Luis Salom seized his third win of the season and extended his points lead to 8 over JD Beach who fought all the way but crossed the line 1.7 seconds behind his arch rival. The French round of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup was an absolute thriller with 15 year old Nelson Major taking third in his home event after a fierce, race long, battle with 15 year old German Daniel Kartheininger and 14 year old Frenchman Florian Marino. Salom went into the race confident having qualified on pole but the 16 year old Spaniard had to push the KTM RC125 right to the limit as he fought-off Beach. “It was such a hard race,” said Salom. “I pushed from the start to get away and my plan was to do the same as I did in Jerez. I could not get far away from JD though, he kept coming and if I made the slightest mistake he was there. Over the last laps I just concentrated on being very smooth and it worked.” Beach, the 16 year old American, actually snatched the lead in the middle of the race but could not hold the advantage. “In the end it was my breaking that let me down, breaking too early and too hard. I’m just not used to it. On the dirt tracker we don’t have brakes and I am struggling to learn how to use them. I got frustrated, I was really going for it and I could catch him but couldn’t stay ahead. At least I could run with him this time and I’m going to learn,” he concluded after his 4th 2nd place in a row. Major was naturally thrilled to get on the podium. “It has been just such a great weekend. I worked hard in practice and when I qualified on the front row I started to think that the podium was a possibility. The race was great fun. I think I had the advantage on the brakes and I made that work for me. I didn’t have the advantage on acceleration, I suffered a bit there but I made it up on the brakes, great fun.” Kartheininger was a little frustrated to miss out on the podium after qualifying 3rd but happy to have overcome the painful start to the season when he had a run of falls. “It was a lot of fun and I was so close to Major at the end. On the last lap I just had a bit of a slide going onto the straight and I lost drive. That was it, no time to make it up and I missed out on the podium.” Marino might also have taken third. “I lost it at the last corner, I just couldn’t get it right there. Also on the straight, I don’t know why but I would get the drive out of the corner but still not be able to pass them out of the slipstream. In the end my wrist got tired and I began to suffer a bit on the brakes. It was still fun and my best race of the year so far.” Sturla Fagerhaug finished 6th. The 16 year old Norwegian had hoped to be in the battle for the lead but his bad starting let him down again. “I just was not fast enough over the opening laps. Then I got caught up in a battle with about five other guys that went on all race. It was fun but it wasn’t the way to go forward, Ruiz and Scholtz were smooth but Trabalon was a bit off line and that slowed us all down. It’s up to me though, I’ve got to make better starts and be nearer the front. Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Le Mans, France May 17, 2008 Race Results (all on KTM RC125s and Dunlop tires): 1. Luis SALOM (SPA), 16 laps, 29:17.533 2. J.D. BEACH (USA), -1.698 seconds 3. Nelson MAJOR (FRA), -3.349 4. Daniel KARTHEININGER (GER), -3.444 5. Florian MARINO (FRA), -4.013 6. Sturla FAGERHAUG (NOR), -14.185 7. Daniel RUIZ (SPA), -14.453 8. Mathew SCHOLTZ (RSA), -16.846 9. Jakub KORNFEIL (CZE), -19.627 10. Cristian TRABALON (SPA), -19.981 11. Peter SEBESTYEN (HUN), -20.538 12. Adam BLACKLOCK (GBR), -24.749 13. Quentin JACQUET (FRA), -26.602 14. Sasuke SHINOZAKI (JPN), -47.678 15. Matthew HOYLE (GBR), -59.064 16. Harry STAFFORD (GBR), -62.510 17. Ben McCONNACHIE (GBR), -62.708 18. Markus REITERBERGER (GER), -1 lap, DNF 19. Dylan MAVIN (AUS), -5 laps, DNF 20. Joshua ELLIOTT (IRL), -6 laps, DNF