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OFF-ROAD (Left) Just getting through the infamousLe Goulet first turn is a major feat in . itself at the Le Touquet Beach Race in France. (Bel_.left) French rider David . Hauquier was the big winner. (Below) Race favorite Stephane Peterhansel (middle) crashed in the first tum and ended up 10th.' But then a sudden turn of luck would give the victory to Hauquier. "1 could not believe it," Hauquier said. "When he passed me, 1 was sure 1 had lost again. Then 1 was so angry I crashed in the back of the track. Everyone was yelling at-me, but I could hear nothing. It was not until I saw a pit board from my team that I realized 1 had repasseg Demester." Demester, in the meantime, 'was sitting trackside, his France Yamahabacked machine coming to a stop as his clutch gave out. . "Stephane (Peterhansel) came along and helped get the bike going again, but then soon after, it stopped again. That's when David passed me," Demester said. Peterhansel arrived on the scene again, and this time ripping the clutch from the Yamaha's handlebars got the one-.time leader going again. "It was bad Luck for him, but in this race anything can happen," said Peterhansel, who finished a consistent 10th after a crash in the infamous Le Goulet (turn one) left him in 25th place after one lap. Demester did recover to finish second, just ahead of motocross rider Frederic Vialle, also from the France Yamaha team. Vialle nearly ran Demester over on the line as a crowd of riders blocked his path. In what must be described as comedy, Demester's mother jumped the safety fence to help her son through the confusion, only to get shouted away by the younger son as Demester blasted through to the finish. Mrs. Demester was given a sand facial, pure magic for the crowd of 30,000. The 1997 Le Touquet, like previous years, was not abou t a Dakar legend . (Peterhansel) or motocross riders - LE TOUQUET BEACH, FRANCE, FEB. 16 s Arnaud Demester entered the last lap of the grueling 1997 Le ) Touquet Beach Race, 30,000 ~." French supporters screamed their approval. The defending champion and two-time winner of the Le Touquet looked like a sure bet to win his third consecutive sand blast. Having only seconds before passed the previous race. Leader, David Hauquier, as the Honda rider entered the pits for an unscheduled fuel stop, Demester was smiling like never before. Vialle, Leon Giesberg (the 1996 Dutch 500 GP winner) and Georges Jobe (fivetime World Motocross Champion) - but about an event which pitted 800 riders against the elements of the Le Touquet beachfront. Of the 800 riders, only around 100 finished and of the 30,000 spectators, maybe fewer made it to the track. You see, the Le Touquet is a French parade, so important to the public that it was even given the thumbs-up by a terrorist group that had, claimed they had planted bombs in the sand around the track. Of course the organization TSO, which also promotes the Dakar rally and many By Geoff Meyer