The qualifications
600: The qualifications took place under the rain. Our pilots had never performed practiced under the rain. Plus, the track had a six-degree inclination. We chose the hard tyres that perfectly suited dry ground, but do not heat up on cold water. We were bitterly disappointed. Jonathan managed the best performance (or shall we say, he didn’t come out as bad as the others ) and came in 15th, Lionel 26th, and Kévin 37th.
Kévin had to enter the second chance race. He really took control, displaying an acute sense of tactics. He remained in at the head until two laps before the end, when he decided to speed up, which allowed him to win, lining up on the 31st position.
1000: Although he was new to the category, Cyril displayed a high level of maturity, and qualified for the 4th position in his series under the rain, which meant taking off on the 2nd line as the two series were brought together.

Cyril Brivet
photo Fan2bike

Jonathan Castanet
Photo Photopress

Kévin Denis
Photo Photopress

Lionel Braun
Photo Eric "GAAZZZZZ"

The race

600 :
Kévin bolted off and passed 10 pilots, including Lionel and Jonathan. The 3 pilots placed themselves between the 15th and the 20th position during the first laps. Kevin resisted Jonathan’s energy and stepped on the gas. Jonathan passed him and got closer to the top three.

Lionel, who had not forgotten his mishap at Carole in September 2006, when he foolishly fell off his motorbike by trying to catch up with the leader too quickly, took his time trying to find the right rhythm, and finally caught up with the leaders of the race, achieving the best lap time (1.29.056). At the 9th lap, a pilot broke his engine cover, spilling oil all over the track. Lionel ran over it and slid along the straight line. He then thought it might be a slow puncture and slowed down to get to the finishing line… getting up to the 5th position.

Kevin kept on his recovery up to the 12th position.

Jonathan kicked off really well and made several quick laps (3rd best lap time with 1.29.278) and had reached the 3rd position when the red flag was waved, 2 laps before the finishing line. The race management decided to stop the race and to keep the ranking of the previous lap. Jonathan ended up in the 4th position, missing the podium spot he deserved.

1000 :

Cyril Brivet took a good start from the 2nd line and observed his competitors from his 7th positions for a few laps. Around the 10th lap, he decided to speed up and got to the second position. Unfortunately, the gum on his tyres was not fitted to the track that had warmed up, making him slip and unable to speed up as he should. He changed down and managed to get a 5th position after 18 laps, achieving the best lap time.

Cyril Brivet
photo Fan2bike