Saturday, June 22: French girl Estelle Poret and Belgian racer Quinten Bossche emerged victorious from two thrilling opening Motos in the Ski Ladies GP1 and Ski Division GP1 categories at the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy in Olbia on Saturday morning.
Beynost-based French girl Estelle Poret claimed a vital victory in Moto 1 in Ski Ladies GP1 and that enabled her to draw level with former championship leader Jasmiin Ypraus in the title race on 85 points apiece after an impressive victory.Both Ypraus and Benedicte Drange were penalised by race officials and defending World Champion Jessica Chavanne and Emma-Nellie Ortendahl were promoted to second and third after a thrilling opening Moto.
Poret said: “Moto 1 was crazy. I start five on the bike and then when I reached the first hole shot (buoy) I was two behind Jesse (Chavanne). Jessica then made a mistake and I passed into first. I had all the Moto in position one. I am so happy for my team and all the people who work with me to make this win.”
Quinten Bossche led from the start of his opening Ski Division GP1 Moto and managed to stay clear of traffic and the battles raging behind him to pick up 25 valuable points with a comfortable 15.286sec victory over closest championship rival Kevin Reiterer. A fourth straight Moto success to follow on from his hat-trick in Vietnam has given the Belgian 100 points in the title race. Morgan and Jeremy Poret finished third and fourth.
The Belgian said: “I did every lap in the lead in the whole championship! Very good, very happy. One more today and one more tomorrow. It’s a hard weekend. It was extremely rough. You had to look for the buoys with the white chop on the water. It was very rough. But I like it. It makes it challenging for everyone.”
Estelle Poret snatches stunning Ski Ladies GP1 Moto win
A dozen girls lined up for the opening Ski Ladies GP1 and Jasmiin Ypraus had pole position from Benedicte Drange and Emma-Nellie Ortendahl. Defending World Champion Jessica Chavanne lined up in fifth behind Estelle Poret.
But Chavanne played her strategy to perfection and forged into the lead only to fall into the water before the finish of the opening lap. The French girl’s time delay saw her lose three positions and slip behind leader Poret, Ypraus and Drange and into fourth place with River Varner in fourth and Ortendahl slipping from to sixth after a dramatic start.
Poret maintained her lead from Ypraus into lap three and a flying Chavanne regained third at the expense of Drange, who was forced to take the penalty buoy. Poret continued to lead into lap five but Chavanne found a way to pass Ypraus and moved back into second place when the Estonian had to pick up a penalty buoy.
Five minutes remained on the clock and Poret led Chavanne by 2.348 seconds with Ypraus under investigation in third and Drange, Varner, Ortendahl, Sofie Borgström and Virginie Morlaes rounding off the top eight. Joana Graca and Naomi Benini were running in ninth and 10th.
Poret retained her lead with two minutes on the clock but Chavanne slipped back to fourth behind Ypraus and Drange and had to work her way back towards the podium for a second time. Ypraus closed to within 1.792 seconds of the lead with less than a minute and one lap of the race remaining but Poret held on to claim 25 vital championship points and victory by 10.687 seconds to tie Ypraus in the title race after the Estonian and Drange were penalised and slipped back to eighth and ninth, respectively.
Chavanne was promoted second and Ortendahl, Varner, Borgström and Morlaes rounded off the top six. Graca was seventh and Benini finished 10th.
Fourth successive Ski Division GP1 success for Quinten Bossche
Twenty-eight riders lined up to start the opening Ski Division GP1 Moto. The series-leading Belgian Quinten Bossche started on pole from Morgan Poret and Kevin Reiterer but Bossche maintained his lead to the hole shot and began to edge clear of Morgan and Jeremy Poret, Reiterer, Anders Keller, Valentin Dardillat, Deven Farthing, Mickael Poret, Oliver Koch Hansen and Tanguy Mezière through the opening lap. Mads Koch Hansen and Lukas Binar were non-starters.
Young Australian Jayden Richardson struggled to the rear of the field with engine issues before retiring, as Bossche continued to pull away from the Poret brothers, Reiterer and Keller. Japan’s Toshi O’Hara pushed Mezière out of 10th place and Dag Martin Drange fell.
Bossche led Morgan Poret by 5.683 seconds with six minutes remaining, although there were no position changes within the top eight, as O’Hara passed Oliver Koch Hansen to take ninth. Reiterer then overhauled Jeremy Poret to snatch third and began to hunt down the Frenchman’s brother Morgan in the battle for second. The Austrian succeeded in passing the Frenchman and snatched second behind Bossche, as Mickael Poret moved up to seventh with Keller slipping down the running order.
Bossche held on to claim a fourth straight Moto victory and a maximum 100-point haul with a winning margin of 15.286 seconds over Reiterer, who stayed in contact with the Belgian in the title race with 22 valuable championship points himself. Morgan and Jeremy Poret finished third and fourth, Dardillat was fifth and O’Hara, Farthing and Mickael Poret rounded off the top eight after Keller fell late on and slipped out of contention.
Rashid Al-Mulla on pole in Freestyle
Five Freestyle riders took to the water for their pole position session on Friday evening. Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Al-Mulla impressed the judges with his variety and style package and amassed 86 points to claim pole position from defending World Champion Roberto Mariani (79 points).
Mariani’s fellow countryman Massimo Accumolo matched his two rivals on quantity to snatch third and Portugal’s Paulo Nuñes and Morocco’s Fadil Yassine were fourth and fifth.