Le Touquet: Enduropale to honour Potisek

This weekend’s Le Touquet Enduropale will pay tribute to 2009 winner Timotei Potisek, who died last year.

Potisek was killed in a testing fall in November, just months after being confirmed as the legendary Arnaud Demeester’s replacement at Yamaha. Race organisers will pay a series of tributes to the 25-year-old before the 100 kilometre race and have not allocated the #1 race number out of respect to the talented Frenchman.

Matei Potisek, Timotei’s twin brother who finished tenth in the Enduropale last year, and his father Rudy, a former rider, will perform a single lap of the beach course prior to the start of the race in Timotei’s memory, while his wife Aurelie will take part in the Quad Bike event on the Saturday before the main event.

Meanwhile, with the retired Demeester, a seven-time winner of the event, missing from the field, the race is wide open this year as 1000 motorbikes, with drivers from 19 different countries, tackle the three-hour event.

Double World Motocross Champion Mickael Pichon (Honda) and Kawasaki’s Yves Deudon have been tipped to shine, while Yamaha rider, Gauthier Leclabart, is also among the favourites after winning the recent Ronde des Sables beach race.

The 17.8km circuit has been altered slightly for 2010 and is set to provide a sterner test to riders. More chicanes, mounds and whoops have been added to the beaches of Le Touquet with the objective of lowering the average speed of the competitors, who will also have to make three pit stops.

As well as attracting some 1000 riders to compete, 200,000 spectators from across Europe are expected to flock to Calais for the event.

Watch the Le Touquet Enduropale LIVE on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) this Sunday (7 February) at 11.45am (GMT).


Andy Wilkinson