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Holmes
Racing's Paul Holmes currently sits
third in the ATV Pro Points after Round
3 aboard his Yamaha YFZ450R Sport ATV
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Germany (6/9/2011) - The third round of
the closely contested Goldspeed European Quad
Cross Championship was held at Reutlinger, Germany
this past weekend. With brilliant weather running
up to the event and a great forecast planned for
the race weekend it was set to be another exciting
installment of the prestigious championship.
Saturday’s timetable was slightly different
to the usual layout with only one practice session
before the 30 minute
timed Qualifying session. Holmes had never raced
at Reutlinger before but after a quick assessment
of the tight,
technical track he entered the Qualifying session
full of confidence. Knowing that by making some
mid week chassis
adjustments he had a good set-up to take a good
position. After just one sighting lap, Holmes
went straight to 2nd
place with a flying lap. After conserving his
energy watching others on to the track, Holmes
realised he needed to
find more time as he slipped down the time table
to 6th place. On only his 2nd and final fast
lap of the session Holmes
shot straight to 1st place where he stayed until
the final few minutes when local German rider
Stefan Schreiber
went just 0.48 faster. Holmes showed immense
speed and confidence during this session and
he completed the
least amount of laps in the session, conserving
his energy for Sunday's racing action.
Race 1: Not getting
the best ‘jump’ out of the gate,
Holmes rounded the first corner in 14th place.
With a lot of work and riders ahead of him and
Championship rivals getting out in the early
lead, Holmes put his head down and acheived
some brilliant laps cutting through traffic
to end the race in 5th place. Holmes set his
fastest lap of the 35 min race in the 18th and
final lap, just 0.6 secs behind the overall
fastest lap of the race which shows not only
Holmes’s race pace but his fitness and
determination.
Race 2: An unexpected
rain storm began just moments before the start
meant there was little time to adjust set-ups
and with another mid pack start Holmes knew
it was important to get to the front quickly.
So, in just 3 laps he climbed
to 4th place setting an unmatchable pace and
claimed the fastest lap of the race, being the
only rider to get below the
2m 16s time with a 2:15.66 on lap 3. Disaster
struck for Holmes whilst trying to make the
pass for 3rd place when he
spun out and got caught up on a high banking
beaching the quad and it dropped him down to
12th place! The heavy
rain meant track conditions were at their worst
but Holmes battled on and made passes all the
way to the finish flag
finally settling for 8th place.
Despite another tough weekend for Paul and
the team, They have made some great improvements
to the new set-up he has chosen to run this
season and with further improvements in process
everyone is feeling positive going into this
next weekends British Championship event in
Duns, scotland. Holmes commented after the weekend’s
action: “This weekend me and the team
have proven our speed and I am really happy
with that. Since my last race at a regional
Championship in the UK we have continued development
and now I feel very confident with the set-up
and my fitness. The last race today was tough
and I was unfortunate to skid of the track but
my lap times showed I have the pace and my confidence
is high heading into Round 2 of the British
Championship event this coming weekend. I would
like to say a huge thanks to my sponsors, family
and friends.”
| Goldspeed
European Championships - Round 3 -
Top 5 ATV Pro Results |
| Place |
Name |
Points |
| 1 |
Nicola Montalbini |
47 |
| 2 |
Romain Couprie |
45 |
| 3 |
Stefan Schreiber |
36 |
| |
|
|
| 7 |
Paul Holmes |
29 |
| Goldspeed
European Championships - ATV Pro Top
5 Points Standings |
| Place |
Name |
Points |
| 1 |
Romain Couprie |
118 |
| 2 |
Stefan Schreiber |
97 |
| 3 |
Paul Holmes |
91 |
| 4 |
Jan Vlaeymans |
87 |
| 5 |
Mike van Grinsven |
80 |
Holmes Racing would
like to take this opportunity to thank
GR Electrical Services PEP Suspension, Goldspeed
Tires, SHIFT Racing, DWT, Laegers, HINSON, DP
Brakes,Twin Air, Kutvek Kit Graphik, Motion
Pro, RNR, ATVs Only, AXP, BORN, Quad Tech, Renthal,
TPSL, Gaerne, Muk Junkie, Pulse Beats and Lonestar
Racing for their continued support and also
thank and welcome to the team new sponsors DOMA
Exhausts, Drag’on DistributionATV NRG,
Drag’on Tek, MOTUL, ATV World, Action
Cameras, GoPro, SAMCO hoses, Racebikebitz, Pro
Armour, Tire Balls, Leatt, USWE and Elkay Sports.
