June 5th 2011 will live a long time in the memory of
Steven Frossard as the 23 year old Frenchman clinched victory at his
home Grand Prix at St Jean DAngely and celebrated his maiden success in
the premier MX1-GP class in just his fifth appearance on the works
YZ450FM. The fifth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship took
place in cloudy but hot conditions near the west coast and in front of
32,000 spectators.
The shallow valley setting of St Jean was blessed by
sunshine, bashed by a torrential thunderstorm and stifled by humidity
in the space of forty-eight hours, which meant that the terrain varied
in terms of grip and the density of the dirt. The riders had to
carefully judge the surface that became increasingly bumpy through
race-day.
Frossard leapt out of the start gate in Moto1 and
took part in yet another gripping bout of action in the MX1 category as
he led and withstood pressure from Tony Cairoli and team-mate David
Philippaerts. Cheered on by an animated crowd Frossard was nevertheless
coming under pressure from DP entering the final phases of the sprint
until the Italian was caught out by the collapse of a berm entering a
downhill corner and crashed. Philippaerts was able to remount for third
but Frossard swept onwards for his second moto win of the year.
Number 183 needed more than half of the second moto
to pass the Hondas of Bobryshev and Goncalves and reach 2nd position but
his controlled performance confirmed his dominance on the day.
Philippaerts was unlucky to suffer two early falls and was disappointed
with 18th for 9th place overall.
Also at his home Grand Prix and at the site where he
triumphed for the first time riding the YZ250F in 2005, Anthony
Boissiere was 16th and 13th for 14th by the close of the afternoon.
Frossard has moved up to third place in the world
championship standings and recovered some of the ground he lost after a
turbulent U.S. Grand Prix last month. He is just 20 points from Clement
Desalle at the top of the table. Philippaerts is fifth with Boissiere in
fourteenth.
Monster Energy Yamaha now head for a two week stay
in southern Europe where Grands Prix in Portugal and the staple venue of
Agueda, some 80km south of Porto, and Spain (at the facility in La
Bañeza, north of Valladolid) will fulfil rounds six and seven of the
2011 schedule.
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Steven Frossard, 1st place:
I was really focussed on my riding and for sure my
goal was victory today. I was smooth and didnt take many risks. This is
my first year in MX1 and to win here at St Jean is something so good for
me. I want to thank my sponsors, my parents and everybody. It has been a
really great day, especially because I havent ridden for three weeks.
It is good to be third in the championship but I am still counting the
cost of those mistakes in Glen Helen. I have to concentrate more and get
back what I lost.
David Philippaerts, 9th place:
I felt good here today but Im not happy. We still
have trouble with the starts but I was pleased with my speed and
physically I am in good shape. The first moto was going well until I
slipped. I then had another crash later when I touched a rider on a fast
line and it was a big one. I had another problem in a corner and lost a
lot of time to restart and was far behind. Eighteenth position is not
good enough and bad news for the championship. Luck was not with me
today but we have two more races close together now and a chance to
recover quickly.
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