Solid result for Elien De Winter in France

Photo: CDS

Elien De Winter qualified in seventh on Saturday, showing some decent speed. However, she couldn’t reproduce that same pace during the races. The winter ended the heats in tenth and ninth which meant ninth overall. In the World championship standings Elien jumped from ninth to eight . The French GP was won by home favourite Livia Lancelot who took both heats. German rider Stefi Laier ended up second in front of another German rider Lasissa Papenmeier. In two weeks De Winter takes part in the fifth GP of the season in Teutschenthal (Germany).

Elien De Winter: “In the first heat I took a reasonable start, taking the first turn in sixth. But in the first lap I was already losing some places. Unbelievable really. During practice everything went smooth, but during the race things just didn’t pan out. That’s how I ended up tenth on Saturday. Today (Sunday) I had a good start. I hung in fourth when, just before, the first jump, I tangled with another rider. Luckily, I kept the bike upright. Besides that I had to give in during the last three laps, until then I had been in seventh.”

Hard-charging Desalle misses the podium

Photo: CDS

Clément Desalle dominated Saturday’s (dry) qualifying race in Ernée. However, the treacherous weather conditions on Sunday didn’t favour the young Belgian’s chances. But even in these difficult conditions 'MX-Panda' proved to be one of the best MX1 riders of the moment. In the fist heat he even finished fourth without goggles. In the second heat he would end up sixth despite three crashes. Desalle finished fourth, on equal points with Tanel Leok, in the overall of the GP. Clément is now fifth in the World MX1 classification, trailing only one point behind Josh Coppins. The GP was won by Max Nagl, who ended up second behind Desalle in Saturday’s qualifying race.

Clément Desalle: "I had a fairly good start in the first heat. But almost immediately I had a problem with my goggles and I had to throw them away. It was really tough to ride without goggles in rain and mud. I ended up fourth but I couldn’t be happy with that. I didn’t have a good start in race two, laying in 6th or 7th. Maybe I wanted too much and that meant that my back wheel just stepped out. I remounted rather quick and was able to pass Cairoli and Leok, but after that I slipped twice. That meant I had to come back from 13th. Finally I would finish sixth. Top five wasn’t too bad after all. But it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. I really feel I could have done better."

First pole position for Desalle

Photo: CDS

Today, Saturday, LS Motors-Honda rider Clément Desalle raced to his first ever pole position of the season on Saturday when he convincingly won the Qualification Heat. Clément came first ahead of Max Nagl and David Philippaerts. His dominant performance also allowed him to pick up a Lovemytime qualifying award.

MX2 rider Dennis Verbruggen qualified in 25th for tomorrow's race.

Elien De Winter gets ready for the mud!

Photo: CDS

This weekend’s French motocross GP in Ernée will be the fourth round of the WMX, The Women’s MX World championship. Twenty year old Elien Dewinter who hails from Denderleeuw in Belgium is with a provisional ninth in the standings, the best Belgian rider in the WMX. After suffering from an heavy injury (a complex pelvis fracture) things have been on the up for Elien. She aims to improve further in Ernée. The French GP being the first in a crucial series of three in one month’s time.

On the French GP I regularly compete in France but strange enough I have never ridden in Ernée. It’s the first time they hold a WMX GP as well. From what I gather it’s a typical French track: located on the side of an hill, hard pack and very technical! I don’t know if we will be able to jump all obstacles because some pretty heavy rain is expected towards the end of the week. Let’s hope things won’t be too bad. As far as the GP goes, everybody will be expecting Livia Lancelot. Especially because its her home race. It will be hard for her to deal with that pressure. Last year her race in Saint-Jean-d’Angely was her worst performance. Personally I feel pretty fit, last week I did a fitness test with my trainer, Yves Demeulemeester. The test was quite positive. But at the end of the day you just have to perform on the bike!

MX as a distraction Right now I’m in the middle of my exams (Elien is studying Physiotherapy at the Brussels University). It’s a good thing that I don’t have to do all of my exams this month. After the French GP we’ll have the German GP in two weeks time and early July the Swedish GP. Because the way my exams are spread I have to do some of them in July and August. That way it looks a bit like I’m constantly in the middle of my exams.

WMX level is rising Sometimes it annoys me to get passed by girls I used to beat on a regular basis earlier on. But it means the level is just getting better and better. Besides that, the top girls are totally committed to racing. They have been living like Total pros for quite some time now. Because of their higher training intensity they sometimes seem to be in a league of their own. I’m pretty realistic about that. My goal is making the top 10, if I’m doing better I just take that as an added bonus. Because female riders hardly make any money at all, I find it a bit strange to commit solely to racing. My study prepares me for a professional career besides motocross.

Countdown to Ernée has begun

Photo: CDS

Fresh from his third podium out of seven GP’s Clément Desalle and his LS Motors-Honda team mates are looking forward to the French GP in Ernée this weekend. The venue of the epic 2005 MXoN once again is set to be on of the

best attended races on the tour. The organizing club MC Ernée has also revamped its panoramic ‘Raymond Demy‘ track with the aid of the world famous track builder Jean-Luc Fouchet. True to form Fouchet has injected more than a

few Supercross elements: wave section, triples, cameljump, ‘dual-line’ sections. This is going to be a spectacular one!

Although Clément Desalle is still sixth in the MX1 championship, it’s apparent that the LS Motors Honda rider is reeling in several higher ranked riders. In fact the points gap between the Belgian and second placed David Philippaerts is only 17 points now. Desalle: “By now everyone knows I don’t bother talking about numbers or making predictions. Probably that sounds lame to some people, but considering there’s so much that can be happen I feel that’s the only realistic mind set. I can only try damn hard and see how it goes! I think the French GP is going

to be cool, the track looks promising and there’s always a massive crowd. You could say it’s my second home GP, becaue I’ve been racing in France a lot in junior classes. So that makes it a bit special.”

LS Motors-Honda’s sports manager Marnicq Bervoets has fond memories of Ernée. He won the 250cc GP in the North of France in 1999. Bervoets says: “Actually Ernée in itself is more difficult than it seems, especially with the off-camber turns. One mistake can cost you an awful lot of time there. Things are even more technical now with the changes they have made! Obviously we can expect a French invasion this weekend, since most of the French riders are technically very adept and used to riding SX-styled terrain. Clément should be fine there, he has a good timing on the jumps and we know he likes that kind of track.