A new country, a new circuit, and a new venue would play host to the eighth and penultimate round of the inaugural FIM Quadcross World Championship, and it would be Kevin Saar who topped both free practise and timed practise. Winner of the previous two GP’s, Karl Robin Rillo, claimed second gate-pick, with Mclernon taking third. Turrini, who is still not at 100% fitness after his practise crash in Karksi Nuia, posted the eighth quickest time, and would have word to do to hold onto second in the standings.
Qualifying Race
As we have seen previously, Sylvain Petit is a lightning-fast starter and he did it again, claiming the holeshot ahead of Kevin Saar. Matteo Stiller, Jordi Niclas Gieler, and Karl Robin Rillo, would all be caught out in the first-lap drama, seeing the trio drop to 17th position and beyond by the end of the opening lap.
Saar saw the opening he needed to claim the lead, and once he put the #311 Yamaha at the head of the field, there was no stopping him. Petit fell back into the clutches of Mclernon who, like Saar, would not take too long to move up a further position.
Karlis Neija would then close the gap to Petit in the battle for the final podium position as the race approached halfway but, as soon as the Latvian attacked, he was forced to pull to the side and retire from the race, much to his anger and annoyance. This allowed Petit to recover third position, before Turrini joined the party. In the meantime, Karl Robin Rillo was up into 11th position and would soon join the quartet arguing for fifth position consisting of Laurynas Mikalauskas, Reinis Bicans, Delano Eijk and Tadeas Rejdik. Rillo fought his way to the front of the pack, to put himself into fifth place.
With a 20-second leading margin, there was nothing to stand in the way of Kevin Saar and his fourth qualifying race win of the season to extend his world championship led to 50 points. Mclernon held into second place ahead of his championship rival, Patrick Turrini. In the closing stages Rillo reduced the gap to Petit, and would find his way in front to claim fourth, with Petit rounding off the top-five.
Results
1. Kevin Saar
2. Mark Mclernon
3. Patrick Turrini
4. Karl Robin Rillo
5. Sylvain Petit
With a world championship lead of 50 points, and only 60 available per weekend, Saar has the opportunity of claiming his first world championship title in tomorrow’s second race if all goes to plan.
