Press Release

Paulin shines in front of mammoth crowd at Motocross of Nations

ocscottie
9/19/2011 4:31pm



One week after his sensational debut MX1-GP victory
on the Monster Energy Yamaha YZ450FM at the Grand Prix of Italy Gautier
Paulin sent a 68,000 crowd into rapture at St Jean D’Angely for the 65th
Motocross of Nations. The Frenchman won the second of three motos at
the shower-hit, hardpack and heavily rutted circuit on the west coast
and helped his country to second position overall, almost defeating the
powerful Team USA.



Paulin faced intense scrutiny from the public and
press over the two days at the traditional season curtain-closer and
also some moral support from team-mate Steven Frossard who was
originally selected for a strong French trio but who had to withdraw in
the wake of a lung infection. ‘GP21’ responded to the goodwill from the
spectators who seemed to cheer emphatically with his every
throttle-twist and started well to head Jeffrey Herlings and win the
moto that placed the MX2 and MX Open categories together. Paulin pumped
the air repeatedly after crossing the line in first place and to a
volume of noise unheard in 2011.



The tall grand prix winner saw Team France’s chance
of overall success evaporate when Christophe Pourcel had a technical
problem in the next race but Paulin still had to rally to eighth place
to secure the runner-up position for his crew and army of fans. He was
also second overall in MX Open.































Arnaud Tonus wore his Bike it Cosworth Wild Wolf
Yamaha colours for Switzerland and some excellent starts on the YZ450F
were restricted with the MX2 British Champion feeling sick since
Thursday and lacking peak fitness to operate at the highest level. The
stylish youngster was still tenth and thirteenth and seven overall in MX
Open just ahead of Gareth Swanepoel who was also armed with a YZ450F
and pushed South Africa to sixth; the same as his best classification.



Monster Energy Yamaha’s Carlos Campano had a very
good first outing wearing the colours of Spain by taking ninth but a
crash in the second meant he restarted far behind the pack and could
only work his way up to nineteenth. Spain were eighth and former MX3
World Champion Campano was ninth in the MX Open list.



The last meeting of the season was the scene of a
special occasion as Yamaha Motor Europe were delighted to present Team
Owner Michele Rinaldi with a cake to celebrate the former world
champion’s twenty year association with the company.



An intense motocross campaign now comes to a close. Keep a watch on www.yamaha-racing.com and www.facebook.com/yamaharacingcom
for further updates on riders such as Steven Frossard and David
Philippaerts and the rest of the Monster Energy crew through the winter.

Tonus at the Nations

























Paulin at the Nations







Gautier Paulin:



“It was an amazing feeling to win that race. I got
the holeshot and made a mistake but kept calm and could win the moto,
which was really good for me. I couldn’t make it happen again in the
second moto and made many mistakes in the first laps, so I’m not happy
about that. When I saw Christophe was out I felt quite low. It was
difficult to have this in my mind and if he was hurt or not because the
waves was a fast and slippery place to crash. When I saw that we could
still be second I began to get really motivated again and pushed to the
finish.”



Arnaud Tonus:



“Practice went well and I had a good feeling with
the bike; it was a lot of fun on the 450. I’ve been sick since Thursday
so I knew I would be struggling. I did what I could but already from the
qualification race on Saturday I felt flat after ten minutes. I had a
great start in the first moto and was fourth but crashed after three
laps which was a shame because I had a good rhythm. I came through to
tenth and felt alright on the 450. My start was terrible in the second
moto and again did all that was possible. It could have been better
today but with the fitness I had it wasn’t too bad.”



MX1 Classification



1. Ryan Dungey, Suzuki, USA; 2. Tyla Rattray,
Kawasaki, RSA; 3. Tommy Searle, Kawasaki, GBR; 4. Chad Reed, Honda, AUS;
5. Tanel Leok, TM, EST; 6. Jonathan Barragan, Kawasaki, SPA; 7. Rui
Goncalves, Honda, POR; 8. Yoshi Atsuta, Suzuki, JPN; 9. Marvin Van
Daele, Honda, BEL; 10. Antti Pyrhonen, Honda, FIN



MX Open Classification



1. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki, USA; 2. Gautier Paulin,
Yamaha, FRA; 3. Jeffrey Herlings, KTM, NED; 4. Davide Guarneri,
Kawasaki, ITA 5. Kevin Strijbos, Suzuki, BEL 6. Brett Metcalfe, Suzuki,
AUS 7. Arnaud Tonus, Yamaha, SUI 8. Gareth Swanepoel, Yamaha, RSA 9.
Carlos Campano, Yamaha, SPA 10. Brad Anderson, Honda, GBR



MX2 Classification



1. Ken Roczen, KTM, GER; 2. Marvin Musquin, KTM,
FRA; 3. Joel Roelants, KTM, BEL; 4. Blake Baggett, Kawasaki, USA; 5.
Dean Wilson, Kawasaki, GBR; 6. Donny Bastemeijer, Honda, NED; 7. Shannon
Terreblance, Honda, RSA; 8. Stuart Edmonds, TM, IRL; 9. Priit Ratsep,
Honda, EST; 10. Aleksandr Tonkov, Yamaha, RUS



65th Motocross of Nations Classification



1. USA, 26 points; 2. France 39p; 3. Australia 44p;
4. Great Britain 46p; 5. Belgium 54p; 6. South Africa 56p; 7. Germany
58p; 8. Spain 58p; 9. Netherlands 81p; 10. Estonia 86p; 13. Japan 98p












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