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Holmes
Racing's Paul Holmes & his KTM Race
Quad
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Cingoli, Italy (5/24/2010) - Paul Holmes headed to the famous Cingoli track
in Central Italy lastweekend for Round 3 of the
Goldspeed EMX Quad Championship. Pauland the team
were looking forward to some fun in the sun but
heavy rainduring the run up to the event continued
to fall all day Saturday making it impossible
to run the qualifying sessions.
With even more rain overnightand the dense
fog that greeted the riders on Sunday morning
there wasdoubt about whether there would be
any racing. Much to everyone’ssurprise,
the sun broke through the clouds half an hour
before the final
decision to cancel the race was made and the
day’s events began. As a
result of Saturday being cancelled, all the
preparation time and qualification time was
squeezed into a single 40 minute session on
Sunday morning.
The spectacular mountain top venue was perfect
for the crowds who enjoyed amazing views of
the surrounding countryside as well as some
awesome racing. The excessive rain had made
the track surface soft and slippery so traction
was a struggle for the riders and bike set-up
was key. Paul Holmes had an unfortunate accident
on lap 2 of qualifying practice whilst attempting
an uphill double. He came short of a perfect
landing and was thrown off the quad sustaining
minor injuries. Blocking out the accident Paul
was soon back in action, focused on the job
in hand and attained the second fastest lap
time to local Italian rider Nicola Montalbini.
As the session went on, the track surface dried
slightly and
everyone’s lap times came down. Paul ended
the session in a respectable 4th place, 1.7
seconds off the quickest time making him the
highest British qualifier.
Work was carried out on the deep muddy one-line
track after qualification but despite the work
the track remained very much the same. In Moto
1, a mis-shift cost Holmes the good start he
needed but he worked hard making as many passes
as possible and soon reached the top five. Despite
his determined efforts a collision with another
rider whilst rounding a lapped rider saw Holmes
stuck in the
soft deep mud beside the track for over a minute.
He eventually rejoined the race and made several
passes in the closing stages to finish 13th.
Moto 2 started well for Holmes. He rounded
the first corner in 2nd place behind Montalbini.
As they both began a quick pace Holmes was ready
and confident to make a pass but as the pack
closed in (4 riders within seconds of each other)
Holmes’ chances of passing were ruined
in a tight left corner when another rider collided
with him resulting in his nerf bar being bent
forward making it difficult to shift gears easily.
Holmes lost a couple of places through the incident
but made another pass close to the end of the
race to claim 5th spot.
Moto 3 saw Holmes make another great start
and he battled with Ternynck to keep his 3rd
place for over half the race eventually losing
out by only tenths of seconds. Holmes settled
for a 4th place finish. After a very unfortunate
start to the day Holmes managed 6th place overall.
“Today has been another difficult one
for me and the team. My crash in practice didn’t
help but it’s something that I have learnt
from and the experience will only make me a
stronger rider. Being seconds off a podium finish
in Moto 3 was gutting as I thought I rode well
all day. Thanks to all my sponsors, family and
friends for their continued support. I’m
looking forward to my next race. We have a new
bike set-up to test mid week and put into practice
so fingers crossed for more podium finishes”
Holmes Commented after the eventful day
