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All content © Bob MuIIins |
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Grand Prix AMV of France – Cahors March, 14th BLAZUSIAK makes history with his 6th World title The 2015 Maxxis FIM SuperEnduro World Championship came to a thrilling conclusion with the GP of France on Saturday, March 14th at the Exhibition Centre of Cahors, the historic capital of Quercy in the Midi-Pyrénées. An apt location for Taddy Blazusiak to chase an historic 6 World title. In the Junior class, the leader - Ty Tremaine (USA - KTM) - held a 3 point lead over his rival Andreas Linusson (S - KTM). In the Group A Free Practice Tremaine was the quickest, Manuel Lettenbichler was 2nd and Josh Gotts was 3rd. Andreas Linusson was 4th and Jack Edmondson 5th. Owain Humphreys was 8th - 18 second down on Tremaine's best time of 51 seconds. Group B could have stood for Blues as 9 out of 10 riders were mounted on Shercos - the only exception was Anthony Geslin on a Yamaha. Cedric Tempier was fastest in his group and 3rd overal ahead of Luke Flack. Jake Subachus was 5th and Jon Hunt was 10th.
Bastien Mechin, Elie Vecchi and Quentin Gagnerault stood out in the National heats. When the Juniors returned for Group A Timed Practice Manuel Lettenbichler was 1st while Ty Tremaine held his powder dry in 2nd. Owain Humphreys 3rd, Jack Edmondson 4th and Joshua Gotts 5th all beat 1 minute for the lap, Andreas Linusson was not classified after retiring with a suspected broken wrist. In Group B Cedric Tempier was again fastest. Maelig Bron Fontanaz was 2nd and Jake Subachus was 3rd. Luke Flack 5th and Jon Hunt was 7th. The Junior Final was raced over 3 heats. Manuel Lettenbichler won the first ahead of Ty Tremaine. Cedric Tempier held 3rd before a wave of young British talent swept over him, Josh Gotts was 4th, Owain Humphreys was 5th and Jack Edmondson was 6th. Luke Flack was 9th and Jake Subachus was 11th. In the 2nd heat and 3rd neats Ty Tremaine took the top spot ahead of Lettenbichler to round off a great FIM SuperEnduro season. Tremaine: “It’s an awesome feeling to be a world champion. It’s been a crazy season but I’ve loved every minute. Starting out I didn’t really know what to expect but taking the overall in Poland gave me confidence for the rest of the year. It was tough to see Andreas crash out in France, but that is part of racing. I’m delighted to have a world championship to my name now.” Results Junior Class 1, Ty Tremaine, USA, KTM 2, Manual Lettenbichler, GER, KTM 3, Cedric Tempier, FRA, Sherco In the Prestige Group B Free Practice the young bulls were quickest: 1st Jonny Walker, 2nd Cody Webb, 3rd Alfredo Gomez, 4th Taddy Blazusiak and 5th David Knight. Danny McCanney was a cautious 7th.
In the first National heat, Bastien Mechin took the holeshot. Elie Vecchi was 2nd and Tom Pastel was 3rd but in a final burst of colour Pastel took the lead. Mechin won the 2nd heat to win the overall and Tom Pastel was runner up. In the Superpole the results were 1, Taddy Blazusiak, KTM 2, Jonny Walker KTM 3, Cody Webb, KTM In the Prestige Final heat 1 Taddy Blazusiak took the holeshot. Cody Webb moved up into the lead with Jonny Walker was 2nd as Taddy rode within himself to finish 3rd, Danny McCanney kept it on 2 wheels to cross the line 6th and Paul Bolton was 7th. David Knight did not start as the virus that has dogged him over the past two months proved to be too much of a handicap. Race One 1, Webb, KTM 2, Walker, KTM 3, Blazusiak, KTM 4, Gomez, Husqvarna 5, Roman, KTM Race 2 was in reverse order. Mario Roman took the holeshot but Jonny Walker overtook him on the third corner. Taddy moved up in 2nd and Cody Webb was 3rd. Jonny won the heat but Taddy in 2nd had done enough to clinch the World title. Paul Bolton was 5th and Danny McCanney was 6th. Race Two 1, Walker, KTM 2, Blazusiak, KTM 3, Webb, KTM 4, Gomez, Husqvarna 5, Bolton, KTM When asked how he felt winning his sixth SuperEnduro crown Blazusiak said: “Each title has its own story. I have really been working for this one and it’s great after all the injuries and all the hard work. I just love what I do and I hate to lose. The game plan tonight was just to collect points and to stay out of trouble. I feel like I’m on top world right now. Coming into this race I knew I was in the perfect position to wrap up the title – I had a healthy points lead – but I still felt some pressure to get it done. Crossing the finishing line as world champion for the sixth time in a row is amazing. Overall it’s been a fantastic season – four GP wins and a world championship – and I can’t thank KTM, the team and everyone involved enough for the effort they put in.”
Race Three 1, Walker, KTM 2. Webb, KTM 3, Blazusiak, KTM 4, Gomez, Husqvarna 5, Gibert, Gas Gas. Jonny Walker: “It’s amazing to eventually get the win and to finish third in the discipline. This year I learned a lot and I’ll come back strong next year. I’ve been chipping away at getting an overall win and now finally it’s happened. In Brazil I was so close but then it all fell apart in the final race. Here in France I felt good on the track from practice. It was a tight and tough track but it seemed to work for me and I got on with the job. I had a good race one but silly mistakes held me back. Then race two I got to the front and took the win. I knew the overall was on the line leading into the final race and this time around I made sure I didn’t do anything stupid. Once I got my nose in front I rode smart and got my first SuperEnduro overall win. It’s been an eventful season. I’m happy to have salvaged third in the championship and can now look forward to focusing on extreme enduro for the rest of the year.”. Alfredo Gomez rode with an injured finger and he did well to finish in 4th Paul Bolton was 5th. Walker’s win made up in part for the disappointment in Brazil when he was in line for the GP win but went off track and got a banner hopelessly entangled in his rear wheel. He was disqualified for what was deemed outside assistance. Webb continued what has also been an exceptional first season in SuperEnduro and looked strong and challenging throughout the evening competition. “I really wanted that overall win but Jonny just had the edge on me in the final moto. I knew the points were close but I couldn’t get to him to try and fight for the overall victory. But I’m happy that I’ve been able to end the year as runner-up in the championship. It’s been a great first full season of SuperEnduro for me – races wins, the overall victory in Brazil and finishing things off with second overall in the series.” Blazusiak, a Red Bull athlete is also a five-times champion in the US-based EnduroCross and a five-times winner of the Red Bull Hare Scramble at Austria’s Erzbergrodeo, one of the premium extreme enduro competitions on the calendar. Fans can look forward to seeing him compete in more of the Europe-based extremes and other key enduro competitions in 2015. The Polish rider has opted to forego continual trans-Atlantic commuting in favor of concentrating on events on the Europe side of the Atlantic.
Championship points after Round 6 1, Blazusiak, KTM, 320 2, Webb, KTM,
282 3, Walker, KTM, 277 4, Knight, KTM, 231 5, Gomez, Husqvarna, 212 6,
Bolton KTM, 156 7, Roman, KTM, 147 8, Gilbert, 137 9, McCanney, 128 |
The 15 strong Prestige class was also divided into 2 groups. Colton
Haaker set the quickest time in Group B in the first Free Practice with Paul
Bolton in a close 2nd. Mario Roman was the fastest in the 2nd heat.
Jonny Walker was the fastest again in the Prestige Timed Practice ahead
Cody Webb. Mathias Bellino proved his return to fitness with 3rd quickest.
Coming into the 3rd race only one point separated Cody Webb and Jonny
Walker for the runner up. Taddy took the hole shot from Jonny and Cody. On
lap 3 Jonny took the lead. Taddy and Cody battled for 2nd until Taddy
dropped his KTM in the logs. Cody Webb pursued Jonny Walker hard but it was not enough. even
with a Walker stall on the last lap. Paul Bolton finished in 6th and 5th
overall on the night.
Overall Results