Vuillemin Leader of a "Green Wave"

The French Elite Championship moved to Brittany last weekend and for the third time in a row
David Vuillemin placed his KX450F on the highest step of the MX1 rostrum.
After Sommières and Pernes, two Southern hard-park tracks, the series moved to a different terrain in
Romagné. On a natural and soft layout the riders found new racing conditions, and most of them enjoyed
the sunny weekend just a few days before the opening round of the World Championships.

After a frustrating qualifying - he struggled at the start and had to battle hard to qualify in third position –
Vuillemin, together with his team technicians, did however find the right settings to get decent starts for
raceday. He finished Sunday with a holeshot in the last heat, but showed already in the other twenty
minutes and two laps motos that he is the man to beat in the French series. Runner-up in the first heat he
then collected two wins and the overall classification, results which allow him to lead the series by twenty
one points at mid-championship. Second in Romagné and the championship, Gregory Aranda improved
his results throughout the weekend. Winner of the qualifying race, Greg injured his knee traversing a rut
but wasn’t too bothered during the races; in fact he just missed two decent starts in an attempt to equal
Vuillemin’s performances, and proved in the last battle of the day that he is a firm contender for the fastest
MX1 rider of the pack. Fourth and sixth after convincing comebacks, Greg then rode to a second position
with good lap times during the entire twenty minutes plus two laps period.

For the first time since 2007 and his European title, Gautier Paulin had the pleasure to stand on the
highest step of a podium as he dominated the MX2 class in Romagné, and offered a double win to the
Bud Racing team. Third in the qualifying race, Gautier started twice mid-pack on Sunday but on this
technical layout found a way to move quickly to the front. Twice third, Gautier had a poor start in the final
event but never gave up and was pleased to pass four riders during the last five minutes, a move that
offered him the class win. Reigning champion Steven Frossard had a mixed weekend in Romagné, as he
suffered from an arm injury which prevented him from training as usual between the races. Second in
qualification Steven had a great start and led the entire opening race, pushing to the limit until the
checkered flag as Vuillemin was closing the gap in the last minutes. He then had to recover from his worst
start of the season, collecting an eleventh position in the next outing. He ended the event with a fifth
place, but once more complaints from his arm on a rougher and demanding track. Loic Rombaut was
consistent during the weekend, and scored his best results in the qualifying race – fifth – and the second
moto – seventh – where he got good starts. He had some trouble to find a good rhythm in the opening
heat, but came back from far behind to tenth in the last sprint and confirmed that he is improving each
week.

After his Dutch experience last week, Gareth Swanepoel was back to England for the second round of the
British championship on the sunny layout of Langrish. Fourth in qualification on one of his favorite tracks,
Gareth was involved in a crash with Billy Mackenzie at the start of the first moto and lost all chance of a
run to the front. The bike was damaged in the crash but ‘Swanie’ rode strong and scored a decent
eleventh place in a flight from last position. Once more his powerful 450 offered him a great start in the
second heat; he was second but made a few mistakes and lost three positions in the next corner. Riding
consistently he gains two places during the race and finally collected second position behind Nagl when
Mackenzie crashed during the last lap. Swanie scored his best result for some time and will be alongside
his team-mate Sébastien Pourcel in Faenza next weekend; the Frenchman started practicing on the bike
two weeks ago, and will go in Italy aiming to score as many points as possible.

French Championship Heat 1:

1.Frossard (Kawasaki) ; 2.Vuillemin (Kawasaki) ; 3.Paulin (Kawasaki) ; 4.Aranda (450 Kawasaki CLS) ;
5.Musquin (Honda) ; 13.Rombaut (Kawasaki)

French Championship Heat 2:

1.Vuillemin (Kawasaki) ; 2.Coulon (Suzuki) ; 3.Paulin (Kawasaki) ; 4.Musquin (Honda) ; 5.Aubin (Yamaha)
; 6 Aranda ; 7.Rombaut ; 11.Frossard

French Championship Heat 3:

1.Vuillemin (Kawasaki) ; 2.Aranda (Kawasaki) ; 3.Aubin (Yamaha) ; 4.Paulin (Kawasaki) ; 5.Frossard
Kawasaki ; 11.Rombaut (Kawasaki)

French Championship Overall:

1.Vuillemin (Kawasaki), 72 ; 2.Paulin (Kawasaki), 58 ; 3.Aranda (Kawasaki), 55 ; 4.Frossard (Kawasaki),
51: 5.Aubin (Yamaha), 50 ; 11.Rombaut (Kawasaki), 32

French Championship standings MX1:

1.Vuillemin (Kawasaki), 202 ; 2.Aranda (Kawasaki), 181 ; 3.Coulon (Suzuki), 112 ; 4.Renet (Suzuki), 100 ;
5.Pichon, 50

French Championship standings MX2 :

1.Musquin (Honda), 155 ; 2.Boissière (KTM), 140 ; 3.Paulin (Kawasaki), 133 ; 4.Tonus (KTM), 103 ;
5.Frossard (Kaswasaki), 103 ; 8.Rombaut, 76

British Championship heat 1 – MX1:

1.Nagl (KTM) ; 2.Melotte (Honda) ; 3.Osbourne (Yamaha) ; 4.Anderson ; 5.Noble ; 11.Swanepoel
(Kawasaki)

British Championship heat 2 – MX1:

1.Nagl (KTM) ; 2.Swanepoel (Kawasaki); 3.Osbourne (Yamaha) ; 4.Anderson ; 5.Mackenzie (Honda)

British Championship Overall – MX1:

1.Nagl (KTM) ; 2.Osbourne (Yamaha) ; 3.Anderson; 4.Swanepoel (Kawasaki) ; 5.Nunn

British Championship Standings – MX1:

1.Anderson, 81; 2.Nunn, 70; 3.Noble, 64; 4.Church, 62; 5.Mackenzie, 58; 8.Swanepoel (Kawasaki), 44;