him: in the combat of knights, I am the strongest! I’m an enduro rider and that’s where I got the worst result of the day … But Grolandaise logic is respected: it’s just rubbish! Banzai !"
So see you next year for the Scorpion Masters 2012 to follow on Site: stay tuned !
Scorpion Masters 2011 final classification
No. | Pilot | Total | Trial | Enduro | Speed 1 | Supermoto | Speed 2 | ||
1 | 3 | Serge | NECKS | 36 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 5 |
2 | 101 | David | KNIGHT | 38 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 4 | 15 |
3 | 1 | Adrien | CHAREYRE | 38 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 7 |
4 | 8 | Fred | BOLLEY | 42 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 8 |
5 | 86 | Julian | DA COSTA | 44 | 10 | 18 | 1 | 14 | 1 |
6 | 2 | Marc | GERMAIN | 54 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 6 | 18 |
7 | 64 | Sylvain | BIDART | 55 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 13 |
8 | 77 | Dominica | AEGERTER | 55 | 24 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
9 | 4 | Pierre-Alexandre | RENET | 58 | 13 | 1 | 20 | 5 | 19 |
10 | 44 | Lucas | MAHIAS | 65 | 15 | 26 | 2 | 16 | 6 |
11 | 78 | Yves | DEMARIA | 69 | 16 | 9 | 23 | 1 | 20 |
12 | 12 | Takahisa | FUJINAMI | 71 | 1 | 6 | 27 | 12 | 25 |
13 | 6 | Denis | BOUAN | 72 | 18 | 24 | 3 | 25 | 2 |
14 | 9 | Loris | GUBIAN | 75 | 2 | 10 | 22 | 19 | 22 |
15 | 19 | Jerome | BETHUNE | 78 | 3 | 11 | 24 | 17 | 23 |
16 | 47 | Luke | BREBAN | 81 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 16 |
17 | 10 | Sebastien | GUILLAUME | 82 | 12 | 3 | 29 | 11 | 27 |
18 | 14 | Brice | NUNNARI | 85 | 19 | 22 | 11 | 22 | 11 |
19 | 49 | Olivier | BESNARD | 86 | 8 | 19 | 19 | 23 | 17 |
20 | 75 | Boris | CHAMBON | 87 | 23 | 25 | 14 | 13 | 12 |
21 | 65 | Loris | BAZ | 92 | 28 | 27 | 7 | 20 | 10 |
22 | 21 | Jeremy | JOLY | 96 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
23 | 17 | Serge | GUIDETTY | 98 | 21 | 15 | 26 | 10 | 26 |
24 | 11 | Jeremy | GUARNONI | 103 | 30 | 30 | 8 | 26 | 9 |
25 | 45 | Fabrice | LHERITIER | 106 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
26 | 69 | Louis | ROSSI | 110 | 26 | 28 | 15 | 27 | 14 |
27 | 22 | Ludivine | PUY | 111 | 27 | 17 | 25 | 18 | 24 |
28 | 43 | Cedric | PARMENTIER | 156 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 50 | 50 |
29 | 50 | Serge | GISQUIERE | 156 | 25 | 23 | 30 | 28 | 50 |
30 | 5 | Johann | ZARCO | 157 | 50 | 50 | 4 | 50 | 3 |
31 | 7 | Alexis | MASBOU | 182 | 29 | 29 | 50 | 24 | 50 |
Marcus HIMSELF – Photos Guillaume LEPRINCE
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