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Sunday, September 7: The last of the Motos in this year’s UIM-ABP European Continental Aquabike Championship took place at the Grand Prix of Vichy, France on the Allier River on Sunday afternoon.
Nikola Dryjakova, Daan Hoeke, Grantas Gurkšnys, Alexandre Bourgeois, Leo Kete, Alejandro Prats Palau and Mickael Poret confirmed European Championship titles in the Runabout GP4 Ladies, Ski GP2, Runabout GP4, Ski GP3, Ski GP3.3 Junior, Runabout GP2 and Ski Division GP1 categories.
Grand Prix success in France went to Kätrin Nilbe, Karl Joosep Steinberg, Gurkšnys, Yoni Hamelin, Kete, Justin Patzner, Estelle Poret, Quinten Bossche and François Medori in the Runabout GP4 Ladies, Ski GP2, Runabout GP4, Ski GP3, Ski GP3.3 Junior, Runabout GP2, Ski Ladies GP1, Ski Division GP1 and Runabout GP1 classes.
Nilbe earns Grand Prix victory in Runabout GP4 Ladies
Estonian Kätrin Nilbe prevailed in the last of the Runabout GP4 Ladies Motos with a 6.28-second victory over the new European champion Nikola Dryjakova. Those precious 25 points gave Nilbe a comfortable victory in the weekend’s Grand Prix and also meant she finished second in the European Championship.
Cyrielle Bramm rounded off the podium in the final Moto from Ilaria Vanni, Alizée Vanden-Blecken and Aurora Filiberti. Bramm’s result enabled her to finish as runner-up in the Grand Prix ahead of Dryjakova, Filiberti and Vanni. Filiberti was third in the European Championship.
Italy’s Nicole Cadei, Luisa Beja, Astra Gurkšnytė and Katarina Sepp rounded off the Moto finishers.
Daan Hoeke seals Ski GP2 European title; Moto 3 win gives Steinberg Grand Prix win
Third place for Daan Hoeke in the third of the Ski Division GP2 Motos confirmed the Dutchman as the European Champion but victory in the heat for Karl Joosep Steinberg netted the Estonian the Grand Prix win on a tie-breaker and second place in the European Championship.
Steinberg reached the chequered flag just 1.6 seconds in front of Marten Tikk with Hoeke taking third ahead of Marlon Tiik and Martim Marques. Marlon Tiik was awarded a 25-second penalty for a jump start. Neither Csongor Jászai nor Luuk Hoeke took the start. The result earned Marten Tiik a bronze medal finish in the Grand Prix with Marlon Tiik finishing third in the European Championship.
Gurkšnys takes European and Grand Prix titles with third Runabout GP4 Moto win
Grantas Gurkšnys completed a clean sweep of successes with victory in the last of the Runabout GP4 Motos. The Lithuanian won his third Moto of the weekend by 19.22 seconds to secure victory in the Grand Prix and take the European Championship title.
Ibiza-based Spaniard Alejandro Prats Palau came home second in the Moto ahead of Arti Mölter and Dovydas Kutra and that result meant he finished as runner-up to Gurkšnys in both the Grand Prix and the European Championship. Mölter finished third in both competitions.
Henri Koppas, Kauri Kaunispaik and Rihard Leinsalu rounded off the Moto finishes but Juliusz Roman was a non-starter.
Bourgeois snatches stunning European Ski GP3 title success; GP3.3 Junior success for Kete
Frenchman Alexandre Bourgeois stunned his rivals to win the last of the Ski Division GP3 Motos and secure victory in the European Championship. The Yamaha rider finished the last Moto 8.96 seconds in front of the young Belgian Yoni Hamelin with Bram Hoeke rounding off the podium places. Hamelin’s consolation for finishing second was victory in the Grand Prix from Bourgeois and Bram Hoeke.
Corentin Lemire came home fourth in the Moto ahead of the new Ski GP3.3 Junior champion Leo Kete and his rival and Junior runner-up Maxime Arthebise. Michael van Reybroek finished a subdued seventh from Manuel Leite and those results saw them finish the European Championship season in second and third positions behind Bourgeois. Leite and van Reybroek had both been awarded 25-second penalties for jump starts and they ultimately proved very costly.
Csongor Jászai pulled out of the final Moto after one lap and finished a distant fourth in the European Championship.
Patzner seals Runabout GP2 Grand Prix win with Moto 3 success; European title for Prats Palau
Justin Patzner shocked his rivals to deliver a memorable 5.71-second victory in the last of the Runabout GP2 Motos and that result earned the German victory in the Grand Prix by four points from Lithuania’s Domantas Vaznys.
Vaznys was alleged to have driven dangerously in the Moto, was docked a lap as a result and was also issued with a yellow card. To make matters worse, that pushed the Lithuanian down to sixth in the Moto and enabled Alejandro Prats Palau to snatch the European Championship title by five points.
Prats Palau finished fifth in the final Moto behind Patzner, Tom Claerhout, Manuel Reggiani and Miguel de Oliveira. Patrick Moora rounded off the finishers in seventh place. Claerhout, Reggiani and Patzner finished third, fourth and fifth in the European Championship.
Poret seals Ski Ladies GP1 Grand Prix win with Moto 3 success
Estelle Poret followed up her victory in Moto 2 with an 11.45-second success in the last of the Ski Ladies GP1 Motos and that was enough for the French girl to confirm victory in the Grand Prix of Vichy four points.
Benedicte Drange shadowed her rival to the finish of the Moto to take second place ahead of the defending World Champion Jasmiin Ypraus, who did just enough to finish third in the Grand Prix. Virginie Morlaes, Lou Dardillat and Joana Graça rounded off the six finishers in the Moto after new European champion Jessica Chavanne and Naomi Benini failed to finish.
Chavanne pulled out after seven of the 10 laps and Benini had fallen by the wayside as early as lap two after being handed a 25-second penalty for a jump start. Chavanne’s retirement from the final Moto of the season enabled Drange to close to within 10- points of her in the final standings. What may have been had the Norwegian attended the opening Grand Prix in Poland? Morlaes, Ypraus and Dardillat finished third, fourth and fifth in the European Championship.
Bossche takes Ski Division GP1 Grand Prix win; European title for Mickael Poret
Quinten Bossche had pole for the last of the Ski Division GP1 Motos and a six-point cushion over Oliver Koch Hansen and a 10-point lead over Mickael Poret in the battle for Grand Prix honours. His rivals were separated by six points in the duel for the European Championship with Poret holding the advantage.
Koch Hansen made a strong start and managed to get in front of Bossche with Mickael and Jéremy Poret holding third and fourth into lap two. The Dane maintained his lead until the penultimate lap when he was passed by Bossche, who went on to take the Moto win, a clean sweep of three heat wins by 6.32 seconds and Grand Prix honours.
That overtaking manoeuvre also proved decisive in the outcome of the European Championship. It cost Koch Hansen three precious points and, even though Jéremy Poret had passed his brother Mickael to take third place, Koch Hansen didn’t have enough points to prevent Mickael Poret from becoming European champion, although he did finish ahead of his rival in the Grand Prix.
Kerto Kase finished the final Moto in fifth place ahead of Valentin Dardillat, Yoni Hamelin and Phil Segers after Xavier Pesslaux was docked a lap for missing a turn buoy and also handed a 25-second penalty, like Jeremy Rathoin and Axel Couirtois, for a jump start.
Perez seals Moto 3 win in Runabout GP1; Medori takes Grand Prix success
New European champion Jéremy Perez earned a 25.93-second victory in the last of the Runabout GP1 Motos, but his Corsican Easy Rider team-mate François Medori had already done the hard work with wins in the first two Motos and second place was enough for Medori to take victory in the Grand Prix.
Despite retiring on the third and first laps of the final Moto, Robin Laforge and Pierre-François Savelli did enough during the season to finish second and third in the European Championship standings. To make matters worse, Savelli had also been awarded a 25-second penalty for a jump start.
The high rate of attrition in the last of the Motos enabled Petr Dryják to finish third ahead of Florian Bardoux, Lino Araújo and Egidijus Kirilevicius. Dryják duly confirmed third place in the Grand Prix standings.
Perez said: “I make a good start and I managed to stay first. I am so happy to win the Moto and the European Championship.”
Medori added: “My start was really bad. When I pushed the throttle, the ski moved and I start last. After, I tried to come back on Jéremy but it was really hard. I pushed hard all Moto but I could not pass him at the end. It was a good weekend for us. He wins the championship and I win the Grand Prix. That is perfect.”