The European kite buggy championship took place on the wide and hard beaches of La Franqui in southern France two weeks ago. The forecasted weather conditions were perfect, considering the usual offshore wind (Tramontana), but on the Monday, during the start of the European Championships the wind decreased heavily and turned the kitebuggy championship into a light wind event. After 6 races French FLYSURFER rider Stéphen Schapman (F) became the new European champion, followed by the German FLYSURFER rider Pascal Lohmann – both competed in all their races with the SONIC-FR & SONIC2.
Due to a lack of wind only 6 races were completed. One race took place on Wednesday, two on Tuesday and the final three on Friday.
The courses were really challenging and a high level of skills was needed, especially for the narrow paths guiding the riders through the green areas. Since the riders were not allowed to step onto the greens, it was very difficult and riders had to drive really close to each other.
Therefore it sometimes made more sense to choose a longer but more clear route to get from pylon to pylon instead of losing too much time on the shortest but very narrow route.
Resulting from these conditions, were rapid changes of the lead, which made the race even more interesting for the viewers.
Livestreams of the event are available to be watched here:
https://livestream.com/accounts/13634278/events/6032544/
Results Kitebuggy Championnat d’Europe – La Franqui 2016
- Stéphen Schapman (FLYSURFER)
- Pascal Lohmann (FLYSURFER)
- Anthony Cottard
