An Udde' one bites the dust!
By TMX Archives on 4th Sep 08
NINTEEN-year-old Briton, Michael Brown (Top Trial Team Beta) claimed the 2008 European Champion-ship in Sweden, despite there still being one round remaining in the series.
Brown recorded his fifth straight win of the series, just ahead of compatriot, Alexz Wigg, to take the title in style and to add to the World Junior crown he achieved last season.
Scarborough's pint-sized rock-hopper now heads the overall standings by a massive 35 points, with only 20 up for grabs in Portugal in just over a week's time.
Wigg proved to be Brown's nearest challenger on the day, finishing just three marks behind the new champion after both British riders became the only competitors on the day to post two laps scores under 20 marks. Spain's Alfredo Gomez completed the podium at Uddevalla and also holds third spot in the series, just behind veteran Italian rider Fabio Lenzi who could only manage fifth this time out. With just one point separating second to fourth in the championship, Wigg has a strong chance of making it a British 1-2 in the final order.
Ross Danby was also in the points, bagging six for his tenth place finish.
Matching his team-mate's performance, Jack Challoner (Top Trial Team Beta) took victory in the European Junior class to move to the head of
the general classification prior to the Portuguese finale.
Michael Brown made sure of the title with his fifth win of the series.
Previous class leader, Alexandre Ferrer, endur-ed a disastrous outing, coming home in sixth spot on a score almost double that recorded by Challoner.
Francesc Moret was runner-up in Sweden, and has given himself an outside shot at the class title, which is now down to a three-rider fight in which Jack currently holds a slim, but important, four-point advantage over French rider Alexandre Ferrer.
EURO ADULT TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 5 – Uddevalla, SWEDEN
1 Michael BROWN (GB - Beta) 16 + 18 = 34
2 Alexz WIGG (GB - Montesa 4RT) 18 + 19 = 37
3 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa 4RT) 21 + 19 = 40
4 Henri Himmanen (SF - Beta) 19 + 23 = 42
5 Fabio Lenzi (I - Montesa 4RT) 27 + 15 = 42
6 Loris Gubian (F - Sherco) 25 + 20 = 45
7 Martin Kroustek (CZ - Beta) 21 + 26 = 47
8 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 33 + 22 = 55
9 Emil Gyllenhammar (S - Gas Gas) 32 + 25 = 57
10 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 30 + 29 = 59
11 Fredrik Johansson (S - Beta) 32 + 29 = 61
12 Adam Thiger (S - Gas Gas) 42 + 26 = 68
13 David Millan (E - Sherco) 40 + 36 = 76
14 Jussi Haapanen (SF - Sherco) 46 + 36 = 82
15 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa 4RT) 40 + 43 = 83
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 6) rounds: 1 Michael BROWN 100 points (CHAMPION), 2 Lenzi 65, 3 Gomez 65, 4 WIGG 64, 5 Grattarola 59, 6 Himmanen 39, 7 Gubian 35, 8 Kroustek 31, 9 Julien Perret 26, 10 Sam HASLAM 25,... 12 DANBY 14,... 18 Lee SAMPSON 7,... 30 George MORTON 2,...
EURO JUNIOR 125cc TRIALS CHAMPS
1 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 6 + 7 = 13
2 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 11 + 5 = 16
3 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 15 + 2 = 17
4 Pau Botella (E - Gas Gas) 7 + 11 = 18
5 Adrian Pastoriza (E - Gas Gas) 7 + 14 = 21
6 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 14 + 11 = 25
7 Luca Cotone (I - Sherco) 18 + 8 = 26
8 Maxime Warenghien (B - Sherco) 20 + 13 = 33
9 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 19 + 15 = 34
10 Francesc Ciurana (E - Beta) 20 + 15 = 35
11 Simone Staltari (I - Gas Gas) 12 + 24 = 36
12 Hakon Pedersen (N - Sherco) 14 + 22 = 36
13 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 17 + 21 = 38
14 Marc Horrach (E - Gas Gas) 16 + 23 = 39
15 Jake Whittaker** (NZ - Gas Gas) 18 + 21 = 39
16 Jonathan WALKER (GB - Sherco) 21 + 22 = 43
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 6) rounds: 1 CHALLONER 87 points, 2 Ferrer 83, 3 Moret 73, 4 Pastoriza 67, 5 Botella 63, 6 Borrellas 38, 7 RICHARDSON 38, 8 Cotone 37, 9 Horrach 34, 10 Staltari 30 ,... 15 WALKER 8, 16 Jack THOMPSON 7,... 23 Sasha TURKINGTON 1.
FINAL ROUND: Sep 13 – Paredes, PORTUGAL.
(** – New-Zealander Jake Whittaker is ineligible to score points in the European Champs.)