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28th Annual Le Touquet Enduro ble. I had hoped to hold Bethys off, although he was too strong and repassed me." With two laps remaining and with a two-minute lead over Bethys, the record of Van Der Ven looked to be in danger - although a late pit stop by Demeester saw Bethys take the lead. He held on to the lead until the checkered flag came out, finishing 52 seconds ahead of Demeester. Bethys was ecstatic with his win, "I was constantly under pressure," Bethys said. "It took me a good half hour to find the right rhythm. I had a fall at the beginning, and I was a bit shook up. I was back in the lead after the last refueling. It was a very close race. I'm exhausted. I saw the spectators encouraging me, and I told myself I should be in front. I really fought until the end, especially in the last two laps. I gave it everything. A More than 900 ftor~ While the victorious Bethys can sit back and remember his 2003 event with fondness, Demeester will always wonder what could have been. The Yamaha rider was looking at equaling the tally set by Van Der Ven and came very close to doing just that. "Of course I am disappointed," Demeester said. "I knew where Bethys was, yet I could not make up time on him - he was just too far ahead, and I never got in a position to win as the race closed. I can always come back and do it again - this event is for me the biggest race of the year." This year's event once again saw a Kawasaki competitor, Nicolas Cailly, enter the treacherous Le Goulet corner ahead of the 958 other competitors. Cailly was followed closely by a herd of Honda four-stroke riders - all previous winners of the Le Touquet: 1999 winner Jean-Claud Mousse, 2000-2001 winner Thierry Bethys, and 1997 winner David Hauquier. Back in the pack was Demeester, although by the end of lap one he had fought his way into fifth, just ahead of Vincent Turpin, David Fretigne and Jerome Hemery. By lap two, Mousse and Bethys had both passed Cailly, and Demeester was into fourth. Hauquier had crashed his way out of the run- STORY AND PHOTOS BY GEOFF MEYER LE TO(JQ(JET, FRANCE, FEB. 9 - nder cloudy skies and in front of 200,000 spectators, Thierry Bethys fired his Honda CRF450R to victory in the 2003 Le Touquet beach race, held in the small village of Le Touquet in the north of France. The Frenchman added to his 2000 and 2001 wins, and in doing so equaled the three wins by five-time World Motocross Champion Eric Geboers who also won three Le Touquet, back in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Surely, Bethys' next aim is to win again in 2004 and 2005 to equal the record that belongs to Dutch sand specialist Kees Van Der Ven. "It would always be nice to win another two here," Bethys said. "Although, this race is so special that each win is so difficult. You can never look at winning as many as Van Der Ven, although I am more than ready to perform at the highest level in this race· it is such a huge race for everyone invQlved." Bethys ~ade easy work of this year's e,:ent. Having moved into the lead on lap three, the always-smiling rider dominated the event, leading home four-time winner Arnaud Demeester, and Yves Deudon. 30 FEBRUARY 26, 2003' cue the beach in France I e n e vv s ning and was holding down 10th, while Fretigne also went missing from the lead pack. Bethys began to show his claws on lap three when he passed Mousse and led his fellow Honda rider into lap four by just 0.05 of a second. French riders seemed to have complete control over the other nationalities, with the first non-French rider being Dutch enduro hero Patrick Isfordink and the next being Canadian Simon Homans. Despite constant rain, Bethys seemed to be enjoying his time out front, and lap after lap he maintained his lead - although, on lap five, Demeester passed Mousse and set his sights on his fifth victory. "I was making good time," Demeester said. "I just had to continue to put consistent laps down and not crash - making a mistake cost you places, and on this treacherous course you cannot afford one little mistake." Demeester looked stronger than Bethys, and on lap six he passed for the lead. The huge crowd erupted as they saw Demeester going for history, yet his will to win was not enough. "I had problems with my back brake," Demeester said. "It did not work, and passing guys was impossi- third win is really great. I'm not after the record number of victories, but for as long as I want to participate, I'll be here. I'll be 32 next year. I don't know if I'll want to ride for years to come, but for the moment, while I want to, I'll do it." As for Demeester, he knew he had to find some strength to talk to the crowd after his major disappointment. "I had back-brake problems from the fourth lap onwards," Demeester said. "It's sheer hell to turn in the sand with all these riders to overtake without being able to use the back brake. I did two-thirds of the race with no brakes, and in Le Touquet it's really hard, as the ground is full of potholes. Our strategy was to have three stops, i.e.: one more than Bethys. During the second refueling, we decided not to fix the brake. It would have taken us a little more than two minutes, and we thought that I wouldn't be able to catch up. We tried to win that way, and it didn't work. It was a good race, and Thierry was the strongest." eN Z8th Annu' Le Touquet Enduro Le Touquet, Fronce Results: Februery 9, Z003 O/A: J. Thierry Bethys (Hon); 2. Arnllud Demeester (Yam); 3. Yves Deudon (KllW); 4. Dlwid Fretigne (Yam); 5. Jerome Hemery (Kaw); 6. Vincent Cambier (Yam); 7. Anthony Jahinchen (Yam)'; 8. Vincent Turpin (Hon); 9. Frederic VialJe (Yam); 10. Raphael Loridan (Yam).