Photo by: Simon Cudby
The biggest enigma in the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross series is Rockstar/Husqvarna’s Christophe Pourcel. The former MX2 World Champion and two-time 250SX Eastern Regional Champion took five years off from Supercross and is back at it racing inside America’s stadiums in 2016, this time on a 450. Normally, after five years away from Supercross and never racing the 450SX class before, it would take some time to find the top riders’ pace. In the case of the “Crafty Frenchman”, he came out at Anaheim 1 and went right to the top of the qualifying leaderboard. So far, the #377 has finished timed qualifying in 2nd, 4th and 2nd over the first three rounds. When you look down the board and see who he’s been faster than, it’s mind boggling that he’s been able to find that pace so quickly.
While Christophe’s qualifying speed has been incredible, he has yet to convert that speed into a top ten finish in the main events. Over the first three rounds, Christophe has finished 18th, 13th and 12th and is currently 12th in the 450SX Championship standings. Because of a crash that nearly took his ability to walk away, Christophe, more than others, needs an extreme comfort level to push the envelope in racing situations. But do not be surprised if the #377 just shows up one night, decides it’s time to fight for top fives and actually pulls it off. They call him the “Crafty Frenchman” for a reason, and if he gets comfortable there’s a huge upside with him.
I find there’s nobody I like talking to more in the pits than Christophe, and after his 12th place finish in Anaheim, we tracked him down for a quick talk. Hear what CP says about his qualifying speed and what it’s going to take to get him to throw caution to the wind in the main events.
Christophe, 12th in the main tonight—best finish of your 450SX career thus far. How are you feeling after the race?
I feel good. There was a lot of improvement and I’m still fast in practice, but after they changed the whoops, I was going too slow in them. I was third in the heat and ended up, I think, fifth. I almost got fourth, but my speed wasn’t there in the whoops. I was losing too much speed. Chad [Reed] passed me and I think Davi [Millsaps] passed me in the whoops. I was just struggling with those big whoops, but in the morning, I was going wide open in them. I think they changed the first few, and it was a little more sketchy than usual.
Oh yeah, for sure that first set was bigger than ever.
I saw a few guys crash, and my friend the French guy [Maxime Desprey] broke his femur in them. That was kind of like a bummer. In the morning, I tried going on the left. Everyone was going fast on the left in the morning. Every time I went on the left, it didn’t work for me. The right was more my line, but everyone was jumping through on the right and made it pretty rutty. So, I couldn’t skim the whoops anymore.
What’s the secret to your incredible qualifying speed? Obviously, you’re not cutting the track, but what’s the secret? Are you just good at finding those lines that are great for just one lap?
Like I said, I send it in the whoops. The first practice, I try to jump everything, look over the track, find different lines, see what I can do, what is faster way and what is not. In the second practice, I just do one fast lap to qualify—top twenty or whatever. As long as I get top ten, it’s fine, as long as I make the night show in case anything happens. After that, I focus on the track, look at different things and kind of analyze the track. I feel like we can all jump and we can all do everything because everyone is so good, but I try to analyze the track to be a little better.
What’s it going to take to do that for twenty laps? I have been a huge fan of yours for a while. I mean, I try to be an unbiased journalist, but there are certain riders I love watching. I know when you decide to try to win, you will be in that battle, but what’s it going to take for Christophe Pourcel to say “F&^% it,” and hang it out for twenty laps?
What I’ve said in the past is it’s at least going to take five or six races to be in front. So, whenever we go back east—Atlanta or after Daytona—I’ll be ready to step it up a little bit. Those guys have been doing it for a while. Ryan [Dungey] has been doing it for seven years in the 450 class, and it’s only been three races for me. I can’t win right away like those guys. The track for the main is so tough and so rough—it’s tough.
I heard you say earlier that you’re right where you should be in the 8th to 12th position. For me, I see you as a top five guy when you want to be.
Yeah, for right now. I could be a top five guy right now, but I could crash and be out for six weeks. Sometimes you have to take a 12th, you have to take a 8th, and if you cannot accept taking those positions, you’ll never improve. You have to start somewhere and try to improve every week. I think I can do it, but it takes time.
In the heat race, you were right behind Jake Weimer. It had me thinking about when you guys were 250SX Champs on opposite coasts. Did you have a little flashback from Vegas 2010 in the heat race?
Jake is a good friend, and I like him, but f@#$. (laughs) I went into him, he cut me off, I tried to t-bone him, and we talked after that. (laughs) It was the fourth spot in the heat race and I needed to get it. I was a little mad at myself. I should have pushed it a little more. It’s okay; I rode the semi again and got an extra 5-6 laps on the track. The more laps I do, the more I learn right now.
Fair enough. I look forward to you getting comfortable. See you next week.
Thank you.
