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#85 Mark Watson
took the win in Cingoli
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United Kingdom (5/19/2010) -
Mark Watson made the 2700 mile
round trip from his Alston base to the Italian
province of Macerata well worth the effort at
the weekend, taking his maiden race win at round
three of the 2010 GOLDSPEED EMX Quad European
Championship in Cingoli.
Promoted by Moto Club “A. Fagioli”
at the superb “B. Tittoni” circuit
on the outskirts of the picture perfect town,
the event was given a reprieve from the incessant
rain and fog which had prevented any practice
and qualifying sessions on Saturday, but which
had left the circuit in a less than optimum
condition for racing on Sunday.
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Mark Watson enroute
to his 1st overall for the day
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With practice limited to just one forty minute
qualifying session on Sunday morning, Watson quickly
showed that he had the circuit dialled in on the
D3 DWT Motoworks KTM, posting a qualifying time
that gave him 5th pick of gate with just 1.7 seconds
splitting the top five. A superb start to the
opening of the three twenty-five minute plus two-lap
motos saw Watson slot in to 2nd around the first
corner before moving in to the lead halfway around
the lap, gradually pulling away from the ensuing
pack to take the chequered flag for his first
ever European race win by a comfortable nine second
margin.
Gating just inside the top five for the start
of the second heat, Watson quickly began to
make his way towards the front despite the circuit
having dried out win one racing line, settling
in to 3rd by the end of the opening lap and
moving up to 2nd three laps in. Setting a blistering
pace as he chased down the leader, Watson closed
the gap and was challenging for position at
half distance when he got pushed off the racing
line and in to the deep mud at the side of the
circuit, dropping to 9th as he got underway.
Quickly getting back up to speed and reeling
in the riders in front, Watson moved in to 8th
with one lap to go to take the chequered flag
after thirty-two action packed minutes for thirteen
hard-fought points.
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Watson did not
have a good final heat of the day with
a broken axle but he still moved up
to 9th in the points chase and is very
hopeful for a win in Poland
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After a poor start by his standards for the final
heat of the day saw him gate just outside the
top ten, Watson quickly found his rhythm around
the 1.1 mile hillside circuit and began to pick
his way through the pack, moving up to 8th after
three laps before slotting in to 7th as the race
approached the fifteen minute mark. Now involved
in a five rider battle for position and circulating
at a furious pace, Watson made his move on one
of the uphill doubles scattered around the spectacular
circuit only to have his axle break on landing,
Watson’s day prematurely but with enough
points in the bag to take 9th overall on the day
and promote him one position in the series to
9th.
“It’s been a bittersweet day for
me” commented a disappointed Watson afterwards,
“I’m overjoyed with the first race
result and taking my first European race win,
but I know that I was a strong contender for
the overall win. With all the rain that we had
the track ended up drying out in one line around
most of it with deep mud at the sides that could
suck you in, and while battling for the lead
in the second heat I got pushed in to the loose
stuff and lost a lot of places. I got a poor
start in the last one, but I was lapping quicker
than any of the other riders in the group that
I was in and was able to use a few new lines
to pass, the axle breaking is just one of those
things that you cannot factor in but is still
a bitter pill to swallow. I know that my speed
is really good and with the D3 DWT Motoworks
KTM working really well I know that an overall
win is within my grasp, so for now I’ll
re-focus on preparations for Poland and round
4 at the beginning of June where I’ll
be aiming to take my first overall win.”
| 2010
Goldspeed EMX Quad European Championship
ATV Results |
