Bol d’Or Classic 2017 : Suzuki belge !

En marge du Bol d’Or cette édition accueille toujours le Bol Classic réservé aux motos antérieure à 1992 (25 ans et plus). Il se déroule en deux manches de 2 heures, dont la première se déroule de nuit.

La pole position réalisée par Christian Haquin sur la Kawasaki ZXR-7 fait long feu puisque la moto s’est arrêtée dans le tour de formation et n’a pas pris le départ pour une bête cosse de pompe à essence dessertie. Rageant alors que le potentiel de cette ex-moto d’usine était énorme puisqu’elle avait remporté le Bol d’Or 1991 avec Alex Vieira.

Bref le champ est libre pour les Suzuki GSX-R de Nicolas Senechal et Lionel Frerard et celle du Team Force avec Bruno Lebihan et Mathieu Lagrave au guidon, une habituée de la victoire au Castellet. D'un coté de purs amateurs qui roulent en famille et de l'autre un pilote usine d'endurance et un ancien champion de la spécialité.

La première marche de nuit a été marquée par quelques chutes et interventions du pace-car pour finalement saluer la victoire de la Suzuki Belge du Team Force, devant le Kawasaki Eisen/Gigon et la Suzuki GSX-R de Senechal/Frerard, mais à 1 tour pour cette dernière qui n’a également fait qu’un seul arrêt ravitaillent. C'est 3 motos roulent en post-classic. La Honda-Japauto de Jaubert-Sauve qui menait en Classic connait quelques problèmes d'allumage et passe plusieurs fois par les stands. C'est la Kawasaki Bollinger suise qui termine 5e et première de la catégorie. APrès un arrêt pour refixer le selecteur, la Kawasaki Club 14 est remontée 13e et 3e de sa catégorie.

Rien n'est joué; il faudra confirmer samedi matin de jour.

2eme manche à rebondissement

Cette fois la Kawasaki 11 est bien au départ en pole, mais c'est une nouvelle fois la GSX-R1100 n°18 qui fait le holeshot. La 11 est mal partie mais remonte vite an tête où elle retrouve la Suzuki 56, qui a remporté la première manche. La duel est e toute beauté entre les deux machines avec Haquin et Lagrive qui jouent et oublient tous les autres. Juste après s'être porter en tête, la Kawa coupe dans la ligne droite et laisse partir la Suzuki du Team Force. Elle rentre par les voies de sécurité car le moteur s'est tut. Un fusible de pompe à essence et cela repart, mais la victoire de manche est perdue. Mais les soucis vont aussi toucher la Suzuki de tête qui n'a plus d'embrayage. On purge le circuit, charge de pilote et cela repart, mais plus d'un tour de perdu. Dès lors d'est une autre Suzuki, la 19 de Sénéchal et Frerrard qui occupe la tête, ne ravitaillant q'une fois. Chez team Force, devant effectuer un second ravitaillement, on remet Lagrive en selle avec pour mission de croquer la Kawasaki ZXR-7 d'Eisen qui vient de prendre la tête. Gidon luttera avant de rendre les armes à 10 mn de l'arrivée victime d'un embrayage qui patine. En pardant 10 secondes au tours, m'écart fond en 3 tours et désormais Lagrive aussure, laissant la Kawasaki 11 prendre le record du tours en 2.09"789.

Belle prestation de la Kawasaki Performance Club 14 avec Langlois et Charles-Artigues qui termine second de la manche. Ils devancent la Dolha 87 et la JApauto 10.

Victoire incontestable du Team Force Suzuki

Une nouvelle fois, le team Belge glane les lauriers au Castellet. Il faut reconnaitre qu'entre l'expertise du team, la vitesse de pointe de la moto et la valeur des pilotes, la sauce prend.

Au cumul des deux manches, la Kawasaki Suisse Bolliger (80) enlève le Bol Classic et la Suzuki Team Force (56) prend la victoire générale en Post Classic.

Classement Post classic (moto entre 1984 et 1991)

1- Suzuki Belgium Team Force (56) 97 tours

2- Suzuki GSX-R 1100 - Assurance Minard (18) à 2T

3- Rupteur - Kawasaki ZXR-7 (67) à 3T

4- Team Ti Piunch - Suzuki GSX-R 751 (97) à 3T

5- Marine Tech - Suzuki 1100 GSX-R (37) à 4T

Classement classic (avant 1984)

1 - Bollinger Classic - Kawasaki GPZ100 (80) 94 T

2- Hampe Racing Cleb 14 - Kawasaki Perfomance 1135 (14) à1'08

3- RPM 83 - Kawasaki 1135 (21) à 1T

4- Poweracing - Japauto (10) à 2T

5- Motopport - Kawasaki Z1000  (23) à2T

par par Didier MEYER

via http://www.lamotoclassic.com

EWC ; GMT94 Yamaha wins epic victory at the Bol d’Or

Reigning champion GMT94 Yamaha has won the Bol d’Or for the first time since 2007. The French factory-backed team clinched the victory ahead of Wepol BMW Motorrad Team by Penz13 and Honda Endurance Racing. The latter two teams staged a historic finish, with a duel between Sébastien Gimbert and female rider Lucy Glöckner of Völpker NRT48 Schubert Motors by ERC.

The 81st Bol d’Or will go down in history as the only EWC race in which a female rider waged an unstinting battle for a podium spot with a factory-backed rider. Lucy Glöckner, 27, a familiar face on the IDM (German Superbike championship) circuit, went all out to stop Honda Endurance Racing getting on the podium at the Bol d’Or. 673 laps into the race, Sébastien Gimbert wrested the third place after a suspenseful duel a few minutes from the finish, passing the chequered flag less than a second ahead of Lucy Glöckner.

GMT94 Yamaha gets all the spoilsThe other headline event of the opening round of the FIM EWC was that the reigning FIM EWC champion started the new season by sweeping to victory. GMT94 Yamaha combined the bonus points awarded at the 8-hour and 16-mark (20 points in all) with the 40 points allocated to the race winner, zooming to the top of the 2017-2018 FIM EWC standings. GMT94 Yamaha’s riders David Checa, Niccolò Canepa and Mike Di Meglio were in the lead practically throughout, and finished 9 laps ahead of the competition despite running out of fuel at one point.

Wepol BMW Motorrad Team by Penz13 got on the second step of the podium after an epic race. Having dropped to the bottom of the standings after a problematic refuelling stop, Markus Reiterberger, Alessandro Polita and Danny Webb climbed back up at speed to ease into the Top 5.

Edge-of-seat fight for the 3rd third step of the podiumSo Honda Endurance Racing had to fight hard to score third spot on the podium at the tail end of the race. Electronic issues and a faulty alternator had slowed down Grégory Leblanc, Sébastien Gimbert and Yonny Hernández. Völpker NRT48 Schubert Motors by ERC, the team comprising Lucy Glockner, Stefan Kerschbaumer and Jan Bühn, finished 4th, missing the podium by a hair’s breadth.
Another S1000RR was in 5th place: IV Racing BMW CSEU’s bike, with riders Karel Hanika, Fabrizio Lai and Julian Mayer.

F.C.C. TSR Honda France and SERT make a fine showingF.C.C. TSR Honda France started from 3rd position on the grid and wrested the lead from GMT Yamaha on Sunday morning. But at around 11am, a crash dashed the hopes of victory of the Japanese team backed by Bridgestone (and, as of this weekend, by Honda France). Josh Hook, Alan Techer and Freddy Foray finished 6th.

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team was back in top form on the new GSX-R 1000. However, this being the machine’s debut run in a 24-hour race, several mechanical and electronic issues cropped up. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team finished 7th.

A Superstock in 8th placeThe fastest Superstock squad, Tati Team Beaujolais Racing, picked up a superb 8th place, with riders Julien Enjolras, Julien Pilot and Kevin Denis running a flawless race. 9th past the finish line (2nd in the Superstock class), Team 33 Accessoires Louit Moto (Kawasaki) was three laps behind Tati Team Beaujolais Racing. After a smooth climb back up into the Top 10, Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki was the 3rd Superstock team at the race finish.

29 machines at the finishThis edition of the Bol d’Or proved particularly gruelling for both the riders and the machines. Only 29 of the 59 competing teams made it past the chequered flag. More than one team in the lead was forced to withdraw early on in the race. After taking the lead for Kawasaki SRC, Randy de Puniet rode long enough to post the fastest lap of the race (a 1’58.386) before returning to the pits with a broken engine on the ZX 10R #11.

Other favourites too were forced to throw in the towel. YART Yamaha withdrew around 9pm after sliding down to the tail end of the standings following Kohta Nozane’s crash. Team Tecmas BMW featured in the leading pack for quite some time, then had to abandon the track during the night with a broken engine. Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers was the first to withdraw, 10 laps into the race, with a broken engine. Maco Racing also gave up after the first quarter of the race, followed by multiple withdrawals as the night wore on. Yamaha Viltaïs Experiences, Moto Ain CRT and RAC41 Honda crashed out; Ecurie Chrono Sport, WSB Endurance and Atomic Motosport had engine breakdowns, and Team April Moto Motors Events had electrical and electronic issues.

68,000 spectators watched the 81st edition of the Bol d’Or on the Castellet circuit: a 5% increase over last year.

Bol d’Or final classification

FIM EWC Teams ranking after one race

FIM EWC World Cup after one race

WSBK ; Rea makes it a double at Portimao

It was a dominant win from pole for the World Champion in Race 1 at Portimao, with Davies and Melandri also on the podium

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) took his tenth win of 2017 with a fantastic ride at the Prosecco DOC Portuguese Round - which saw him dominate the race from pole and cross the line 6.189s seconds ahead of second placed Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati). Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) just held off Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) for third place on the finish straight.

Rea was untouchable over the 20 lap contest around the 4.592km Autodromo Internacional do Algarve at Portimao as he shot away from the head of the grid and soon built up an unbridgeable lead at the front. The victory was Rea’s 18th podium in 19 races this year and the Northern Irishman now enjoys a 95 point lead at the head of the standings.

After a crash in SP2 Davies also rode brilliantly, coming from ninth on the grid to take a highly creditable second place, beating his teammate Melandri across the finish line by just under four seconds. Melandri in turn beat Camier by just +0.342 as the Brit chased him hard in the final stages of the race.

The top five also featured Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), with Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) sixth and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) seventh.

The top ten was completed by Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) and Roman Ramos (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven).

There were crashes for Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) and Leandro Mercado (IODARacing), meaning DNFs for both, although the pair escaped their incidents otherwise unscathed.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) missed the race and is out of action for the rest of the weekend after sustaining a finger injury in an FP3 crash earlier on Saturday.

World Champion in imperious form in Portugal as he wins Race 2 ahead of Van der Mark and Melandri

Race 2 at the Portimao’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve saw Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) complete a perfect weekend, with a victory by almost six seconds over second-placed Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team). Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) rounded out the podium behind the leading pair.

In the absence of the injured Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and with Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) crashing out with three laps to go in Race 2 it was another significant victory for Rea as he edges closer and closer to a third successive WorldSBK title.

The weekend could not have gone better for Rea as he won both races, secured pole position on Saturday and wrapped up the 2017 Pirelli Best Lap Award title. He now leads the general standings by 120 points over his teammate Sykes and could secure the 2017 WorldSBK title at Magny-Cours in two weeks time.

Van der Mark was delighted with his first podium with Yamaha after the Dutchman beat Melandri to the finish line by 3.367s. Just off the podium was Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), whilst Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) also featured in the top five.

Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), Leandro Mercado (IODARacing), Anthony West (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Ayrton Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) and Takumi Takahashi (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) completed the top ten.

There was a big crash for Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) midrace at turn 13, with Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) also going down shortly afterwards at turn 3. Fores picked his machine up to finish 13th.

After an exciting Prosecco DOC Portuguese Round the WorldSBK riders will next be in action at the Pirelli French Round in two weeks’ time, over the 29th September to 1st October weekend.

via http://www.worldsbk.com

Ken Block Drifts London

Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to present you with an extended cut of a very special film: Matt LeBlanc on a tour of London with Ken Block and his Hoonicorn Mustang. Turn it up very, very loud, sit back, and enjoy...