SAINT JEAN D’ANGELY, 9 June 2007- A very hot Saturday gave the start to the seventh round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the Grand Prix of France, which is on this weekend at the Circuit du Puy de Poursay.
An impressive Tanel Leok conquered his third seasonal pole by snatching it from home rider Sebastien Pourcel in the dieing seconds of the Qualifying session.
Like in Sugo two weeks ago, the MX2 class saw once again Christophe Pourcel and Antonio Cairoli win the two Qualifying heats. Can home hero Pourcel beat Cairoli again, and win in France for the first time in his career?
 | Tanel Leok dedicated his third pole of 2007 to Jan de Groot |
MX1
Today the MX1 Qualifying session offered lots of emotions in each of the 30 minutes. British Bradley Anderson was the early leader and was spotted a few other times during the session, but Kawasaki Racing’s Billy Mackenzie snatched the virtual pole soon.
Later in the session Martin Honda’s Julien Bill –at his first World Championship appearance with the Italian team- became the second rider to break the 1.38 minute barrier after Mackenzie, and clinched the pole.
Anderson came back up again with a flying lap, going under the 1 minute and 37 seconds, and breaking KTM Red Bull’s Jonathan Barragan’s dream of his maiden World Championship pole.
Yamaha Motocross Joshua Coppins and Suzuki’s Steve Ramon passed each other the pole, then Kawasaki Racing’s Tanel Leok clocked the fastest lap by reaching the 1 minute 35, and entered the game together with Teka Suzuki’s Hungarian Kornel Nemeth.
An incredible Sebastien Pourcel of GPKR put himself together after a crash at half session distance, and moved up to first in the time sheets with just three minutes to go.
The top spot on the gate seemed to be reserved for Pourcel; the Frenchman was all set on a celebration when he entered the pits, but he was just in time to watch Kawasaki fellow rider Tanel Leok grab the pole with his very last attempt.
Kevin Strijbos finished eight fastest behind Coppins because of a weak knee, as Billy Mackenzie and David Philippaerts rounded off the top ten.
MX2
GPKR’s Christophe Pourcel and Yamaha De Carli’s Antonio Cairoli succeeded in winning their Qualifying heats, but Pourcel will be the one starting from pole tomorrow, as he won the opening moto. A consistent Tommy Searle of KTM Red Bull chased Pourcel for victory and then lead the race, but was passed in the final lap. Anthony Boissiere of CLS tried to follow Cairoli but finally decided to settle for a safe second place.
 | Christophe Pourcel never won a French GP so far |
MX2 QUALIFYING RACE 1
Christophe Pourcel had a superb start and lead the group into turn one, but he never got rid of British Tommy Searle, who placed himself in second place right after battling with Pourcel for the holeshot.
Pourcel ran away with the lead, but at half race distance he was caught by Searle; Tommy passed after the two almost tangled up with each other. Searle tried to pull away from the Frenchman, but Pourcel’s tactic of studying the rival’s lines worked at the very last lap, with Christophe moving back to first a few corners before the finish line.
Tyla Rattray settled down for third after he won a wheel to wheel battle with Jeremy van Horebeek, who was very fit in the opening laps but finally ended with a seventh place.
Van Horebeek battled also with Gareth Swanepoel, who moved in front of the Belgian to cruise in a solid fourth place for the rest of the heat.
Jeremy Tarroux rode to a final fifth place, which made this one the Frenchman’s best qualifying session of the season.
 | Tommy Searle did his best to stop Pourcel, but finished second |
MX2 QUALIFYING RACE 2
Tony Cairoli unleashed all the power of his bike to dominate from the opening lap until the very last one. Anthony Boissiere had a good start too, and was at the Italian’s tail together with Matti Seistola.
Cairoli escaped with Boissiere, but the Kawasaki mounted Frenchman gave up the chase and decided to settle for second, thinking of revenge for tomorrow’s race.
On the other hand, Pascal Leuret got stuck in a group of other riders after the start, and was seventh at the end of the opening lap. He came back up strong, to pass Rui Goncalves and then Matti Seistola for an eventual third place.
Also Goncalves chased Seistola, to pass the Finn at the final lap and bring the bike home with a fourth place ahead of the rival.
Tom Church just missed the top five and finished sixth, ahead of Wyatt Avis and Sean Hamblin.
 | One more victory for Cairoli, who won last year’s French GP |
THE EVENT’S SCHEDULE WITH ONE MINUTE OF SILENCE
To remember Jan de Groot, one minute of silence will precede the start of the MX2 opening moto, that is scheduled for 12:08 am. The first moto of the MX1 class will begin at 1.08 pm.
The TV schedule of the FIM Motocross Grand Prix of France is the following.
Live on Sunday:
EUROSPORT 2 : MX1 Race 1 at 14:30 (delayed) and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
AB Moteurs : MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
Sport Italia : MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
VRT : MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
GALAXIE SPORT : MX2 Race 2 at 15:00 CET
ART TV: MX1 Race 2 at 16:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD: MX1 Race 1 at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00 GMT
SPORT TV: MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00 CET
MEDIA ZONE: MX2 Race 1 at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00; MX1 Race 1 at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00 CET
Delayed on:
EUROSPORT 2: Sunday June 10, MX1 Race 1 at 14:30 CET
SPORT ITALIA: Sunday June 10, MX1 Race 1 at 17:00 and Race 2 at 18:00 CET
EUROSPORT WORLD: Monday June 11, MX2 class N/A (check http://www.eurosport.com)
AMERICA ONE: second Tuesday after the GP, MX2 Race 2 and MX1 Race 2, N/A (check http://www.americaone.com)
GAORA: MX2 Race 1 and Race 2, MX1 Race 1 and Race 2, N/A (check http://www.gaora.co.jp)
Information and results on http://www.motocrossMX1.com, the official website of the FIM Motocross World Championships.
Fans worldwide can watch this and every race of the 2007 FIM Motocross & Supermoto World Championships live and on-demand exclusively on The Moto Channel on MediaZone (moto.MediaZone.com). MediaZone is a leading global online broadcaster specialized in sports, entertainment and international programming.
LINKS
FIM
Circuit du Puy de Poursay
Visit St. Jean D’Angely
Youthstream is the company that manages the exclusive television, marketing and promotional world wide rights of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM Motocross of Nations, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship, the FIM SuperMoto of Nations, the FIM Snowcross World Championship, the UEM Motocross European Championship and the UEM SuperMoto European Championship.
www.MotocrossMX1.com
6/13/2007 8:47pm
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