NAfter the mud of Valence, Lacapelle-Marival, two hours south of Limoges, was given the honour of hosting the second international race in France. The compact, hard-packed track offered the World Championship riders the perfect opportunity to measure themselves against each other. Thanks to the contribution of main sponsor Monster Energy, Lacapelle was very green, but it was Suzuki who came out on top again. In MX1, Steve Ramon (6-3-1) was the most consistent ahead of teammate Clément Desalle and LS Honda Racing riders Ken De Dycker and Shaun Simpson. In the MX2 class, Tommy Searle, second overall, made a big impression. Searle was the fastest MX2 rider ahead of Arnaud Tonus and Joël Roelants.
De Dycker was doing well in Marival.
In the first heat the audience was immediately treated to a nerve-wracking duel between Desalle and De Dycker. Ken stayed on the wheel of the vice world champion until the end of the 20-minute race. But a mistake on the final lap caused the LS Honda Racing rider to lose contact and his chance at victory. Searle finished third ahead of fellow MX2 riders Roelants and Tonus. Yentel Martens came in eleventh.
In the second sprint of the day, Keeno wasted no time. He quickly took the lead and seemingly effortlessly drove away from the competition. To gauge his rivals, De Dycker slowed the pace for a while, but Desalle and Ramon's hopes were short-lived. When De Dycker pushed again with lap times that were two to three seconds faster than the rest of the field, he quickly outpaced the rest of the field. With that, Ken rode his CRF450R to a dominant victory ahead of Desalle and Ramon. Simpson, who was third in qualifying, drove a trouble-free race and finished fourth. Searle was again the best MX2 pilot on the CLS-Kawasaki.
First podium for Joël Roelants.
Due to the low sun, the riders had to deal with visibility problems in the last heat. De Dycker therefore needed a few laps to get up to speed, while Desalle was doing well at the front. For a moment it seemed like it was going to be a new Desalle-Dedycker duel because Keeno had come within four seconds of the MX Panda when he had to abandon the battle due to serious back pain. De Dycker could no longer stand upright and, with a blocked back, preferred to be safe. Steve Ramon was the laughing third in the final classification, because after De Dycker, leader Desalle also retired with a chain problem. Too bad for Clément who showed again that things are going well after Valence. Joël Roelants is also doing well for himself. The Grobbenddonker has clearly started the season sharper and he finished second in the MX2 after Tonus in the last series. Kevin Fors also made an eager impression in Lacapelle.
Series 1: 1. Clement Desalle, 2. Ken De Dycker, 3.Tommy Searle, 4. Joël Roelants, 5. Arnaud Tonus, 6. Steve Ramon 7. Matiss Karro, 8. Nicolas Aubin, 9. Loic Larrieu, 10. Jordi Tixier... 27. Shaun Simpson (LS Honda Racing)
Series 2: 1. Ken De Dycker, 2. Clément Desalle, 3. Steve Ramon, 4. Shaun Simpson, 5. Tommy Searle, 6. Arnaud Tonus, 7. Max Anstie, 8. Nicolas Aubin, 9. Matiss Karro, 10. Julien Bill
Series 3: 1. Steve Ramon, 2. Tommy Searle, 3. Arnaud Tonus, 4. Shaun Simpson, 5. Joël Roelants, 6. Matiss Karro, 7. Julien Bill, 8. Nicolas Aubin, 9. Loïc Larrieu, 10. Kevin Fors, DNF Ken De Dycker, DNF Clement Desalle
MX INTERNATIONAL of LACAPELLE MARIVAL INTERS
1. 11 RAMON Steve 15 20 25 60
2. 100 SEARLE Tommy 20 16 22 58
3. 25 DESALLE Clement 25 22 6 53
4. 7 TONUS Arnaud 16 15 20 51
5. 9 DEDYCKER Ken 22 25 – 47
6. 34 ROELANTS Joel 18 9 16 43
7. 91 KARRO Mattis 14 12 15 41
8. 131 AUBIN Nicolas 13 13 13 39
9. 24 SIMPSON Shaun – 18 18 36
10. 202 LARRIEU Loic 12 10 12 34
11. 387 MARTENS Yentel 10 8 9 27
12. 21 FORS Kevin 8 7 11 26
13. 2 BILL Julien – 11 14 25
14. 35 LAFONT Yoan 9 6 10 25
15. 76 RAUCHENECKER Pascal 7 5 7 19
16. 99 ANSTIE Max 4 14 – 18
17. 911 TIXIER Jordi 11 – – 11
18. 33 DEAR Julien 1 1 8 10
19. 103 VAN-DUEREN Kenny 6 – 4 10
20. 111 GINESTA Yannick 2 4 – 6
21. 66 SCHAFER Alain – – 5 5
22. 32 PRIME Manuel 5 – – 5
23. 86 BOTTANELLI Guillaume – 2 2 4
24. 69 BONNEMOY Brice – – 3 3
25. 951 AUBIN Arnaud – 3 – 3
26. 921 REGNER Melvin 3 – – 3
27. 441 KAHRO Erik – – 1 1
28. 10 WAUTERS Arnaud – – – –
29. 550 MITCHELL Sean – – – –
30. 77 IRONWORK Arun – – – –
31. 5 OBERNAIR – –
Photos credit: CDS, Ray Archer
