SR75 team rider Charles Lefrançois put in world class performances to qualify for the pro 450SX main event in Houston, scoring his debut AMA SX points for the team finishing an incredible 21, 18, 18 in the three main event races.
After an unbelievable journey spanning thousands of miles, SR75 team rider Charles Lefrançois travelled all the way from France and made it to Houston just in time for the first group qualification races. Heading out for the first time in the Group B Qualifying 1 session, Lefrançois laid down a marker with a 51.419 lap, the fastest of the session.
The SR75 rider went even faster in Qualifying 2 with a 50.874 lap, the second fastest time of the session and enough to secure Charles with a place in the LCQ race. With so much at stake for the team, to say the LCQ was tense would be an understatement. Charles made a great start only to be pushed out on the first and second turns, dropping him from a qualifying position down to around 8th. With a fantastic show of control and class Charles worked his way up to 4th and raced solid and smooth laps to come home in the final transfer spot. This sparked a huge show of emotion and passion for this brilliant achievement for Charles, SR75 Racing and of course our team sponsors and supporters.
The 3 main events we’re going to be tough and the plan for Charles in this first of a four race ‘series’ was to gain experience at this level and build. Solid main events to get the feeling for the speed of the ultimate racers on earth was what the team were after and ‘Charly’ delivered with solid and controlled racing in each of the 3 finals to go 21-18-18.
SR75 Team Owner, Geoff Walker, commented:
“With our SR75 SX race package fitted to the RM-Z450 on loan from the factory Suzuki JGR MX Team Charles settled in to the Houston track and immediately felt comfortable. Group B is not ideal as the track is at its worst but Charles dug in and did not let anything create a negative.”
“To see Charles look so at home at this level is testament to his skill, determination and talent. We have put this together in a short time and with the help of some of our great team partners and of course Suzuki USA and the fantastic crew at JGR Suzuki Factory Team we have once again been welcomed to the Monster Energy Supercross series and shown what we can do. To say I am proud of Charles is an understatement and a big thanks to Manu on the bike prep and support for Charles. This is an incredible feeling.”
Charles Lefrançois said:
“I’m absolutely overwhelmed! What an amazing experience to line-up against some of the best riders in the world in front of a massive crowd out here in the USA. Tonight was a dream for me and it was pretty emotional to make the main event, i really want to say a huge thanks to my team and sponsors for everything. I can’t wait to get to the next round and make even more progress!”
Photos credit: Le Big USA
