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Paul Holmes, John Mitchell, & Paul Winrow (Team Great Britain) placed second at the 2012 Quad-of-Nations
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Netherlands (9/27/2012) - After recently being crowned 2012 British Champion, Paul Holmes was selected to ride for Team Great Britain in the annual 'Quad-of-Nations' event this year held at the Deep sandy based venue of Oss, in The Netherlands.
Having ridden for Team GB in the past and always coming away with great results, Paul Holmes as the 2012 British Champion and ranked 2nd in Europe was a natural 1st choice for the 3 rider team. Paul was joined by the 2011 British Champion John Mitchell and Paul Winrow.
The format of the race is based upon each country being represented by three riders in an A, B and C group. Each rider makes their own group qualification race and the two best results combine to give the gate choice for the Sunday's races. Paul Holmes stepped up to the mark beautifully by riding in a class of his own and taking the first glory of the weekend by dominating his Group A qualification race. Rounding the first corner down in 3rd place, Holmes picked his way through the pack and found himself in the lead by the end of the opening lap! Holmes unfortunately picked up a rear tire puncture on lap 3 which slowly got worse through the race but as Holmes had already built a big lead by setting the fastest lap of the race, he held on in the lead crossing the line still with a clear advantage over the chasing field with the Italian rider Montalbini in 2nd place and French rider Couprie coming home in 3rd. Combining the race win with Mitchell's 4th place in Group B Qualification race, Team GB had the 2nd choice of the gate for Sunday's races.
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Paul Holmes set the fastest lap in race 1 aboard his Yamaha YFZ450R ATV
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Race 1: (Group A + B) As the huge pack of riders headed into the first corner Holmes found himself in 5th place which he soon made 4th by the end of the opening lap. Holmes pushed his way through the pack and into 2 nd place and began to chase down early race leader Couprie. Holmes set the fastest lap of the race and took 4 seconds out of Couprie over 2 laps and then had the challenge of passing. After making a few attempts, Holmes went for another pass which he misjudged in the deep ruts and ended up being flung of the quad. After remounting down in 4th place, losing a lot of time in the incident, Holmes pushed hard until the finish getting the better of the Belgian Rider De Cuyper for 3rd place on the podium. Mitchell finished in 7thplace.
Race 2: (Group B + C) Mitchell finished the race in 8th battling well from a mid pack start with Winrow failing to finish the race.
Race 3: (Group A + C) Opting to give team mate Winrow the front row start, Holmes lined up on the 2nd row resulting in a mid-pack start which meant Holmes had to work hard to get to the front. Holmes flew by the opposition and his team mate eventually finishing in 5th place with Winrow crossing the line in 7th.
Counting the best 5 results from the 6, Team GB managed to claim 2nd place overall giving Paul and team the well deserved 2nd step on the podium.
Overall results
1st – (France)Romain Couprie, Matt Ternynck , Jeremie Warnia,
2nd – (Great Britain) Paul Holmes, John Mitchell, Paul Winrow
3rd – (Belgium) Davy De Cuyper, Auke Theuninck, Jan Vlaeymans
4th – (Netherlands) Joe Maessen, Mike van Grinsven, Merijn Bloemen
5th – (Latvia) Ralfs Reinfelds, Karlis Meldrajs, Edgars Mengelis
Holmes commented after the day's action: "I am really pleased with how this weekend has gone; I feel I rode well and had great speed and getting 2 fastest laps of the races at an event like this is awesome. My Qualification race win has to be the highlight of the weekend but getting up on the overall podium for my country means a lot. Once again a huge shout out has to go to my family, girlfriend and friends for their help this weekend, And of course continued thank you has to go out to my amazing sponsors.
