FEATURE
4. MICKAEL PICHON It’s fitting that France have two entries in this selection. Outside the USA the French have produced the best and most successful motocrossers on a global scale in the last twenty years. If Jean-Michel Bayle broke the ice, then Mickael Pichon motored through in his metaphorical wake. Pichon caught the eye of Mitch Payton and Pro Circuit in 1994 and delivered two 125 SX titles and rode for two other factories before returning to Europe and becoming a 250cc star and double world champion. Quirky and emotional, Pichon’s talent and one-lap speed was phenomenal. In the era before Qualification Heats, the Suzuki man – later to ride a Honda and attempt just one Grand Prix for Red Bull KTM in 2006 before he retired in a spell of mysterious disillusionment and illness – was a serial Pole Position holder. That pace was inherent. In 2010 in a surprise comeback for the British Grand Prix at Mallory Park (riding a Martin Honda in the world championship for the first time in four years to help the team through an injury crisis) he again showed that technique to set the fastest pre-qualifying time on the English temporary track, was 2nd in the Qualification Heat and scored two 7th positions on Sunday. They say class is permanent. Spinning back to 2000-2001-2002 Pichon cut an iconic form on the yellow Corona Suzuki. Opposition was respectable, especially in the forms of Pit Beirer, Fred Bolley (briefly), Chad Reed, Josh Coppins, Yves Demaria, Gordon Crockard and