denill
21st June 2008, 11:31
HH Media Press Release:
Scott Columb also sent a report:
"Bonjour Monsieur, Round 7 of the FIM World Motocross Championship was held on June 14th and 15th in St Jean D' Angely, France. The weather was good, the track had a good flow and was very enjoyable to ride except for alot of rocks. Before I describe the racing let me say this of the weekend. I can not work out who has the most hardcore "die hard MX fans" the English or the French! Over the weekend the French put on an awesome display of lunacy with oversized air horns, chainsaws and the most impressive thing I saw was a car engine on a wooden pallet, with massive pipes and a man with a bit of string controlling the accelerator he was revving the shit out of it ever time I seen him!!!
Qualification was good I qualified in 27th without too much trouble apart from a fall that broke my radiator. As a result I had to come in and put a "hot lap" in on my second bike. I would have qualified a little faster on my race bike as the team had made an improvement on my shock making the bike turn easier on the hard super happy with our hard pack set up now.
Race 1: A bad gate means a bad start. My bad start meant I ate a lot of roost for the first few laps. I put in work, found my rhythm and passed several people. At one point in the race I got up to 14th I had a really good pace and was pushing hard and felt comfortable on the bike. I enjoyed the race and had a really fun 'ding dong' battle with Tom Church for 4 laps, at the end of the 45 minute plus2 lap race I crossed the finish line in 18th place.
Race 2: With my gate on the outside of the start i didn't have a great chance of getting a good start however i stayed upright and came out of the first turn racing hard, it was on! The first race proved with a good bike set up I have the pace to run top 15 so I was amped and eager to move forward and try and better my first result. Again from nearly last I made my way up thru the field and into the top 20. I jumped a triple jump going up a hill and gave myself some breathing room from the group behind me but I was rushing myself to get into the top 15 and as I went to go into a slow left hand turn I made a little mistake, I stalled the engine. Instead of kicking it over i pushed it round the bend 5 metres and off the hill bump starting it, I lost 5 positions! Right time to get those places back I said to myself so I settled into a good rhythm passing and battling with several riders i fought hard and at Moto's end I was credited with 20th position.
Overall i was very pleased with my results. So far this season things have been really tough and even at times confusing. Its hard when you are trying hard, training hard and riding well but can't qualify. My racing in France proved I can and do belong here in MX1 racing the World's elite. We have made a huge improvement with the shock and this helped alot. My next races are the Belgium champs this weekend then the FIM World Motocross Championship GP of Germany, with the latest changes to bike set up and the results and confidence they have given me I am really excited about racing so....
Till next time, what's up doc?
Thanks for your support.
Scott Columb, Team MtM Suzuki"
The 2008 World Enduro Championship will be the last for the decorated UFO Corse Yamaha Racing Team as they plan to stop racing activities at the end of this season. After ten years including four world titles, seven honours at the ISDE and four consecutive Italian championships, the Italian crew will pull out of competitive commitments at world level as team owners.
The squad are one of the powerhouses of World Enduro backed, by Yamaha Motor Europe and Yamaha Motor Italia. They earned three 250cc four-stroke world championships (now the E1 class since 2004) in 2001, 2002 2003 and then the inaugural E1 world crown in 2004. Riders such as Stéphane Peterhansel, Peter Bergvall and Stefan Merriman have all worn the distinctive colours of the team and been world champions with WR machinery. The 2008 line-up is also formidable, with new star Johnny Aubert currently leading the E2 series on the WR450F, allied with Fabrizio Dini, and then Simone Albergoni, Christobal Guerrero and Maurizio Micheluz all high up the rankings in the E1 category.
"It is a sad and regrettable decision but with the unstable commercial market, in particular in the US which is one of our main markets, UFO PLAST cannot sustain the competitive schedules of the team anymore", commented Vito Consoloni owner of UFO Plast SRL. For sure I know that I will miss a big part of my life but the decision has been inevitable. I would like to say a big thanks to all involved for so many years of support, but also for the large satisfaction we have been able to take due to victories and success all over the world.
We would like to make our final season a good one, and with Johnny Aubert and Simone Albergoni pushing for both the E1 and E2 titles we hope that we can finish on the best note possible, he added.
Scott Columb also sent a report:
"Bonjour Monsieur, Round 7 of the FIM World Motocross Championship was held on June 14th and 15th in St Jean D' Angely, France. The weather was good, the track had a good flow and was very enjoyable to ride except for alot of rocks. Before I describe the racing let me say this of the weekend. I can not work out who has the most hardcore "die hard MX fans" the English or the French! Over the weekend the French put on an awesome display of lunacy with oversized air horns, chainsaws and the most impressive thing I saw was a car engine on a wooden pallet, with massive pipes and a man with a bit of string controlling the accelerator he was revving the shit out of it ever time I seen him!!!
Qualification was good I qualified in 27th without too much trouble apart from a fall that broke my radiator. As a result I had to come in and put a "hot lap" in on my second bike. I would have qualified a little faster on my race bike as the team had made an improvement on my shock making the bike turn easier on the hard super happy with our hard pack set up now.
Race 1: A bad gate means a bad start. My bad start meant I ate a lot of roost for the first few laps. I put in work, found my rhythm and passed several people. At one point in the race I got up to 14th I had a really good pace and was pushing hard and felt comfortable on the bike. I enjoyed the race and had a really fun 'ding dong' battle with Tom Church for 4 laps, at the end of the 45 minute plus2 lap race I crossed the finish line in 18th place.
Race 2: With my gate on the outside of the start i didn't have a great chance of getting a good start however i stayed upright and came out of the first turn racing hard, it was on! The first race proved with a good bike set up I have the pace to run top 15 so I was amped and eager to move forward and try and better my first result. Again from nearly last I made my way up thru the field and into the top 20. I jumped a triple jump going up a hill and gave myself some breathing room from the group behind me but I was rushing myself to get into the top 15 and as I went to go into a slow left hand turn I made a little mistake, I stalled the engine. Instead of kicking it over i pushed it round the bend 5 metres and off the hill bump starting it, I lost 5 positions! Right time to get those places back I said to myself so I settled into a good rhythm passing and battling with several riders i fought hard and at Moto's end I was credited with 20th position.
Overall i was very pleased with my results. So far this season things have been really tough and even at times confusing. Its hard when you are trying hard, training hard and riding well but can't qualify. My racing in France proved I can and do belong here in MX1 racing the World's elite. We have made a huge improvement with the shock and this helped alot. My next races are the Belgium champs this weekend then the FIM World Motocross Championship GP of Germany, with the latest changes to bike set up and the results and confidence they have given me I am really excited about racing so....
Till next time, what's up doc?
Thanks for your support.
Scott Columb, Team MtM Suzuki"
The 2008 World Enduro Championship will be the last for the decorated UFO Corse Yamaha Racing Team as they plan to stop racing activities at the end of this season. After ten years including four world titles, seven honours at the ISDE and four consecutive Italian championships, the Italian crew will pull out of competitive commitments at world level as team owners.
The squad are one of the powerhouses of World Enduro backed, by Yamaha Motor Europe and Yamaha Motor Italia. They earned three 250cc four-stroke world championships (now the E1 class since 2004) in 2001, 2002 2003 and then the inaugural E1 world crown in 2004. Riders such as Stéphane Peterhansel, Peter Bergvall and Stefan Merriman have all worn the distinctive colours of the team and been world champions with WR machinery. The 2008 line-up is also formidable, with new star Johnny Aubert currently leading the E2 series on the WR450F, allied with Fabrizio Dini, and then Simone Albergoni, Christobal Guerrero and Maurizio Micheluz all high up the rankings in the E1 category.
"It is a sad and regrettable decision but with the unstable commercial market, in particular in the US which is one of our main markets, UFO PLAST cannot sustain the competitive schedules of the team anymore", commented Vito Consoloni owner of UFO Plast SRL. For sure I know that I will miss a big part of my life but the decision has been inevitable. I would like to say a big thanks to all involved for so many years of support, but also for the large satisfaction we have been able to take due to victories and success all over the world.
We would like to make our final season a good one, and with Johnny Aubert and Simone Albergoni pushing for both the E1 and E2 titles we hope that we can finish on the best note possible, he added.