Christophe and Sébastien Pourcel got the first and second place in the fifth round of the MX1 French Elite championship in Ernée, home of several GP’s in the last decade. Christophe won the three heats, while Seb finished one time third and twice runner up behind his brother. Fifth of the event Gregory Aranda completed the great performance of team GPKR, as Seb is now leading the series before the last round in Lacapelle Marival (August 12th).
Despite some heavy rain in the night, the track was in perfect conditions for the races and the riders enjoyed the GP layout, especially the MX1 riders. Fastest in the qualifying session on Saturday Christophe grabed the holeshot in the first race, followed by Sébastien who took the lead in the opening lap. Unfortunately he crashed and let his brother and Pichon finishing first and second, while Greg ended in fifth position. Seb got the holeshot of the second heat and offered to the crowd a nice battle with his brother, as both successively lead the pack. Finally Chris won by three seconds, and Aranda got another fifth place. In the superfinal race (including the best MX1 and MX2 riders) Seb grabbed again the holeshot, followed by Emery and Chris who came second and then attacked his brother in the fourth circulation. Chris took the lead and went to his third consecutive win, while Seb got the second spot and Greg the sixth one. It was this first event win for Christophe on a 450, while Sébastien scored four points more than Pichon and overtook the leadership of the series before the final round in three weeks.
Christophe Pourcel: ‘It was good weekend, I got great start in each race and we had a nice battle with my brother in the second heat. It was funny, and this track is much better with a 450 than a 250 with so many uphills. Today I was faster than Seb and I won, he is for me a rival as Pichon or Renet are. Two weeks ago in Belgium he beat me and I also lost important points in the series, as I crashed when I tried to pass him. He will have to give his best and beat me in Lacapelle if he wants to get the title’
Sébastien Pourcel: ‘I’m now leading the series but I’m not happy with my results, I wasn’t riding well today. For sure that’s better to have some points more than Pichon before the final round, but it could have been better. In the first heat I crashed twice and lost the lead, then in the second we played with my brother to offer a good show for the crowd but he didn’t want to let me pass in the last laps. In the third race I got the holeshot and then let Chris in front, I had some troubles in the waves section and I wanted to see his lines. Then I lost some engine power and secured my second position; at the end of the race my mechanic discovered that my pipe was damaged’
Gregory Aranda : ‘I’m pretty happy with my results today, I really enjoyed racing with the 450. This week I went training twice but we had some problems so I didn’t practice as much as expected, but here in Ernée it was perfect. I was fourth in qualification, got three start in the top five and finished the races in the top sixth. In the first two heats I lost my goggles soon as I had troubles when I took off the tear off, and in the last part of the superfinale I felt tired. It was great to race in Ernée with the 450, it’s my second race with this bike after Nismes and I think that I will move to this class next season as this bike suits better than the 250 to my riding style’
Roger Pourcel: ‘This weekend we made a test with Livia, she came with us and tried to qualify for the French MX2 Elite series. She missed the qualification by less than two seconds, it was a good experience even if we didn’t had enough time to work on lap times before this race as she was twice injured so far. Gregory did three good races, he had good jumps of the grid and is easy with the 450. It was pleasant to see him riding well all day long. Two weeks ago in Nismes Seb was fastest than Chris, and this weekend he wanted his revendge. He got the three wins, there was no ‘present’ between them and that’s racing, I can’t do more for one of them! Anyway Seb is now leading the series, he will go the final round with a small advantage and we’ll see’
Championship standings : 1.Sébastien Pourcel (Kawasaki GPKR), 283; 2.Pichon (KTM), 280 pts ; 3.Renet (Honda), 215 ; 4.Coulon (Honda), 175; 5.Vanni (Honda), 172....11.Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki GPKR), 75...15.Gregory Aranda (Kawasaki GPKR), 47