Ventoux Trial Classic
Samedi 13 Octobre 2012
 

8h in the morning without sun, Anne-Marie served the boys a nice breakfast with coffe and Birchermüesli (kind of a Swiss magic food, like Asterix's magic drink).
Finally at 9h before the start, the sun was rising behind the mountain and warmed us up. At the parc fermé, it looked like an ants hill. 130 teams means nearly 400 Twinshockers. Start was delayed because the permission from the maire of Malaucène was still missing, but finally arrived.

at the start gate	Richard Kasparian at the start with micro and comments for all the riders
Charles is chatting with Alex and Walter, the smiling S3 guy is Philipp Berlatier
Italian Team Ramella	No 5 finisher Team of Michel Petitdemanger on his Ossa TR 80 yellow
Team Lepeule
Spanish Team with Marti Font	on nice Puma Bultacos
	it gets crowded
inspecting the Ariel	Joel and Charles in talks
The Swiss 4 Strokers Team	Walter in vintage Pernod jacket, Richard is wishing us a good day
	Pat in full sunshine at the start
By by Kaito, see you in 2 hours

Gentlemen, start the engines please! Off we go with big couriosity to what challanges are waiting the coming 2 days. There are "boucles", meaning the teams are split in the rounds, alle coming back for tanking and servicing. The red expert teams are starting the red tour. The first zone is long but easy under pine trees. Then we ride through the mediteranean wood and pass wineyards to zone 8. This one has a nasty decent, then up a 15m valley, around some trees and a nasty exit over a rock in a bend. Most riders need some feet, I manage with 2 dabs. Next is a nice zone, up and down some big yellow sandstone plates, zero. Then a very tricky narrow zone around trees, zero. Next some rocks in the wood, but we manage this too. Then some rocks and steps, where Walter has a nasty crash in the decent. Everything is aking, shoulder, knees, hands.

Michel is reparing a puncture	start / finish with traders tents
serving the moto after one boucle, eating a banana	Charles Coutard in full action
Walter Frei in action	a nice zone Lady
Bernhard is reparing a puncture at his BMW cardan	a Spaniard on his Tiger passes
	kicking the BSA
Alex is inspecting the double marche, which became his destiny	Georg Greenland, in the 80ies, on a light weight DOT
The jokes are alread broken, but we did not know at that time	nice scenery

Nr 11 and 12 look dangerous at first sight, but the grip is there and so we junp on the big step in the entry in 2nd gear, the team mates ready to catch, but again, looks worse than it is. The 12 has some big rocks, with a double marche at the end or a single with a bloody exit if not attaked via the double marche. My Honda stalls after I passed the first step: "Plopp" on the landing of the front wheel,, bad luck, because I finsih the rest with 2 dabs. Walter gets in trouble at the exit. Alex has a nice ride with zero till the end, where he is going for the double marche, but what a frightening crash, the BSA is not accelerating on the second gas to lift the front wheel and Alex crashes with quite some speed into the rock, Bang! An ugly sound, but can not see why at first sight. After some inter zone, Alex stops and now knows the damage: Both jokes are broken and Alex is glad he can roll back to the car park. Alex was then searching for some jokes at the dealers tents, but hopeless, they are too special. A sad end for him.

So,Walter an me were continouing without Alex for the last boucle with zones 1-6. Some were quite nasty at first sight, but the grip was good on the rocks under the dust or sand. Spectacular was the zone 3, but also 4 and 5 in the yellow sandrocks. Then the last one called les arenies (the spiders), a dried water fall with rocks. I saw Charles Coutard climibing this water fall with zero! Bravo! I tried it, but must have missed the good line, could save me with a 3. Walter even gets a 1 on his BSA and smiles all over his face, forgetting the aking body. Then about 17h back to the car park and enjoying a cool beer. I was lucky, no crash, 2x5 due to stalling engine, but otherwise rideable zones in the top expert line, toghether with the cracks. I lost 22 marks, Walter 26, but with the Pre65 discount this will sum up to half = 13 points. Alex hat only a handful of points till the crash, but does not help, we are out of the race for palmares. Never mind, enjoy the scenery and the ambience. We are served a good diner by Annemarie and Ernst is grilling meat. Cold again, need a warm jacket in the night.

Charles Coutard, entry of zone 6 les areniées (see clips later)	a 4CV Citroen
evening in the park fermé	I was riding this back in 1983, was heavy, but torquey
a nice Honda	Ettore Baldinin is servicing his Bultaco
Edy Adam and Mathieu Feidt	nice Bultaco N200 S
Honda Kit Pro 180
	great BSA with big cylinder
	must be heavy, but full of power
the well deserved beer after a long day	my son with chips and Coke, luckily he got a new Jitsie shirt from Daddy
Team  Italia is not drinking Vino, ma Birra: Salute amici!

Part 3: Sunday