The Vault: David Vuillemin
Tuesday, November 6, 2012 | 2:10 PM
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PrintIf you’re a fan of motocross, I beg you to go on over to The Vault and just immerse yourself in motocross stats for hours and hours. It’s an incredible thing over there and an awesome resource to check out. So the next time your buddy claims that he saw Jeff Hicks come from last to first in a moto at Hangtown, you can go back and check out all of Hicks’ results from Hangtown and see that indeed, your buddy's memory is a little foggy.
We're all bench racers here at Racer X so we like to dig in there, select a rider, and pour through their results to see if we can find some memorable races. And with this weekend being the Bercy Supercross, we thought that in honor of the most successful rider in the history of that race, we would take a look at some of former Yamaha and Suzuki factory rider David Vuillemin’s career and pick a few key races to focus on.
(But a note for Bercy fans--the Vault only covers AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross. But we've also got the full history run down on Bercy coming this week, as well. Stay tuned, we won't let you down. Now, back to Vuillemin).
1997 Seattle 125SX Main Event
The first time that anyone had a clue about this Frenchman and his skills was the time in Seattle when he captured his first career SX win. This was a shocker. Riding a privateer Yamaha with help from FMF and pitted out of a U-Haul van, wearing some weird gear and sporting an even weirder riding style, he worked his way through the pack on the very rutty Seattle track and took advantage of a collision between leaders Nathan Ramsey and Stephane Roncada to take his #125 YZ125 to the front. It was an amazing ride and after it, DV headed back to Europe to race the GPs. But his eyes were always on returning, and after Seattle, he showed he could win in American supercross.
Here are the results from the race.
DV (left) was the all-time King of Bercy.
Moto Verte photo
2000 San Diego 250SX Main Event
After returning to the USA and racing the 125 west series in 1998 (narrowly losing the title to John Dowd) the year 2000 marked DV’s (now running his #934) first full year in the premier class. He raced just a few 250 SX races in '99 before heading back to Europe to race the 250 GPs. He was more than ready in 2000, and San Diego was his first win. Vuillemin avenged his cruel loss at the same stadium from the year before when he grabbed the start and took off unchallenged for his first career 250SX win. The talk in the pits was that sure, Vuillemin was fast but he was lucky that the champ, Jeremy McGrath, got a poor start. Was he for real?
Here are the results from that race.
2000 Phoenix 250SX Main Event
And that talk was silenced just one week later in Phoenix when DV not only won another race, he caught and passed McGrath from behind late in the main event! It was a race that resonated with a lot of people and really, it’s a misconception that it was Vuillemin’s first ever 250SX win. This one is just more memorable than the first, and the reason why was because McGrath just never, ever got beat once he had the lead (and he had the lead a lot back then). I was in the stadium that night and when DV passed MC, you could have heard a pin drop. The crowd was in shock, it was unbelievable what this Frenchman just did.
Here are the results from that race.
2000 Minneapolis 250SX
Le Cobra also struck at Minneapolis that year with a win over Mike Larocco and MC.
Here are the results from that race.
The year 2000 would mark a breakout season for DV.
Racer X Archives photo
2000 New Orleans 250SX
The year 2000 was a good one for Yamaha and for David as he captured his fourth win of the year in The Big Easy. I remember that the track was really rutty, the dirt was so soft and there was pretty much no one there.
Here are the results from that race.
2000 Hangtown 250MX National
And this Cobra was also at home outdoors as well, as DV took the overall win at round two of the 250 outdoor nationals. This was a big deal because he broke down a stacked 250 field, including Ricky Carmichael, Kevin Windham, Sebastian Tortelli and Greg Albertyn, in triple-digit heat! Vuillemin was soon the points leader until suffering a DNF at round four at Southwick. [Ed note: researching this story, we found an actual error within the Vault itself! DV won the 2000 High Point National and also won the race again in 2001, proving to have some impressive mud prowess. We'll get the results all fixed up for those races.]
Here are the results from Hangtown
2002 Indianapolis 250SX
The year 2002 was a great year for Vuillemin as he opened up the series with a win and just kept on winning from there. At Indy, it might have been his greatest moment when he caught and passed Travis Pastrana and Ricky Carmichael late in the race to take the win with a sweet pass. Vuillemin would lead the series points all the way until Daytona when a practice crash would prevent him from racing.
Here are the results from that day.
2006 Millville 450MX
This race marked the last podium for Vuillemin in his career as he was on a Motoworld Yamaha at this point having split from his team earlier that year. This was the race where the skies opened in the second moto and just poured down. Like, seriously, really poured down. Ricky Carmichael would lap the entire field in the second moto but DV’s second allowed him to get second overall on the day as a privateer.
Here are the results from that day.
2008 Budds Creek 450MX
Roger DeCoster brought the veteran Vuillemin back up to factory status in 2008, with hopes DV could help dial in the new fuel-injected RM-Z450. Unfortunately, his season was marred with injuries. Ingloriously, DV's last race at this level came at Budds Creek, where he finished 24th. Suzuki elected to keep him home after that, but the bike he helped develop generated the 2009 and 2010 450 MX titles under Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey.
Here are the results from DV's last run.
And if you want the full file on DV125/DV934/DV12, click here.
DV would end his career at Budds Creek in 2008.
Matt Ware photo
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That's crazy I really don't remember DV ever riding for Suzuki!
DV is an A%$hole....Not a fan at all!
Maybe try checking the Vault farther when you make a comment like "after such success in his first motocross tour in the U.S., DV never won another 250 National".
DV won the very next race in 2000 at Mt. Morris, and also won the overall at that track in 2001. Plus he won the first moto at Washougal in 2000.
Just like Weege you seem to write these articles going off your less than reliable memory....... even with the benefit of the Vault.
Remember Dad coming home after watching DV in Seattle and claiming "That French guy, Valoomy, is the fastest thing on two wheels."
Not a fan of fans who aren't a fan.
F*ck the Navy too, stop abusing Bahrainis.
Always loved when you go to vote at your local polling place and some local Hot-shoe has his best porn star out front to solicit your vote. Only in the good old USA !
Everyone wants to be a Rock Star or a Porn Star !!! I vote for the Latter !
Oh, are they voting in a new CEO of Slavery Inc. in the US? Why even bother? hope you voted 3rd party.
Yitzhak: You are correct, and the error is on me again because I made the edit to Matthes' story--Steve didn't write that part.
The real issue is that the Vault itself had an error in High Point results, for example claiming John Dowd won the race in 2000 even though DV actually did. Matthes and I went back and forth through the memory banks trying to determine if what we remember (DV winning) was true even though the Vault said it was not. Then we stopped trusting it for those races.
We like to consider the Vault a living document, and we'll only find all the changes as we comb through it for more stories like this. Anyway, apologies for yet another error here. I am losing sleep over this stuff.
I'm with urbani, %$##$ these megabank-funded politicians!!!
That said, I disappeared from mx 1999-2003 (thanks Reed for re-lighting that fire) so I didn't realize DV did well as he did. I only remember him as having such a strange riding style being so tall.
Windham cleaning him out was wild!!
Always was a fan, liked his style.. Met him at Red Bud a couple times.. He was friendly and stopped and talked to my sons for a long time.. He was very cool.. And his wife was hot..
My favorite DV memory was when he almost took out KW in the first turn of a main event only to have Kevin in the next turn shoot directly across the corner and center punch DV clear off the track, there's got to be footage of that somewhere.
Remember being a kid watching this guy take an amazing win at Anaheim after RC took a bad fall towards the end of the race back when RC was on Honda. One of my favorite memories hands down.
One of my coolest MX stories involves DV. Me and my bud went and raced the amateur day at the Budds Creek National some time in the early 2000's, when DV was a factory Yamaha rider. My buddy broke his clutch lever in practice, and didn't have a spare. We ended up walking by the factory Yamaha semi a bit later, and there's DV, just standing there. We asked him if he had a spare lever he could throw our way. He said something to the effect of how he couldn't get any parts for us. We didn't mind, and wished him luck.
Probably an hour or more later, we were sitting in our pit (mind you, way out in no man's land amateur pits), when we hear a French accented voice say "hello??" We turned around, and there's DV on the Yamaha golf cart with a clutch lever in his hand. He hung out for a few minutes and talked to all the people that started flocking over to our pit. He was the coolest dude, and went out of his way not only to get us a clutch lever, but actually search for us in the pits!
That's beyond class act in my book!
Huge fan! DV was one of the few pros who would respond on these boards when he was still riding! And the year he got hurt before Daytona was his to win. He was the fastest guy out there.
I was waiting for the dust up between he and KW to get mentioned. It was a huge controversy. I dont know if any sequence of photos was ever more scrutinized since JFK in Dallas. Kdub actually was riding the wrong way on the track to get to David, and he sure got there! At the time everyone pretty much backed Kevin as he was much more popular. DV was one of the good guys and one of the best to come over here and assimilate. Nice right up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZhdpTwaZAU
There ya go. At 36:13, the stuff heard round the world. Kdub was ACTUALLY NOT riding the wrong way on the track, as was clearly evidenced in the above clip. He did cut straight across the turn and it was ugly and intentional, but Windham is not normally a dirty rider. I'm sure he was still plenty hot from DV taking him a little too high a few turns earlier. And, for the record, I've always been a huge fan of both of these riders.
mx is awsome
mx is awsome
MX is indeed awesome! Was a big fan of any GP rider that took it to the yanks back then. And how amazing that the primary rival in their hey days (MC and RC) was Mr. Vuillemin. My personal experience with him was not good (he ignored me when I asked for a signature at Basel Supercross in 2000 or 99). He actually got beat by Roncada and Lewis that night, despite being waaaaaayy faster.
His style was awesome, and what he did to MC not only at those American supercrosses, but at Bercy was sooooo special. He really had all of Europe routing for him. 2002 really was his year for the taking. I was gutted when he got injured. Really gutted!!! However his antics on Roncada in 2002 also needs mentioning. Remember the helmet slapping anyone??
...and having watched that take out 10 times...I can see why (and remember why) it was so contreversial. Honestly.....its easy to see why K-Dub would've been furious with DV leading up into that corner. Having said that...he nearly took out Larocco to make the move happen!!
Stop the vid at 36:13. Ahhhh... the controversy continues! I remember Kdub having to have a sit down with the AMA and either getting fined, docked or a massage, I forget which. At regular speed it doesnt look much worse than anything we see Bam Bam do on any saturday night, but in stop frame Kdub made absolutely no attempt to turn. It was great theater but devasting to DV's season.