Posts
5463
Joined
6/28/2014
Location
AU
Edited Date/Time
2/9/2025 6:08am
As the Subject says , it's on, right now :
https://www.redbull.com/au-en/live/enduropale-du-touquet-pas-de-calais-2025
I put it on just as they showed the highlights / finish of the Old(er) Bikes class, won by Adrien Van Beveren - Honda / HRC Dakar and Rally Team rider, on a CR500.
Oh, by the way, the Holeshot Line is at around 5.5 /5.6ks from the start.
PS : it's the 50th year of this event.
Thanks!
The Problem of Lappers reaches to an unbelievable level with this, and, well, all the Beach Races!
How they thread the needle, is astounding.
Such a gnarly race
Great coverage as always. That sand looks very fine and dry.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Free shipping: VITALMX
600K spectators is crazy
Miot's Yamaha graphic & gear combo is classy.
Love this.
the Yamaha #17 graphics are so cool. Adrien VB on the CR500!! 600K spectators, every years, for 50 years! Such a classic dirt bike fest.
Something I've noticed is it appears that the 'Guns', have what looks to be 250 sized tyres on the rear.
At first, with those great Helicopter shots from above, I thought the narrowness of the tyres might be down to 'tyre growth' with the Huge speeds the top riders are doing. Well even the better "weekend warriors" as Paul M says, are going bloody fast . It's just stunning the massive difference in speed of the top blokes, from the others - the closing speeds are a bit frightening, at times
But nope, side on, and in the (relatively) lower speed sections going back to the pits, I can see that they are not using bigger tyres - often, you'll see the slower riders, when in the same picture, have larger tyres on.
Perhaps it's all about not bogging down the engine / not having so much drag, buggered if I know. But they sure do have the back spinning and weaving at near on, or above, 100MPH down the 5 .5km main straight!
Things have changed since the decades ago Monster 17" tyres that had a brief popularity on Open Bikes. Fellow Old Bastards will remember those Huge things.
Oh well, it's 2.30 am, Bear Beddie Byes time! I'll have to catch the rest of the race later, as I've a bit to do in daylight, tomorrow - well, today.
Nope, Not going to Bed - Teammates Van Berkel and Van Horbeek are racing for Sheep Stations!
Yikes, they just came together, and pranged !.
Lars got going right away, Jeremy, well, he's peakless now, and taking his time getting going again....
Brilliant 3rd win in a row for Brit Todd Kellett.
He has the sand figured out
This race does not get enough coverage/attention here. It is so insane and badass and brutal! Kellett is an absolute beast in the sand, but really anyone who can even stay on the lead lap deserves some major praise.
Kellett also been dominating the new FIM Sand Races World Cup, which is basically combines most of the world's best beach races into one series. He won the title last season, and Enduropale was the first race of the 2025 series.
"I guess most of you saw that Lars and I crashed hard with 20 minutes left on the clock and riding in 4th posItion , with the crash I broke my T3 vertebra and my sternum. With a lot of pain I finished the race in 13th place (...)"
Holy shit....that track....the length goes over the curve of the Earth.....
Awesome.
I've got to race this one.
As well as the live view of the prang, I saw it up on YouTube, or a site, but can't find it now to put up.
If anyone can find it, it might be of interest to some.
It was quite the Hit, from Lars into Van Horebeek - to a certain extent, Jeremy was lucky to have 'only' a broken Sternum and 1 broken Vertebrae. And Lars having no (?) injuries from it, and, then getting third.
I daresay the atmosphere in the team area after the event, might have been a bit tense
These Beach races are bloody Chaotic....... The confidence ( in themselves And their confidence / trust / hope in those they are carving past) , is something to behold / wonder at.
Am I to understand, there were 14 laps of 11 to 14 minutes apiece. That is insane.
The sand skills by the top guys are otherworldly. The speed runs practically caused some heart palpitations watching the bike dance around underneath them....and then the passing others within what looked like inches and at least double the speed.
Damn that was awesome.
Post a reply to: Le Touquet Beach Race is on Right now on RedBull TV!