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Holmes
Racing's Paul Holmes secured a 2nd place
finish in the first race of the day
in France but finished in 4th place
overall
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Cantal, France (7/21/2010) - Paul Holmes
races up to 2nd in European Championship Round
5 of the Goldspeed European Quad Cross Championship
was held at the Circuit de Bel Air in Saint Mamet
Salvetat in Cantal, Southern France last weekend.
Blessed by beautiful sunshine all weekend St
Mamet welcomed a crowd in excess of 10, 000
to a fast, technical track 1,700 meters long,
8 to 10 meters wide, with spectacular jumps.
HOLMES Racing’s Paul Holmes fresh from
winning Round 4 of the Championship in Poland
journeyed south in search of another strong
finish and managed to secure the 2nd place spot
in the Championship standings.
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Holmes
Racing's Paul Holmes secured a 2nd place
finish in the qualifying stages in France
for round 5 which set him up for good
position during his 3 races
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Saturday’s track action saw the usual timetable
of 2 free practice sessions of 30 mins during
which time Holmes Racing made the necessary adjustments
to set-up before Paul Holmes headed into the 30mins
qualifying session which followed. With a great
3rd lap attempt Holmes made a time of 1.54.686
moving him straight to the top of the standings
and leaving the other riders to fight it out.
As Holmes aimed to conserve energy he only attempted
a couple more fast laps but with slight mishaps
in both he was forced to settle with the initial
lap time which was eventually beaten by local
Frenchman Romain Couprie meaning Holmes had 2nd
choice of the gate for Sundays races.
Race 1: Holmes didn't get
the perfect start he'd hoped for, sandwiched
in and unable to break free, he rounded the
first corner in 15th place. With a lot of work
to do Holmes started slicing through the pack
taking up six positions on the opening lap.
During the entire 25mins + 2 lap race, with
extreme heat baking down on the hardpack track,
Holmes rode hard and fast showing great stamina
and fitness. He overtook a further 6 riders
before crossing the line in 3rd place, proud
to have taken another strong podium finish and
20 valuable points.
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Holmes
was 2nd out of the holeshot for race
2 & lead for over half of the race
but a flat tired near th end of the
race would keep him from the 1st place
position but still put him on the podium
in 2nd spot
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Race 2: Holmes knew his Race
1 start made it difficult to battle for the win
so he made sure to capitalize on his gate choice
moving further left this time. His choice paid
off as he rounded the first corner in 2nd spot
behind Italian rider Nicola Montalbini with Couprie
back in 3rd. Keeping their first corner positions,
the three front runners moved away from the rest
of the pack with blistering lap times. Holmes
made the successful pass on Montalbini with Couprie
in hot pursuit and the pair began to further pull
away whilst battling it out on the technical track.
At the half way point it was still Holmes leading
and Couprie in tow with 5 laps remaining when
Holmes went too tight into a corner trying to
be too defensive and Couprie darted round the
outside to take the lead. Holmes settled into
Couprie’s pace, watching his lines and
waited for a chance to pass but he picked up
a rear puncture which slowed him right down.
Managing to do the last 2 1/2 laps with a completely
flat tire Holmes stayed 2nd, to claim his 5th
podium in a row.
Even with the puncture there was a gap of almost
25 seconds before Montalbini crossed the line
in 3rd showing just how much Holmes and Couprie
had pulled away from the pack.
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Holmes
was not able to compete in the 3rd race
of the day but still managed to pull
off a 6th place overall finish &
remains 2nd in the points chase
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Race 3: A very unfortunate
problem with the ignition on Holmes’ quad
meant he was unable to start his machine on
the line and was unable to race. Despite the
problem in the last race Holmes was pleased
with another 2 podium finishes giving 6th overall
on the day and managed to stay 2nd in the Championship
standings. Holmes battled to 2nd place in race
2 Holmes claimed 6th overall on the day Holmes
commented after the days racing: “Today
has been another one of those up and down days
but I rode well all weekend and am pleased with
my performance claiming another 2 podium finishes.
Despite missing a race, I have managed to stay
in 2nd place in the Championship which is great
for both me and the team. Once again I’d
like to say a big thanks to all my great supporting
sponsors, team and family.”
Championship standings (after 5
of 7 rounds)
