8/9/05
DATELINE: FRANCE — PODIUMS FOR ALPHA KART
Lyon, France — The Festival round of Alpha Karting continued in Lyon, at the time of the 4e Great Prix Karting FFSA of the season. Arriving in the Rhone-Alps area with moral inflated following the victories in July at the Trophee KART mag. and the Coupe de France Formula FFSA Junior, the TEAM Maillard Racing continued on its impetus while making it possible for Julien Poncelet to finish in second position in the Elite category, in front of his principal rivals in the race with the title.
Recognizing the importance of the appointment, the TEAM Racing Alpha-Maillard had prepared perfectly before this last test of the championship of France. The technical team quickly knew how to make good adjustments, so that the pilots could exploit with wonder the material placed at their disposal. Besides, as of the qualification times, Julien Poncelet had the 2e time of his group in Elite. In spite of an omnipresence, it however fell with the 14e place on the starting grid of the pre-finale following a mechanical breakage in a qualification series. But in Lyon, Julien had eaten... lion! He went up initially to 7th in pre-finale and continued on his impetus.
If the leaders were already too far to hope to catch up, the Alpha driver joined the group where the best of the championship were found. Initially taking on the best Kevin Breysse, he then attacked Arnaud Kozlinski, whom he passed in the ultimate turn after having connected late braking. Julien had his best run in 19th of the 20 turns of race, proof of the effectiveness of his ALPHA frame over the duration of a final. In 3e of the championship, Poncelet will have a beautiful plan at the time of the finale with Essay.
Three weeks after its victory with the Trophy KART mag, Aurélien Count crossed a new stage while rising in the signal-5 of the Queen category.
The interested party is explained, "I knew I may have some problems during the weekend, but fortunately the final proceeded perfectly. While leaving in 11th position, I succeeded in returning behind 5e of the pilots much more experienced than me, like Panciatici, Poncelet, Kozlinski and Breysse. The kart functioned so much well, that I also had the best turn in race ".
Undoubtedly, the TEAM Maillard Racing succeeded in putting in confidence this pilot, who is however only at his third year of karting!
The only female committed in Elite, Emily Dejuniat , was also quick in Lyon. The return of the 22e to the 16th position in pre-finale, there was much hope for the ultimate race of the day, since it was part of the driver’s plan to have preserved its four new tires for the final. However, a stone kicked up at high speed and hit her hand. This unusual incident broke a finger and it is with courage that Emily found the strength to rejoin the arrival. In 125 Cm3 also, the ALPHA frame did well.
In Lyon, Kevin Breysse was again shown to be particularly fast and the large points marked at the time of the final phase enable him to occupy the 2e place with the provisional classification of the championship of France Elite and to preserve its chances for the conquest of the title. For his first official exit with Intrepid, Antoine Cassaignes was classified in promising a 10th place.
(Translated (with great difficulty) from a French PR with help from Bablefish.com)
