Lacapelle has announced a February date that should make it easier to get a solid GP rider lineup.
For five years Lacapelle Marival in France has run an International Motocross event in February. It’s been a popular event but awkwardly fell the week before the start of the World Motocross Championship in Qatar.
However, with Valence no longer running their pre-season International, Lacapelle has moved in on an earlier date of February 12.
With the GP season now regularly starting in late February, it’s become increasingly difficult for clubs to find a date in the pre-season schedule. With the move from the third to the second weekend, the club is hopefully they’ll have more GP riders and teams than they have attracted previously.
“When Valence announced that they had stopped their international event, we of course, took their date as it’s easier for everyone,” said Vincent Ayroles, the vice president of the club. “We know that riders and teams need to do some races before the opening GP, and with this new date we are now two weeks earlier than Qatar and that’s a better position for us.”
The club hasn’t just changed the date, they’ve also changed the format of the event. They will now run separate races for the MX1 and MX2 classes and each class will do two heats, and the last race of the weekend will be a super finale with the best riders from each class. “We know that the MX2 riders don’t really like to race with the big bikes, so we changed our race format,” said Ayroles. “Next year we’ll have separate classes, and the event will be organised on a single day, as many races are now – no action on Saturday so we can also preserve the track as we’ll be early in the season, and practice sessions and races on Sunday 12th,” he added.
Although the absence of Valence means that Lacapelle has been able to take an earlier February slot, it unfortunately clashes with the popular Italian International championship.
Lacapelle Marival is located in the southern west of France, 80km southeast of Brive and 180km north of Toulouse. More information on the website www.motoclub-lacapelle.com and on the facebook page www.facebook.com/motoclub.lacapellemarival.
To contact the club, email: vincent.ayroles46@orange.fr
