Team GB qualified third for the 2024 Quadcross of Nations at Loket in the Czech Republic on Saturday, before claiming fifth in the event on Sunday.
European and British Champion Harry Walker was the first rider to represent Team GB in the A qualifying race and finished fourth. Dafydd Davies finished a fantastic second in the B Group Qualfying moto and Chad Beevers backed them up with a great seventh in the C Group.
Sunday was the final day of the 2024 Quadcross of Nations at Loket in the Czech Republic, and it was plain to see that after Saturday’s qualifying races, Team USA were in stunning form in their efforts to take an unprecedented 6th Nations victory.
Race 1 – Group A + B
With 30 competitors taking to the gate, this was almost guaranteed to be actioned-packed from the start and indeed it was, with an unfortunate incident at the first turn resulting in Mark Mclernon of Team Ireland, parting company with his Yamaha – initial reports confirm he has been taken to hospital for checks but shall be okay. Simone Mastronardi and Dafydd Davies, among others, were caught in the dramatics, and this would lend itself to Team USA’s Brandon Hoag and Joel Hetrick taking the holeshot. It would not be long before Hetrick found a way through on his teammate to lead the way.
In the early stages of this opening event, Harry Walker could be found languishing down in 12th position, but he would soon improve his positioning by overcoming the likes of Marcus Thomsen for Team Denmark, Jan Vlaeymans for Team Netherlands and Reinis Bicans throughout the course of the race. At this time, Hetrick and Hoag were pulling away by a significant margin to stamp their authority on the race, with Kevin Saar in 3rd place.
At the rear of the field, Mastronardi and Davies were carving their way through in their attempts to limit the damage caused by the first-turn dramas. Likewise, Christopher Tvaraen would close the deficit between himself and his arch-rival in previous European championship campaigns, Kevin Saar. This fight would rage on through much of the mid-point of the event with Tvaraen finally finding a way through as we came into the closing stages – 4th place would have been a solid result or Saar, but shockingly he was forced to retire from the event with only 3 laps remaining.
The battle for fourth position was really starting to heat up, with chasing hard after van Grinsven, and defending his place from the Frenchman, Sylvain Petit. At the conclusion of the event, the chequered flag beckoned the arrival of #1 Joel Hetrick who cruised to a comfortable race victory, ahead of Brandon Hoag to give Team USA a 1-2 finish in the opening encounter. Christopher Tvaraen would take third position ahead of Mike van Grinsven on the circuit but, frustratingly, failing the noise test after the race would see Mike van Grinsven handed a 5-position deduction, and this would drop him down to 9th place.
Race 2 – Group B + C
The charge into the first turn was, on the face of things, less chaotic than the first however, Bryce Ford admitted in his post-race interview that he nearly spun out, but he kept it all under control to take the holeshot ahead of Patrick Turrini and Karl Robin Rillo. With clear track infront, Ford soon put on a dominant display with which he has won many AMA ATV titles and would stretch out his lead to a gap that nobody could overcome. His teammate, Brandon Hoag, would be swallowed up by the pack and completed the first lap outside of the top-six positions – clearly, work to do throughout the following laps.
Turrini and Rillo were swapping blows and were soon caught up by Hoag, who had found his way through on Ondarcuhu, Mogensen, Neija and Veldman, and it would not be long before Hoag swiftly made his way into 2nd place with an outstanding “2-for-1” move on both Rillo and Turrini. Again, like his teammate, with the clear track laid out before him, he would stretch his advantage over 3rd place to over 30 seconds by the cheqeured flag. In the midfield, an incredible fight was happening for 6th position, Dafydd Davies, who was in a much better position now than earlier in the day, defending bravely ahead of Neija, Hellebust and Veldman. This fight would play out for the following handful of laps and, in the closing stages of the race, it would be both Neija and Veldman, as well as hard-charging Dutchman Joe Maessen, who would promote themselves into 7th, 8th, and 9th positions respectively.
With Rillo making a decisive move on Turrini, he opened out an ever-increasing margin over the former European champion, and could not be beaten for 3rd place, but absolutely no-one once again, could intercept the unstoppable force of Team USA, as they went 1-2 again, to give themselves a perfect 6 points going into the final race later this afternoon.
Race 3 – Group A + C
For the final time this weekend and, for many competitors, the final time of the season, the gates dropped and it was Joel Hetrick who took the initial advantage ahead of Team Italy’s Patrick Turrini, who was looking mightily strong coming into this final race. Unfortunately, due to the incident mentioned in race 1, Mark Mclernon would not take to the gate for this final event and, as well as Mark, Manfred Zienecker and Adam Tucek would also not take part in the final race of the weekend.
Joel Hetrick set about repeating his success in the earlier race, however, disaster would strike as a mechanical failure would see him be forced to retire on lap 5, and with this, all pressure was firmly applied to the shoulders of Bryce Ford who, somewhat surprisingly, did not make the best of starts and was languishing in 12th position at the completion of lap 2, but would soon carve his way through the field, and was locked in battle with both Team Estonia riders, Kevin Saar and Karl Robin Rillo. Likewise for Team Great Britain, Harry Walker and Dafydd Davies had plenty of work laid out before them as they were both, at one point, found outside of the top 15 positions with 20 minutes remaining. They would soon be put to work and, by the halfway point, Harry was fighting for the top-10 placings, while Davies would slowly but surely work his way through the field to place himself inside the top 12.
As half-race distance rapidly approached, Bryce Ford found his way through on both Estonian competitors, and set about reducing the deficit that Turrini had opened with the track in-front cleared by the retiring Joel Hetrick. An air of inevitability surrounded the fight for the race lead and, despite putting up his best defence, it would not stop the lone Team USA rider of Bryce Ford to take the race lead, of which he would not let go of by the chequered flag. A fantastic showing from Team Estonia would see them take the chequered flag in P3 and P4, with Rillo leading the way ahead of Saar and, as was the case earlier this afternoon, Sylvain Petit did not have an easy time as he simultaneously had to defend from Tarald Hellebust, as well as chasing hard after Mike van Grinsven.
Words by EMX Quad – Images courtesy of SQXON & Earths Eye Media