Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127933
BEACH RACE Le Touquet Beach Race firs t non-H onda rider in the top 10. His Yamaha teammates - Derneest er, Vialle an d Le wis - were eating bu ckets of sand back in the pack. Lewis was back somewhere around 50th, Via Ill' held 41st and Demeester 16th. Derneester, regar ded as one of the best beach racers in Europe, was experiencing problems. "I go t very worried," Dem eest er said . "I was miles back and sta rted trying too ha rd . 1 crashed an d then found my bike was cutting out. ( thought 1 was out of gas, but it was jus t my m ai n tan k al rea dy d ry. 1 pu t it o nto reser ve an d sta rted rea lly rid ing hard ." Vialle was a lso struggling: " I got a littl e ou t of shape in the Le Touquet and lost m an y pl ace s . It was hard to figh t ba ck; so man y rid ers were in front and a lot of them we re not as quick as me, so passin g wa s dangerous." Vialle, howeve r, passed ma ny riders after just one lap and was soo n into 25th place. Up fr on t, D el ep in e w a s ge tt ing push ed by Bethys and o n lap tw o lost his lead . " It was nice wh ile i t la s ted , but Be t hys was really r id in g h ard ," Delepine said. "1 tried to keep with him, but the bike was slidi ng everywhere." Hauquier also go t by to tak e seco nd place. " I did n ot w a n t to lose too mu ch gro un d on Bethys, so I w ent with him By Geoff Meyer LE TOUQUET, FRANCE, FEB. 22 welve mo nt hs ago A rna ud Demeester was slu m ped over his mac hine; he was an emotional wreck. Ca lled the "Sand ma n" by his rivals, De meester ha d just lost th e annual Le Touquet Beac h race by the slimmest of margins . Lead ing late in the race, a fried clutch caused his demise. But wha t a difference a vea r makes. During the late stages 'of th is year's Le Touquet, the Sandman was lookin g for a man in a hurry - the man lead ing the race. Demeester had crashed ea rly in th e race a nd was, a t one poi nt, so far behind the lead riders tha t any hopes he had of victory looked , at best, slim. Slim , however, was still good eno ugh for the French rider, w ho came back to w in his third Le Touq ue t race in four years. The 23rd run ning o f th e Optic 2000 Le Touquet was once ag ain pl ayed ou t in front of a massive cro w d of an estima ted 250,000 crazed Fre nch specta tors, and, with riders like Derneest er , World En d u ro C ha mp io n S te p h a n e P et erhansel, '9 7 win ner David H auquier and a lon g list of top motocross rid er s su ch as Fred erik Via Ill', Leon Giesbers and Thi erry Bethy s. there wo uld be no clearcut winner p red icted for this ra ce . Ya ma ha Mo to r Fra nce was well -pre- o pared, wit h Demees ter, Pe te rhansel , Vial le and America n Jim m y Lewis a ll signed up to do battle. Lewis arrived for the even t only days before and, with no practice o n the 3.94-mile course, it was goi ng to be a hu ge job to compete with the veteran lead ers. Overcast skies greeted the riders on Sunday morning and , while some rain had fallen, the thick sand w as in grea t shape. As th e 855 rid ers made their wav from Pare Ferme to the starting area i~ fro nt of the Le Touquet Beach, the huge crowd let the ai r horn s rip. Th e sound was deafening, but it was nothing compa red to the sound of 855 rid ers screaming their eng ines in to submission . The s ta rtin g lin e was wide with the large field of rid er s, and they w ere sent off down the 1.24-mile st raight and into the famou s Le Goulet. Leading th e way throu gh the twi sting first tu m was vet• eran motocros s Grand Pr ix rider Gerard Delep ine, follow ed by David Hau quier, Thierry Bethys and Avo Leo k . Pe te rhans el w as in ninth pl ace and was the (Above) First-turn act ion at the Le Touquet Beach Race in Holland. (Right) Cras hing and pushing ar e common sights at the infamous beach race . Local ri der Arnaud Demeester won th e race for the th ird time In four yea rs .