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KTM UK's
Mark Watson & James Hellewell aboard
their KTM 505 SX ATVs in Denmark
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Denmark (6/22/2011) -
Sunday the 19th of June saw
Team KTM UK riders Mark Watson and James Hellewell
return to European Quad Championship action,
both riders putting in a fantastic display in
Denmark to finish 4th and 5th overall respectively
on the day and jumping several places in the
Championship standings.
Making the first of two trips to Denmark this
season, round four of the 2011 GOLDSPEED EMX
Quad European Championship once again saw the
elite of the European race scene do battle around
the Brusgaard Circuit in testing conditions,
the Randers Motorsport Club battling inclement
weather over the two days of practice and racing
but ensuring track conditions were up to the
challenge. After four hundred road miles and
an eighteen hour ferry crossing to the East
coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the one mile
circuit on the outskirts of Randers was an all
new venue for the Team having never ridden there
before, a track of two halves with one hardpack
and the other sand-based provided a unique challenge
for the pairing to find the optimum bike set-up.
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James Hellewell
placed fifth in Race 2
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Fresh from a podium at the previous weekends
British Championship meeting, Watson quickly
adapted to the testing conditions during Saturday’s
wet free practice and timed qualifying sessions,
posting ever improving times to take P1 for
first pick of gate despite a damaged exhaust
header pipe limiting his efforts in timed qualifications.
An excellent start to Sunday’s race action
saw Watson gate 5th in the opening thirty-minute
plus twolap moto and fight through to 3rd at
the ten-minute mark before losing a spot in
the closing stages to finish 4th, but his efforts
in the final outing of the day were the talk
of the paddock, Watson getting caught on the
opening lap and dropping back to 21st before
mounting a charge to make up seventeen places
in just ten laps, only an overheating engine
in the latter stages forcing him to reduce his
pace and settling for 4th.
Moving up four positions to 5th as the series
reaches the halfway point, Watson commented
afterwards “given the circumstances and
problems I’ve had over the two days, I’m
happy with my results and to have moved up in
the standings. I found a good set-up on Saturday
and managed to get a fast lap in early in the
session before we had a problem with a split
header pipe, something that has never happened
us before and we didn’t have a replacement,
so we had to use the standard header for the
rest of the weekend.
On Sunday the rain had eased a lot and the
circuit began to dry out, and in the first heat
I had a great start and had caught up to 2nd
but made a small error and dropped back to 4th
at the flag. In the second race I spun up on
the gate and then got caught in the first corner
and had a lot of ground to make up, and despite
the track being one-lined and hard to pass on
I had a lot of fun working my way up to 4th,
it’s just a pity the engine overheated
as I know I could have finished on the podium.It’s
a little disappointing as I’ll have to
sit out the next weekend’s round in Poland
now as we haven’t time to check out the
engine and don’t want to make the trip
with just one bike, so I’ll return home
and start getting prepared for the next round
of the British Championship in Northern Ireland
in two weeks time”.
Also bolstered by his top step on the podium
one week earlier in Scotland, nineteen year
old Hellewell once again put in a superb ride
to outperform many of his more experienced fellow
competitors, getting to grips with the tough
surface conditions to secure 9th pick on the
front row for race day. Gating well in the opening
race and breaking the timing beam for the first
time in 8th, Hellewell moved through the field
to claim 7th within four laps and took 6th with
one lap to go before a tyre popping of the rim
cost him a position on the last lap, but it
was his performance in the final outing that
kept the spectators entertained, Hellewell charging
through from 13th at the first corner to finish
5th at the flag for 5th overall on the day,
his excellent result shooting him up six places
to 9th in the series. “It’s been
a really good weekend and I’m happy with
my results and the way things have gone overall,
especially as I’ve moved in to the top
ten despite missing round two through a date
clash.
The circuit here is a mixture of sand and hardpack
so it’s a challenge to find a good set-up,
but we got it dialled in with a few tweaks and
the Team KTM UK 505 SX was a joy to ride. The
start here is crucial as the first corner is
really tight, it comes around one-hundred and
eighty degrees and is just about wide enough
for three bikes, and although I didn’t
get as good a start as I’d have liked
I was still able to get through the field quite
quickly and had a lot of fun. The tyre popping
off the rim in the first race threw me off the
bike and cost me a spot, but other than that
everything went according to plan, and I’m
looking forward to Poland next weekend where
I’ll be aiming to get further up the leaderboard”.
Next Race: Sunday 26th June 2011, GOLDSPEED
EMX Quad European Championship Round 5, Sobieneczyce,
POLAND Team KTM UK would like to thank all their
sponsors, friends and family for their valued
and greatly appreciated help and support.
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Goldspeed ACU British Quad Championship
- Round 3 - Denmark
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| Race 1 |
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| Position |
Rider |
| 1 |
Stefan Schreibe |
| 2 |
Nicola Montalbini |
| 3 |
Romain Couprie |
| 4 |
Mark Watson |
| 5 |
Paul Holmes |
| Race 2 |
|
| Position |
Rider |
| 1 |
Romain Couprie |
| 2 |
Paul Holmes |
| 3 |
Nicola Montalbini |
| 4 |
Mark Watson |
| 5 |
James Hellewell |
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Goldspeed
ACU British Quad Championship
- ATV Pro Points |
| Position |
Rider |
Points |
| 1 |
Romain Couprie |
163 |
| 2 |
Paul Holmes |
129 |
| 3 |
Stefan Schreiber |
125 |
| 4 |
Nicola Montalbini |
111 |
| 5 |
Mark Watson |
90 |
