The sound of 22 race-ready quads filled the air yesterday for the qualifying race of the British round of the European Quadcross Championship at Cusses Gorse.
As the drop of the gate coincided with the drop of the clutches, there was a manic jostling of position with #96 Murray Graham taking the holeshot with #15 Patrick Turrini in hot pursuit. Changes of position were seen for the minor placings, however, the opening lap drama was far from finished. In defence of the race lead, Murray Graham made a rare mistake and ran off the track, being left unable to rejoin for a significant amount of time as the netting around the perimeter of the circuit was, seemingly, caught in the Briton’s Honda. #741 Karl Robin Rillo, the young Estonian, was very frustatingly was put out of the race after being the unwitting victim of a collision, however, he was perfectly fine and is expected to be out on the start gate tomorrow, ready to challenge the podium contenders.
At the conclusion of lap 1, it was Walker who held a 3.7 second advantage over Turrini, but the Italian’s body language would suggest he was a man on a mission. Over the course of the following 5 laps, Walker tried with all of his might to defend his lead, with himself and Turrini setting fastest laps of the race on each lap! By this time, #919 Mark Mclernon was in a relatively lonely 3rd place with Harry Graham looking to make up as many places as possible – he may have been 20th on circuit, but he was the fifth fastest rider and closing the gap very quickly indeed.
Midway through the race, Turrini and Walker were still fighting for the lead, but there were signs that the young Brit was starting to fade as his lap times dropped down to the 2:07 region, while Turrini maintained a metronomic 2:05 pace for the majority of the race. The hard-charging Murray Graham carved his way through the pack, and soon found himself in the fight for 12th place, involving #526 Jordi Niclas Gieler, #8 Gijs Wentink, #391 Ende Sem, #117 Kacper Mieszkowski and #63 Zdenek Polacek. He soon found his way to the front of this quintet and, with Lestyn Rowlands too far out of reach in eleventh, had to settle for 12th position.
Throughout the mid-point of the race, #5 Dafydd Davies found himself in a secure top-five position ahead of #24 Jamie Morgan, with the gap steadily increasing as the laps ticked by. By the end of the race, Davies had opened the advantage to 12.9 seconds over Morgan, with the Czech duo of #41 Jan Brhel and #91 Adam Tucek following in seventh and eighth position.
The chequered flag beckoned Turrini as he approached the final jump and, with this, claimed victory to give himself first pick for tomorrow’s starting gate. The highly-deserved applause from the supporting British crowd went to Walker as he confirmed his second-place finish, with McLernon rounding out the podium.
If yesterday has told us anything, it is that the action in the two races at Cusses Gorse today will be as frantic and dramatic as we have now come to expect from the European Quadcross championship.
Report and Image by WSC