Bol d’Or (Qualifying): Honda Racing on provisional pole! / Honda Racing en pole provisoire

The first qualifying session for the 2014 Bol d’Or saw Honda Racing top the order with an average time for its three riders of 1m40.803s. GMT 94 (Michelin) was second fastest, ahead of SERT. The top three teams were covered by less than four-tenths of a second.

Today’s qualifying session could well end up being crucial since rain is expected to move in over Magny-Cours for the second run tomorrow (Friday).

Although, Grégory Leblanc (1m39.608s) was the fastest rider on the track, Kawasaki SRC has yet to officially qualify for the race since Matthieu Lagrive, who is still in hospital after his fall earlier today, was unable to take part in the session. On top of that, the team’s reserve rider Nicolas Salchaud has already stepped in to replace Fabien Foret! For information, the average time for Leblanc and Salchaud was 1m40.809s.

Honda Racing celebrated its official return to endurance racing by picking up provisional pole with an average of 1m40.803s for Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sébastien Gimbert who posted similar times, although Da Costa (1m40.382s) was the fastest of the three.

Another evenly-balanced trio was David Checa, Kenny Foray and Mathieu Gines who put the N°94 Yamaha-Michelin in second place, just 0.117s short of their Honda rivals. Kenny had the pleasure of securing the best time in the ‘white’ session (1m41.255s), 0.069s ahead of his brother Freddy.

The defending EWC champion SERT is third (1m41.130s) and the overnight top three is split by just 0.328s.

Suzuki Junior Team (1m41.956s) produced a good run to top the Superstock order and figure in fourth overall, ahead of Formula EWC runners National Motos (1m42.014s), Bolliger Team Switzerland (1m42.317s) and YART (1m42.370s). Second in Superstock is Penz 13 (9^th overall, 1m42.602s), ahead of Hall Moto 02 (10^th, 1m42.891s).

The night-time session, which starts at 9:10pm, will bring today’s action to a close, while the potentially wet second qualifying session is due to begin at 12:25pm Friday.

Au terme de la première séance d’essais qualificatifs du Bol d’Or, Honda Racing est crédité de la meilleure moyenne en 1.40.803. Le GMT 94 (Michelin) s’est classé deuxième devant le SERT. Les trois premières équipes se tiennent en moins de quatre dixièmes de seconde.

Cette première séance qualificative était importante compte tenu que les prévisions météorologiques annoncent de la pluie pour la journée de demain. Malgré le meilleur temps absolu de Grégory Leblanc en 1.39.608, le team Kawasaki SRC n’est officiellement pas qualifié pour la course. En effet, suite à sa chute aux essais libres en début d’après-midi, Matthieu Lagrive, toujours en examen à l’hôpital, n’a pu prendre à cette session. N’ayant pas de pilote remplaçant, seuls Grégory Leblanc et Nicolas Salchaud ont pu, pour l’instant, établir un temps dont la moyenne est 1.40.809.

Pour son retour officiel en endurance, Honda Racing rafle la pole provisoire en 1.40.803. Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray et Sébastien Gimbert ont signé des temps très proches, Da Costa a été le plus rapide en 1.40.382. Très homogènes également, David Checa, Kenny Foray et Mathieu Gines ont hissé la Yamaha-Michelin n°94 à la deuxième place à seulement 0.117 seconde des polemen provisoires. Kenny a bouclé le meilleur tour de sa session en 1.41.255, 0.069 seconde devant son frère Freddy.

Champion du monde en titre, le SERT se classe troisième en 1.41.130. Ces trois premières équipes se tiennent dans un mouchoir de poche séparées seulement par 0.328 seconde.

Très belle performance du Suzuki Junior Team, première équipe Superstock, qui s’intercale à la quatrième place au général devant des teams engagés en Formula EWC avec une moyenne d’1.41.956. Derrière, on retrouve National Motos (1.42.014), Bolliger Team Switzerland (1.42.317), le YART (1.42.370). Deuxième machine Superstock, Penz 13 se classe neuvième (1.42.602) devant une autre équipe de la catégorie, Hall Moto 02 (1.42.891), qui complète le top 10 général.

Les essais de nuit à 21h10 vont clôturer cette première journée. La seconde séance qualificative est prévue demain à partir de 12h25 où la pluie pourrait être de la partie.

Bol d’Or,(Free Practice 1): Kawasaki SRC set the pace / essais libres : Kawasaki SRC déjà devant

Kawasaki SRC – winner of the last two Bol d’Ors – topped the order in this afternoon’s Free Practice session at Magny-Cours, chased by SERT, Honda Racing and GMT 94 (Michelin).

At 2pm local time, the 45 bikes entered for this year’s Bol d’Or – the last to be held at Magny-Cours – pulled out of their pits for two hours of free practice as the morning’s mist made way for some welcome warm sunshine.

SEALINE CROSS COUNTRY RALLY 2014 (DAY 4)

Qatar’s Al-Attiyah and Abu Issa retain leads and spain’s coma tops the bikes in Sealine Rally

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• Stage four wins for Al-Attiyah, Goncalves and Sonik
• Sunderland falls and sustains wrist injury; navigation takes its toll
• Final 362.97km selective section awaits in Qatar desert on Friday

SEALINE (Qatar): Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Mohammed Abu Issa retained their leads in the car and quad categories and Marc Coma regained a slender motorcycle advantage after a tricky navigational 404.18km fourth selective section of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally on Thursday.

Al-Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel turned an overnight lead of 39min 38sec into an advantage of 1hr 05min 11sec over Polish Toyota Hilux driver Adam Malysz with one stage remaining in the fourth round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

“I am quite happy,” said Al-Attiyah. “I had no reason to push today. It is very easy to make a mistake here. Matthieu has been excellent all week. No problems with the car and we just have to do the same again one more time. This rally is now at a high level. The navigation is probably the most difficult of them all.”

Poland’s Krzysztof Holowczyc lost his chance of taking a top finish with overheating issues on Wednesday, but the Mini driver stormed back with a useful performance on day four. He was leading the stage all the way to PC5 before losing time with navigational issues. “This rally is very different,” said the Pole. “This is a co-driver’s rally. This is not for the driver. You push like hell for hours and then one mistake and it’s back to square one again.”


Toyota’s Marek Dabrowski claimed second position on the day and Overdrive team-mate Malysz took advantage of Vladimir Vasilyev’s lengthy navigational delays to snatch second overall by just 5min 20sec.
The dogfight between Honda and KTM continued into day four; overnight leader Joan Barreda, riding a Honda CRF 450, ceded the overall advantage to KTM’s Marc Coma for the second time in four days, although the stage win fell to Honda’s Paolo Goncalves.

The two leading Spaniards will now go head-to-head on Friday, with Barreda having the sizeable advantage of following the four-time Dakar winner and defending Sealine champion through the stage. Coma has a lead of 41 seconds and starts two minutes ahead of his rival.

“I know it’s going to be difficult now,” said Coma. “It was a very hard day with a very high level of navigation. I lost my rhythm a little towards the end and I now have to give it a go tomorrow. That’s all I can do.”

Goncalves was delighted with the stage win. “I have been recovering time since the first day and it was good to get back a lot of that time against my rivals today. It was a difficult and demanding stage. Tomorrow is the last day and I will need to concentrate and not make a navigation mistake. I have a chance still. You never know.”
Barreda admits that he needs to remain focused. “The strategy is working well. Now I need to keep my concentration and not make any navigational error. I will need to push and catch Marc and stay with him. That is the plan.”

After his navigational woes on Wednesday, Poland’s Rafal Sonik caught Abu Issa, the pair rode together and the Pole managed to win the quad stage by 5min 07sec. Qatar’s Mohammed Abu Issa takes a comfortable unofficial advantage of 29min 14sec into the final selective section on Friday and, barring a late disaster, should snatch the Sealine title from the defending champion.

THE LOW SEASON

Exactly a year ago I was traveling home from a shoot in Sri Lanka, and decided to have a stopover in India. I had a ticket booked into Delhi and plans to travel by train to the surrounding areas, but the region I really wanted to check out was Ladakh, an isolated mountain region in the most northern tip of India, between Pakistan and China. Just one problem: It was early April, the end of winter, and still very much so the Low Season.

Despite this, I changed my plans and booked a last minute flight into Leh, the largest city in the region. Half the town was still shut down for the winter, but I was able to find a shop to rent a 350cc Royal Enfield. The guest house I was staying at lent me some extra warm clothes and I was on my way. I spent the next week exploring the region, although due to it being the Low Season, many roads were closed, restaurants boarded up and mountain passes snowed over (including the famous Khardung La Pass, one of the highest road passes in the world at an altitude of nearly 18,000 ft, the apex can be seen at 1:32, taken right before I had to turn around due to ice). Despite all of that, or maybe because of the sleepiness, this ended up being one of the best trips I have ever taken.

I wasn't planning to make a short film. I only had my 5d, a few lenses, a still photo tripod and myself. (a far cry from the average crew size and gear list I usually have) Yet the beauty, isolation and impression of the mountains of Ladakh didn't let that happen.

Whether your passion is motorcycles, snowboarding, surfing or just traveling, hopefully you will agree that this short sums up the beauty of the Low Season. But HURRY! Summer is right around the corner. Get out there now, while the roads are empty, the beaches are deserted and the trails are quiet. Get out there while it is still The Low Season!

THE LOW SEASON from Andrew David Watson on Vimeo.

Directed by Andrew David Watson andrewdavidwatson.com
Voice Over by Mark O'Neil
Sound Mix & Design by Julienne Guffain