Last weekend of the season for Valentin Debise, with a 3rd place in the MotoAmerica Supersport championship up for grabs!
As usual, the young French pilot gives us the scoop on the story of his adventure in many details.
You can find previous episodes here: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Today, my feelings are mixed. I'm very happy to see how successfully I've managed to complete this first American season, and I'm also sad that it's already over. Good things always come to an end!
For the first time this year, I knew the circuit before coming since we come to New Jersey twice. The first time, the weather conditions were disastrous and I didn't do many laps in the dry. It's true that, for once I didn't have this pressure of knowing whether or not I was going to succeed in adapting; I knew what to expect.
This is the most typical tour of the year and you will never see another one like this anywhere else. The covering dates from the war (it was the storage location for American army planes before laying a route right in the middle). There are some pretty special chicanes with lots of bumps and elevation changes on several occasions. For the record, all the Europeans fell in this place, except me… Knock on wood! The sensations were different compared to the first time, probably due to very different weather. It was extremely hot and very humid. I got out of the truck with the suit on, and within seconds I was sweating. I like these conditions because I know that at the end of the race I will be able to maintain my pace without weakening. Americans are well prepared physically compared to Europeans. Why I do not know; It’s their way of seeing sport. It makes the races very intensive when everyone is in good shape. There is always someone to restart the rhythm.
My attempts were not easy. The fun on the bike was there, but I couldn't use the bike as I wanted to take the right lines. We worked quite a bit on the engine braking to arrive at a good compromise on Saturday morning during qualifying. The race is long on this circuit; it has 23 turns and many turns turn right, which is hard on the rear tire. So I spent a lot of time riding with worn tires to understand how the bike behaves when they deteriorate. At the end of qualifying, I put on a new tire and I had three laps in front of me. First lap, I get slowed down by slower drivers, second, I make a mistake entering a corner, third lap, slower drivers again… I will start 4rd in the second line.
First race; the objective was to stop the curse of Saturdays without a podium. I got a more than average start (all weekend, we had problems with the starts). I still have 4rd by forcing the passage a little at the first turn. I try to overtake my teammate who is in front of me but he drives like crazy and takes a lot of risks. He ends up sliding on the third lap and I take the opportunity to slip past. The gap with the two Yamahas is already more than a second. I start chasing to catch up with them, I climb back up and gain 5 tenths. After that, the gap stagnates, then they accelerate. From there, I continued to force a few turns, but nothing happened; I couldn't follow. I managed my gap with the 4rd. My teammate, who fell while trying to follow me, made my task easier. I finished third, disappointed not to have been able to follow, but happy to have analyzed the problems of my bike more precisely.
Second race, I am determined to enter the fight for victory. Before the race, everyone is tense. Last race of the year, everyone wants to show up and finish on a good note. The two Yamaha boys are playing for the championship. If JD Beach wins, and I'm second, he wins the championship. Gerloff “only” has to finish second to have the title. I'm the only one who can play with them, and they don't like it! Once again I'm off to an average start. This time, I overtake my teammate on the first lap. I find myself third just behind the Yamahas. Everything is going well, I am at ease. From the third lap, I felt my rear tire starting to slip abnormally. On the next lap, I almost went over the bike three times, in quick succession. “Damn”, my feeling is that there is a leak of some sort, that a liquid is spilling onto my tire. I slow down to look at what's happening, but nothing. I realize that I have a tire that has a defect. It's rare, but it happens. This year, it happened to me once, but it was in free practice. I stay calm and decide to deal with it. It doesn't matter, you have to make do with what you have at your disposal. I restart in 7rd position. I measure the grip that is more than weak, I try to modify my trajectories in order to raise the bike during acceleration and find the grip that I am missing. I also change the engine map to remove engine braking, which will prevent wheel locks on the inputs. In the distance, I start to see the fight for the podium. The race is long and I know I have my chance. I go for it and luck has turned in my favor with the latecomers. I double them at the right time without being embarrassed. Three laps from the end, I find myself behind the three drivers who are fighting, and by some miracle, I manage to overtake all three of them in one braking session. I'm coming in too quickly, I see that I'm going to deviate from the trajectory. I downshift one more gear to have power once I get the bike up. I managed to accelerate as best I could and took third place. Well, it wasn't the cleanest overtaking in my career, but I had the merit of overtaking three in one go and staying in front at the exit of the corner. I thought my heart was going to stop at that moment, I couldn't believe I was still on my wheels. There are two laps left in the race and I continue to look for the limit until the end without looking back. I knew that by taking them by surprise and keeping my pace, they couldn't do anything against me. I keep my position until the checkered flag.
Ultimately Gerloff is Motoamerica Supersport champion; congratulations to him!
It's crazy to get to this point. I barely realize that I have just done a season in America. I can only be happy to see everything this sport has made me experience in my life, and I'm sure I'm only at the beginning! It was stupid to go to America without a contract, leave everything, go far from what I know. I left my “comfort” zone that I had in France to try the impossible! No Frenchman had done it before me. A few tried, but never succeeded. I was lucky to meet the people at the right time who helped me achieve this exceptional season. People “in the shadows” guided me to make the right choices. The most important thing for me this year is to have achieved all the objectives that I had set for myself, and that is the greatest victory. I put trophies and recognition into perspective. What's important after crossing the checkered flag, or when a season ends, is to ask yourself "did I give it my all?" Did I follow my plan? Was my goal achieved? »
After this year, I am proud to have ticked all the boxes.
Thank you all for encouraging me all year round, Thank you to my partners who help me finance this expensive sport. Thank you to my team who put everything at my disposal for my success. Thanks to my coach for giving me good advice. Thanks to Motoamerica for welcoming me with open arms. THANKS !
