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News |
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| 20.08.2007 |
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Sebastien claims fourth podium but Christophe injured in Ireland |
The thirteenth round of the 2007 Motocross World Championship was a mixed one for Team GPKR, with another good result for Sébastien Pourcel but a bad injury for his brother Christophe. The 2006 MX2 World Champion dislocated his shoulder and has a suspected broken pelvis from a warm-up crash that is likely to put him out of action for the rest of the season.
Rain disturbed the program of the Northern Irish GP and on Saturday the usual three MX1 practice sessions were crammed into a single one, with fifteen minutes to discover the new venue and then thirty minutes to qualify on a wet and slippery course. Sébastien clocked the fourth best lap time and then fortunately found the track in better condition for Sunday as the organizers scraped off most of the excess mud. Pourcel missed a good start in the first race as his line was boggy but he came back to tenth after the first lap and then pushed to finish in fifth position. He selected another spot on the start gate for the next race and grabbed the holeshot, followed by Philippaerts and Strijbos. Leading the race for three laps he unfortunately crashed on the fourth circulation, coming back to the race in fourth place behind Strijbos, Brown and Philippaerts. He passed both of them to finish runner-up in the sprint and also for the Grand Prix, collecting his fourth consecutive podium. Seemingly forever third in the standings, Sébastien reduced the gap to Coppins and Ramon before the last two rounds of the series.
 Sébastien Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki) / Photo by: Ray Archer / Team GPKRSébastien Pourcel: "That’s another great result for me but the weekend was not too good for us with my brother’s injury. Yesterday we had no fun on the track. It was dangerous as the ground was soft in many places but they did a great job to prepare it for the races. Unfortunately behind the gate the ground was really wet and I missed my first start; I rode consistently to come back to fifth. For the second start I picked up another slot and took the holeshot. The race seemed much easier but I then crashed on a double jump and lost the lead. I came back to second but far from Kevin who is coming back strongly in the series. I need to get more podiums in Donnington and Lieach weekend to secure my place in the final top three."
Fifth in the short MX2 qualifying session, Christophe Pourcel was confident on Saturday evening as all his rivals had posted a fast lap in the first part of the session, when the track was not too rough and rutted. Unfortunately during the warm-up session he didn’t see any yellow warning flags and landed from a jump on another bike. He crashed heavily and the session was interrupted by the red flag, as the doctors had to carry him from the track. The KX250F rider went in an ambulance to the hospital, where doctors reinserted his dislocated left shoulder and further exams revealed a break in the pelvis region.
 Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki) / Photo by: Ray Archer / Team GPKRRoger Pourcel (Father of Christophe and Sébastien): "I know that the marshalls have a difficult job, but if they did it correctly this weekend Christophe would never have crashed. It was impossible for any rider to see the yellow flag before this huge jump and when Christophe arrived there he couldn’t possibly know that one fallen bike was on theline. His 250F collided with this bike and Christophe was catapulted off and landed heavily on his back."
Patrick Geladé (GPKR team manager): "It’s a shame that Christophe got injured this weekend as he has been a stronger rider for a few weeks and we were expecting some good results from him. We don’t care so much about the points and the standings at the moment; we just hope that Christophe will be soon on both feet. At the moment he is in the hospital of Antrim, but will move to Belfast for more exams by a well-known specialist. They want to have more scans before taking the decision to operate or not. Concerning Sébastien I’m once more pleased to see that he reacted perfectly after his crash in the second moto; he took it quiet, rode smart and came back to second. Twice first and twice second in the last four GPs; that is great for him and also for us, of course."
Source: Press Release Team GPKR |
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