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wie weet de uitslagen van st eutienne ik kan ze nergens vinden
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Lets be frank from the start, this aint no Tours, but it's better than what we can offer right now over here by a long way. A thousand rider event or pilotes if you are French !, in an indoor arena, fully sponsored and supported by the local town, loads of traders, grandstands and a pumping PA and jumbo video screen, and then to top it off with some of the fastest bmx'ers in the world to race against.
The track was not the best, but they crammed a lot into a small area, a U in a U with a new US ram gate, which I can tell you was not fool proof, cannot say if the French had dabbled with it or wot, but it failed a few times and loads of riders were going over it which was down to the timing of the gate as it was going down on red ??.
The 3rd straight was from hell and must have been designed by a madman or one sick dude, it just did not work and was dangerous, it also made the racing stop and start at that point. Shame really as the first two straights were cool with good steep high berms on turn one and two.
We all flew in Friday afternoon and for the chaps it was the first visit to the bowling alley next to the Parc Expo where the race was being held. Team UK, well 90% of them hit there every night and never got to bowl a single ball ??..Some serious fun and games commenced and the best bit of all was having a communal drink from a thing called a “Giraffe”, which was a very large tall container of beer with a tap on the bottom , hence to say that there were so many “Giraffes” had that weekend you could have started a zoo. The lightweights were soon highlighted in Team UK and Rich Eames now known as “Le Monkey du Nord ” and Shaun Fry, both high up in the shandy brigade and a bit shady after a beer or two,,, Shaun won the quote of the weekend award after being the wrong end of a Giraffe for way too long ,and came out with… “Hey Baby, I am 17 and I got a GCSE in English” while having his arms around two girls…. don't know bout Riding for Winnie, it was more like Partying 4 Winnie..
Hence to say that most of Team Uk did fairly crap on the track, barring a few notables. Ben Forward or as he is known now “Lean Backwards” rode a stormer by Brit standards and got as far as the semi in Cat 2 when some stiffo dropped in front of him forcing Ben to crash out too, also Ryan Stack made the final and was unlucky to crash and came 8th. Ben Godfrey had a go too in Cat 2 as well. Crupi's Tom Palmer was looking like he could hold his own with the French and got two seconds and a first in his motos and then crashed in his 8ths, shame as he was looking like final material no doubt. Word must go to Neil “Warlock” Stewart who rode his lil heart out and went in 3 classes, open, cruiser and 20" and if someone could have flattened that 3rd straight he would have been laughing.
After Scott Edgworth crashed out in his last moto and hurt his hand, he thought he had not qualified and was sleeping back at the hotel when the quarters went up and he was on the sheet, no worries as his worthy substitute stepped up to the plate and Alex Edgworth was born, new top and numbers and a make over and he was ready to go, Alex Gwerty saved any future blushes and sandbagged it at the back,, yeah right..
Dylan Clayton was chilling with his new Standard frame and his new 33x12 Profile gearing which was turning a few heads in the pits, he loved it and so did most of the others who tried it, they said it was very spinny out of the gate and to the first jump and then just felt like a normal 44 or 43 when you kicked in after, so could be all the rage for next season. Dylan Clayton is still a bit of a demi god in France after being on the Sunn team for all those years and winning all those titles. The enthusiasm and drive to win may have faded slightly with DC, but he is still the master on a bike and a joy to watch, I did threaten to call his Dad on numerous occasions if he did not pull his finger out, but he bribed me with stickers not too..
Come the open on Sat night, Saint Etienne had their hopes on their homeboy Florent Boutte from MBK and he did not disappoint, he ripped it in the final after looking the fastest in the moto's and qualifiers. Also his team mate and our old buddy Dennis Labigang was looking back to his old form with super fast gates and improved fitness, (Team UK take note) Dennis made the final both days. Also another French rider on the comeback trail was multiple World Champ Medhi REMILI, one of the greatest riders in France's history and still only 20 years of age, Medhi had taken some time out after losing his enthusiasm and motivation after riding for over 15 years and has now hooked up a ride with GT in the US and France and is flying out to the US to stay , train and race with his mentor Christophe Leveque for a few months. Medhi was winning the final of Sunday's Elite Men's main until the 2nd berm where Theirry Fouilleul basically took him out and went on to take the win. The big shock in Sundays Elite class was the fact that Florent Boutte crashed out on the first turn in the quarters and had been down as the favourite to win again..
Fouilleul was in awesome form and was in a determined mood and had come off the back of a big win in France's first Pro No Clips Race last month winning £1,000. Talking of clips , there were no clips for riders 16 and under at this event and it was a breath of fresh air to see young kids flying around on flats and not having to be extracted from their bikes every time they crashed..(beef over).
The talk of the weekend was the fact that the French federation where going to make Theirry Fouilleul move down from Elite to a lower class because he had not done enough racing at home in 2002, after he had been in the US for most of the year racing and also some other riders like Dennis Labigang could be affected too from being out injured??, total madness you would say, and us too, there was a meeting with the riders at the track to discuss the matter and I really do not know the outcome. Its crazy, so would you make Jamie or Dale race 17 + if they came home or Thomas Alier or Leveque move down ??. Seems a whacked out idea to me and hopefully they will see sense. The general feeling over there, is that French bmx is going through a rough period at the moment, mainly at the top end, but how can that be if a thousand riders turn up for a race 2 weeks before Xmas, but all said and done there is some unrest over the whole scene, maybe it is in a transition period, who knows ??.
There is no question in my mind and most of the others I went with, that we are still playing at BMX Racing compared to the French and let this be a warning to any English rider who thinks he is gonna go over there @ the Euro's in Vallet and kick French butt next year, cos it aint gonna happen, not even if you upped your training by 50% and rode every w/end from now until then, its their whole approach and attitude towards the sport and the fact that they never give up and pedal everything in sight all the way to the finish line. We witnessed more than one time a rider coming from the back of the pack or fallen off to get back on or pedal like stink all around the track to catch up and pass riders to qualify.. Not that I am saying don't go, you have to witness what you have to try and achieve if that is your goal, if it isn't, then settle for what you can achieve back home or attempt to make a Euro final, its your choice, but like anything in life, you have to work hard for it and then some if you are gonna compete with these guys.
All said and done Team UK had a great weekend and never planned to set the world alight on the track over there this w/end, but I still take it personally when we don't perform, maybe its my old skool roots or my competitive nature that's makes it stick in my throat a bit, knowing that we could do better and how good we used to be. I have threatened my slack lot with midweek training starting from Boxing Day and the floodlights will be going up down Slough's 1st straight, my track suit, whistle and stop watch are on order, so beware, Coach Buck is gonna slaughter ya !!.
