A Ferrer bad day for Jack
By TMX Archives on 18th Sep 08
RECENTLY crowned World Youth Cup winner Jack Challoner missed-out on what would have been a brilliant double celebration when he threw away his chances of winning the European Junior Cup with a disastrous opening lap in Portugal on Saturday. Jack went into the sixth and final round of the series at Peredes holding a four-point lead from title rival Alexandre Ferrer of France but Britain's Beta rider snatched defeat from the very jaws of victory with that catastrophic opener and not even a brilliant second lap could hoist Jack above sixth on the day and with Ferrer winning event, the French Sherco rider took the class title by six points from a desperately disappointed Jack.
Meanwhile, in the European Adult class, Alexz Wigg took advantage of runaway title winner Michael Brown's absence to score his first win in the series and the 20 points were enough for Wiggy to snatch runner-up in the series from fellow Montesa rider Alfredo Gomez who finished second on the day. But as Gomez only led Wigg by a single point going into the contest those three points made the difference for Alexz.
The opening three sections on Portugal took few marks from the top boys but the fourth stopped both Ferrer and Challoner in their Junior epic. Jack then took two more cleans before the wheels really came off his championship challange with three fives in a row – including one when his rear wheel broke the section tape – as the sections moved into slippery streams from the dry, dusty, rocky bankings. A further maximum on the big steps of the 14th really wrecked Challoner's chances as he was sitting on a monster 27 marks compared to just 10 for Ferrer and just seven for eventual runner-up, Spain's Adrian Pastoriza.
Challoner made a brilliant comeback to complete the second lap for a miserly two marks, joint best along with winner and champ Ferrer, but the damage was done and a distant sixth was no reward for the effort that Jack has put into the campaign.
In contrast, Wiggy won his trial by posting a stunning first lap when he lost less than half the marks of his rival Gomez, six against 16, and then pressed home his advantage with the best lap second time through as well with the Spaniard able to do nothing towards attacking Alexz. It was the perfect end-of-season performance for Alexz and gave the British lads a great one-two in the series final standings.
EURO ADULT TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 6 (FINAL) – Paredes, PORTUGAL
1 Alexz WIGG (GB - Montesa 4RT) 6 + 10 + - = 16
2 Alfredo Gomez (E - Mont 4RT) 16 + 11 + - = 27
3 Loris Gubian (F - Sherco) 15 + 20 + - = 35
4 Henri Himmanen (SF - Beta) 17 + 20 + 3 = 40
5 Fabio Lenzi (I - Montesa 4RT) 22 + 18 + 2 = 42
6 Guillaume Laniel (F - Gas Gas) 26 + 19 + - = 45
7 Julien Perret (F - Gas Gas) 24 + 19 + 5 = 48
8 Fredrik Johansson (S - Beta) 31 + 20 + - = 51
9 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 29 + 23 + - = 52
10 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 28 + 29 + - = 57
11 Ivan Peydro (E - Gas Gas) 34 + 35 + - = 69
12 David Millan (E - Sherco) 36 + 38 + - = 74
13 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa 4RT) 37 + 39 + - = 76
14 Thibault Martel (F - Gas Gas) 42 + 55 + 5 = 102
15 Jan Peters (D - Beta) 58 + 54 + 1 = 113
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 6 rounds: 1 Michael BROWN 100 points (CHAMPION), 2 Alexz WIGG 84, 3 Alfredo Gomez 82, 4 Fabio Lenzi 76, 5 Matteo Grattarola 66, 6 Henri Himmanen 52, 7 Loris Gubian 50, 8 Julien Perret 35, 9 Martin Kroustek 31, 10 Sam HASLAM 25, 11 Fredrik Johansson 22, 12 Ross DANBY 20, 13 Guillaume Laniel 16, 14 Alexis Cervantes 13, 15 Jochen Schaefer 9,... 19 Lee SAMPSON 7,... 33 George MORTON 2,...
EURO JUNIOR 125cc TRIALS CHAMPS
1 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 10 + 2 + - = 12
2 Adrian Pastoriza (E - Gas Gas) 7 + 7 + - = 14
3 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 8 + 9 + - = 17
4 Pau Botella (E - Gas Gas) 11 + 11 + - = 22
5 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 13 + 13 + - = 26
6 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 27 + 2 + - = 29
7 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 21 + 10 + - = 31
8 Marc Horrach (E - Gas Gas) 26 + 15 + - = 41
9 Luca Cotone (I - Sherco) 18 + 26 + - = 44
10 Francesc Ciurana (E - Beta) 22 + 20 + 2 = 44
11 Simone Staltari (I - Gas Gas) 22 + 23 + - = 45
12 Maxime Warenghien (B - Sherco) 24 + 18 + 8 = 50
13 Carlos Mendez (E - Sherco) 24 + 27 + - = 51
14 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 28 + 23 + 5 = 56
15 Jonathan WALKER (GB - Sherco) 29 + 28 + - = 57
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 6 rounds: 1 Alexandre Ferrer 103 points (CHAMPION), 2 Jack CHALLONER 97, 3 Francesc Moret 88, 4 Adrian Pastoriza 84, 5 Pau Botella 76, 6 Pere Borrellas 49, 7 Luca Cotone 44, 8 Marc Horrach 42, 9 Jonathan RICHARDSON 40, 10 Simone Staltari 35, 11 Francesc Ciurana 34, 12 Benoit Dagnicourt 27, 13 Maxime Warenghien 17, 14 Hakon Pedersen 10, 15 Jonathan WALKER 9, 16 Jack THOMPSON 7,... 24 Sasha TURKINGTON 1.
Alexz Wigg easily won the final round of the Euro Adult Trials Champs which hoisted him to second in the series.