Brown's in Euro Trial Pole position
By TMX Archives on 14th Aug 08
POLAND was a long way to travel for the handful of British riders contesting the 2008 European Trials Championships but it was a worthwhile trip for them. Michael Brown and Alexz Wigg stormed to first and second in The European adult class while Jack Challoner only lost first place in the Junior Cup on a most cleans tie-decider and Jonathan Richardson finished seventh in class.
The trial comprised two laps of a four mile course containing 15 sections in a woodland venue with streams. According to Jonathan, All the sections were muddy, twisty with both climbing and descending involved. Not too many rocks were involved, with the first four sections set on the banks of a small river. The final section was man made.
The fourth section was slipppery muddy turns on a steep climb while section ten was the hard one with a big jump-up, then a big drop-off with a large rock right at the end of the section which took marks. Many riders tried different lines on this section.
This Euro trial was a stand-alone event, not preceding a World round, and weather on the day was sunny and warm although practice on Friday was wet and on Saturday there was torrential rain.
Whatever, Michael Brown was simply in a class of his own, stunning his rivals with a totally clean opening lap which included the only feet-up ride on the tricky ninth hazard. This section took Michael for his single mark second time through when it was cleaned by Italian veteran Fabio Lenzi and Spanish youngster Alfredo Gomez, both riders on Montesa four-strokes.
In contrast to the rampant Brown, Alexz Wigg had a bit of a shaky start with a three in the second section and then a five at the fifth to sit on eight but the Future Montesa rider then steadied the ship to lose just four more single marks to end his lap on 12 which was still joint second with Sherco-riding Italian Matteo Grattarola. Alexz then got on the case and a five mark second circuit saw him finish comfortably ahead of the Italian and in the runner-up berth. With three wins from the three starts, Michael now boasts a 19 point Championship lead over Lenzi with Grattarola a further point adrift.
In the Youth class Jack Challoner was again pipped by his Euro foe, French rider Alexandre Ferre. The two 125 stars once again had the legs of the field and both contrived to drop nine marks.
Alex held the early advantage with three marks to Jack's eight after the first lap but Jack then put a fantastic lap together to lose just a single dab and although this brought him level with Ferrer, who dropped six, the Yorks rider just missed-out with the points going to Ferrer thanks to 25 cleans to 24.
Jonathan Richardson had journeyed out with Zac Sherwin and Richard Suffell, who did the minding and finished seventh. This weekend Jonathan joins up with the ACE Trials Team to ride the Czech round on Sunday when the event forms a double-header with the European Ladies, which takes place on the Saturday.
EURO ADULT TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 3 Myslenice, POLAND
1 Michael BROWN (GB - Beta) 0 + 1 + - = 1
2 Alexz WIGG (GB - Montesa 4RT) 12 + 5 + - = 17
3 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 12 + 10 + - = 22
4 Fabio Lenzi (I - Montesa 4RT) 17 + 11 + - = 28
5 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa 4RT) 28 + 5 + - = 33
6 Henri Himmanen (SF - Beta) 20 + 30 + - = 50
7 Julien Perret (F - Gas Gas) 29 + 25 + 2 = 56
8 Martin Kroustek (CZ - Beta) 40 + 22 + - = 62
9 Mardon Moi (N - Beta) 38 + 28 + - = 66
10 Martin Hemmer (N - Beta) 55 + 44 + - = 99
11 Jan Peters (D - Beta) 57 + 58 + - = 115
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 6) rounds: 1 BROWN 60 points, 2 Lenzi 41, 3 Grattarola 40, 4 Gomez 35, 5 WIGG 30, 6 Loris Gubian 25, 7 Sam HASLAM 25, 8 Perret 22, 9 Himmanen 16, 10 Alexis Cervantes 13,... 14 Ross DANBY 8,... 21 George MORTON 2,...
EURO JUNIOR 125cc TRIALS CHAMPS
1 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 3 + 6 + - = 9
2 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 8 + 1 + - = 9
3 Pau Botella (E - Gas Gas) 7 + 6 + - = 13
4 Adrian Pastoriza (E - Gas Gas) 8 + 10 + 1 = 19
5 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 21 + 1 + - = 22
6 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 12 + 13 + - = 25
7 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 15 + 14 + - = 29
8 Francesc Ciurana (E - Beta) 14 + 20 + - = 34
9 Luca Cotone (I - Sherco) 15 + 21 + - = 36
10 Hakon Pedersen (N - Sherco) 18 + 19 + - = 37
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 6) rounds: 1 Ferrer 60 points, 2 CHALLONER 47, 3 Moret 41, 4 Botella 39, 5 Pastoriza 39, 6 RICHARDSON 26, 7 Horrach 24, 8 Staltari 19, 9 Cotone 18, 10 Ciurana 17, 13 Jack THOMPSON 7,... 14 Jonathan WALKER 7,... 21 Sasha TURKINGTON 1.
NEXT ROUND: Aug 17 Tanval, CZECH REPUBLIC.
FOR FULL REPORT, SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2008