France

FRANCE'S STARS OF THE FUTURE

Not to be outdone by their senior class team-mates, France’s FIM Junior World Trophy team also claimed ISDE victory on home soil in Brive, finishing on top of a thrilling two-nation fight to the very end of the final day against Italy. Reigning champions Sweden got their title defence off to the best possible start by topping the opening day some twenty-eight seconds ahead of Italy, but their challenge was effectively over on day two when Mikael Persson (Yamaha) ran into technical issues and failed to finish the day, allowing the USA to take over at the top.

Third on day one and second on day two, the French trio of Jeremy Miroir (Husqvarna), Hugo Blanjoue (Yamaha) and Anthony Geslin (Beta) stepped up on day three, finishing twenty-six seconds ahead of Italy to open up a thirty-nine second lead over their Transalpine neighbours as the USA dropped back to third. With just 0.07 seconds between France and Italy on a close day four, France managed to re-establish a twenty-eight second advantage by the end of day four although there was still no room for error during the final full day of competition, with the USA also just under two-minutes behind the leaders.

Italy went on the offensive during the final day motocross races but France hung on to take the overall win by a slender fifteen seconds, much to the delight of the thousands of spectators who turned out to enjoy the thrilling finale. Italy hung on to the runner-up spot ahead of day-six winners the USA, who rounded out the podium.