John's despair and glory in Germany...
By TMX Archives on 20th Sep 07
JOHN Mitchell suffered the downs and ups of racing at the fourth round of the European QX Championship at Rudersberg, Germany, on Sunday, taking a DNF and a win in the two races in front of the 10,000 capacity crowd.
In heat-wave conditions, Mitchell grabbed theholeshot in race one on his ATV World Yamaha and pulled a six-secondlead on the hard-packed, technical circuit.
Disaster struck when the rear axle broke, handingthe lead to French champion Romain Couprie, who took the flag ahead ofimpressive 16-year-old German Honda rider, Stefan Schreiber, BritishSuzuki star, Ricky Tordoff, and Jeremie Warnia.
James Hellewell had a great ride to eighth place and Leon Beda recovered from a poor start to take 12th spot.
It was a rare disaster for the ATV World team as Paul Holmes also suffered a DNF with technical problems.
Holmes made up for his first race disappointmentby taking the holeshot in the second moto, holding off team-mateMitchell for two laps before the British Champion squeezed past.
Mitchell then gave a master class in the searingheat, taking the flag with a 47-second cushion over the stillimpressive German youngster, Schreiber, with Holmes an excellent thirdahead of Warnia and a flying Beda.
It was Couprie's turn for problems this time outwith the Frenchman blowing a crank on his Yamaha. Hellewell took tenthplace and Tordoff managed 14th after a crash.
Mitchell takes a 14-point lead into the fifth andfinal round of the series on October 7 at Castelnau de Levis in thesouth of France.
RESULTS
Race One: 1 Couprie (F - Yam), 2 Schreiber (D -Hon), 3 TORDOFF (GB - Suz), 4 Warnia (F - Suz), 5 Lenz (D - Suz), 6 TenVregelar (NL - KTM), 8 HELLEWELL (GB Yam),... 12 BEDA (GB - Yam).
Race Two: 1 MITCHELL (GB - Yam), 2 Schreiber, 3HOLMES (GB - Yam), 4 Warnia, 5 BEDA, 6 Ten Vregelar, 10 HELLEWELL,...14 TORDOFF.
Series Standings after (4 of 5) rounds: 1 MITCHELL164 points, 2 Warnia 150, 3 HOLMES 103, 4 Couprie 102, 5 Toovis 95, 6Ten Vregelar 79,... 8 TORDOFF 72,...
