The World Championship came to a new venue for the sixth round of the series as Mallory Park’s road race facilities welcomed the riders to a brand new track. Sébastien Pourcel was once more one of the riders who learned the new layout quickly as he posted the best lap time in all the practice sessions on Saturday. The Frenchman claimed his fourth pole position of the season and picked up the inside position on the grid for both races.
The first moto was extremely brief for the GPKR rider who was third at the start. Philippaerts jumped over Sébastien in the second turn and hit his right hand - the bike was damaged too with a broken water pump and a damaged throttle cable so Seb was forced to retire.
The second start was better and Seb was seventh on the opening lap just behind Philippaerts. He needed several laps to learn the changed track he hadn’t ridden since the warm-up but when he found his lines he started to push. He passed most of his rivals but was too far behind Barragan to push for the heat win. The Spaniard was the sixth different winner since the beginning of the season.
Qualifying in 27th position Alexandre Rouis retired with technical problems in the first race and then crossed the finish line in 23rd position in moto two.
Taking part in the second round of the Veteran’s World Championship Belgian rider Thierry Godfroid took both holeshots and finished sixth twice in his first appearance on a 450. Thierry is now fourth in the standings only five points behind the second place rider before the final round in Belgium.
Sébastien Pourcel:
“I had a good start in the first race, I was third when I came to the second corner but just before this corner I stalled the engine on a bump and lost a few seconds. Unfortunately Philippaerts jumped on my hand and damaged my bike so for the fourth time this season I didn’t score any points and that’s not good at all.
“I was fourth at the second start but I didn’t find a good rhythm and several riders passed me during the opening lap. I looked at their lines as the track was completely different compared to the warm up and in the second part of the race I passed most of them even if I was not as fast as I would have liked. I finished second behind Barragan, that’s not what I was expecting here and I just hope that the French GP will be better for me. I will go there without any pressure, and will take this GP like any other and just do my best.”
Alexandre Rouis:
“On Saturday I missed the second free practice session as I had pain to my hip and went to the medical centre for a strapping. During the qualifying period I had less pain and posted a good lap. On Sunday I retired from the first race and then finished the second heat 23rd. It’s coming better every weekend, for the first time in my life I will enter the French GP in two weeks time and I expect to score my first points there.”
Thierry Godfroid:
“I was a little bit scared here as I broke my leg in England last year and when I left home everyone asked me to take care. I didn’t practice so much with the 450 before I came here and the track was not the best with such big jumps. I twice took the holeshot but I had pumped arms after four laps in each race. I’m close to the podium and I will be back on a 250 for the Belgian round as I have more fun on the smaller bike.”
Roger Pourcel:
“The first race was brief as Sebastien didn’t do any laps, I was worried about his hand but he had no pain during the second moto. His second start was good but he had to learn the track, after several laps he was able to push and finished second. What a pity that there was this incident in the first race as we need to score points at every race! Alex is slowly improving each weekend, he finished the second one and that’s the only way to make progression in the GPs.”
Patrick Géladé:
“Once more Sébastien was excellent on Saturday. It’s a shame that Philippaerts ruined the weekend with this action at the first start, for sure it was another podium result for us without this incident. Seb did his best in the second race, he just needed time to learn the track and then proved how strong he is at the moment. For the first time in his career Thierry Godfroid took a 450 for a round of the Veteran’s Cup, he struggled a little bit on this track but he reached his goal with a sixth position in each race.”
