The ACU Team GB squad recently attended the Quad Cross of Nations in France where Luke Cooper, George Callaway and Murray Graham were looking for a strong result. The weekend started on Saturday with the Qualifying sessions. Unfortunately Team GB suffered a few setbacks with punctures and mechanical failures. Despite the issue suffered the team pulled together to deliver a qualifying place of 12th and with the positive hope that all the bad luck was now out of the way.
On race day the team were hoping for some better luck and in the opening race George Callaway lined up on the front row with Murray Graham on the back row. Both riders made clean starts although Calloway was struggling for power on the Standard Yamaha plant. Calloway holding the middle ground throughout the race finished a solid 12
th position. Murray struggled through for a 20
th position finish with a slight misfire and puncture towards the end of the race.
In the second race Luke Cooper lined up on the front row with George Callaway on the back row. Once again both riders got away cleanly and Cooper was looking solid at the front of the field. Cooper battled hard to finish in a strong 5th place, while Callaway had rode well throughout the race and catching a tiring Mastronardi. On the step down jump near the signal area, Mastronardi crashed, with Calloway already committed to the jump there was no option but to collide with Mastronardi on landing, unfortunate and nasty tumble for both. Calloway valiantly remounted to take 11
th at the flag.
The final race saw Murray Graham kindly give up his front row position to Luke Cooper. Cooper gated in 2
nd position with Graham in a strong midfield group. Unfortunately the race was red flagged on the first lap due to 2 riders being stuck behind a faulty gate.
In the restart Cooper took the early race lead ahead of Cesari in 2
nd. After leading the race for the opening 8 laps with the French crowd urging on their team behind, Cooper was passed for the lead and slipped down the order a couple of places. Meanwhile Graham had moved his way up to 7
th position, but then suffered a crash on the back section of the track. Later in the race Cooper was run into by Van Grinsven of the Netherlands and with the bikes locked together Cooper finally managed to untangle the bikes and finish a well-deserved 10
th with Graham remounting at the back and riding hard to finish in 14
th place.
Overall the team worked well together to achieve the final position of 5
th on the day just 2 points behind Latvia for 4
th position.
Photos: Tracy Thacker