Germany (9/15/2010) - The grand finale
of the 2010 Goldspeed European Championship
was held this past weekend at the spectacular
Rudersberg venue in Germany. The hardpack circuit
was perfectly prepared and thousands of spectators
filled the hill side venue. The event was a
great success for Paul Holmes who took the overall
honours, fighting hard in all three races. The
only disappointment for Paul this weekend was
not being able to be in two places at the same
time. After leading the Scottish Championship
from the start a clash with dates meant Paul
had to miss the final round to be in Rudersberg.
However, despite not being there he still managed
2nd place just 17 points behind John Mitchell.
Saturday's track action consisted of two free
practice sessions and a 30 minute qualifying
session in which
Holmes made the 6th quickest time. In the closing
stages of the session and in his attempt to
improve on his
time Holmes made an uncharacteristic mistake
and came off his quad. He quickly re-mounted
but had run out
of time to make another attempt to improve his
time and had to settle for 6th choice of the
gates for Sunday's
racing.
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Holmes
Racing's Paul Holmes secured a 2nd place
finish in the first race of the day
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Race 1: Holmes rounded the
first corner in 4th place and after a very intense
opening lap made a pass for 3rd early in the
race. At the half way stage of the race Holmes
had made his way through to 2nd place where
he stayed until the chequered flag, finishing
behind Frenchman Jeremie Warnia.
Race 2: Making an awesome
start Holmes grabbed the Holeshot, but the battle
was on for the lead immediately as Holmes and
Italian rider Nicola Montalbini fought over
first place. Holmes went wide on a corner allowing
Montalbini through then just before the end
of the first lap Holmes was forced wide during
an attempt to pass Montalbini as he made a mistake
coming short on an up hill step up jump and
Holmes sadly lost two places avoiding him. About
3 laps in, Holmes had settled nicely into the
race and started making the passes he needed,
blasting past Maessen and Montalbini to get
up to 2nd place just before the half way mark.
Holmes’s race got a lot more difficult
when race leader Warnia developed mechanical
problems and stopped on the down slope of a
large table top jump just as Holmes took off...!
The riders collided and Holmes was thrown off
his quad and into the banking. After re-mounting
as quickly as possible Holmes found himself
down in 7th place.
Whilst catching back up to the front of the
pack, Holmes set some impressive lap times eventually
setting the fastest lap of the race, 2:08.363
on lap 9, 1.5secs faster than any other rider.
Holmes, making it look easy, worked his way
up to 4th place and then with 4 laps to go made
the pass on Maessen leaving him in 3rd.Despite
catching right up to Vlaemans and Montalbini,
Holmes had to settle for the bottom step of
the podium as there wasn't enough time left
on the closing laps to complete any passes.
Race 3: Putting the race 2
dramas behind him, Holmes knew that to secure
2nd place in the Championship he had to finish
in front of Jan Vlaeymans who stood 2 points
ahead going into the race.
Unfortunately Holmes didn’t make the
perfect start, rounding the first corner in
8th place. He had a lot of work to do as Vlaeymans
had managed a better start and was in 2nd place.
Holmes used his time and speed wisely making
the passes he needed to get himself in 2nd place
behind
Warnia at the half way stage, just one place
in front of Vlaeymans. The positions stayed
the same to the chequered flag so Holmes not
only claimed another race podium but won the
overall event.
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Race Three
ATV Podium (left to right)
Paul Holmes (2nd), Jeremie Warnia (1st),
Jan Vlaeymans (3rd)
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Through sheer dedication and determination
to succeed Holmes overcame his early season
difficulties, pushing relentlessly throughout
the Championship, giving 100% all the time.
Fortunately his hard work paid off but as the
battle for 2nd place came down to the very last
race it proves that anything can happen.
Holmes commented after the weekends racing
action; I’m really pleased with my performance
this weekend and thrilled with the overall win.
It is always nice to finish a Championship like
this of with an overall win, it really helps
me take momentum into the remaining races this
season and get ready for the tough
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Round
7 Overall ATV MX Race Results |
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1
- Paul Holmes 64
2 - Jan Vlaeymans 63
3 - Nicola Montalbini 60
4 - Jeremie Warnia 51
5 - Joe Maessen 48
6 - Rasmus Nielsen 44
7 - Stefan Schreiber 37
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Championship
standings (after 7 of 7 rounds) |
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1 - Romain Couprie 419 points
2 - Paul Holmes
349
3 - Jan Vlaeymans 349
4 - Nicola Montalbini 274
5 - Joe Maessen 262
6 - Jason Macbeth 232
7 - Matthieu Ternynck 225
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