Walker fourth as Saar makes history at first-ever World Quadcross Round – Report & Results

History was made at the Castelnau de Levis in France at the weekend, which staged the first ever round of the brand new FIM Quadcross World Championship, which saw British and European Quadcross Champion Harry Walker finish just off the podium in fourth.

Race Report by Bradley Hix – Images courtesy of FIM QuadX

There was plenty of cloud cover and a slight chill in the air as the paddock woke up on Sunday morning, but these cooler conditions would suit the competitors perfectly to contest the inaugural round of the FIM World Quadcross Championship.

Warm-up

Kevin Saar, fresh from his qualification race victory, used this session as a race run to ensure that the set-up changes to his machine would work in his favour, hoping that a softer set-up would be more suitable for the longer duration. Harry Walker completed the session in the runner-up spot, whilst Matteo Stiller held off Patrick Turrini for the third-quickest time.

Race 1

The pressure was on. A great start could make or break the race, and no one knew that better than Kevin Saar, who got a flyer, claiming the holeshot and leading the pack through the whoops. The same, unfortunately, could not be said for Harry Walker or Patrick Turrini, who found themselves outside the top-10 positions on the opening lap. Mark Mclernon, who had spoken about top-7 being the goal, slotted into second place ahead of Dafydd Davies for a British 2-3 at the end of lap one.

Saar proved to be monotonous in his laptimes, never leaving the 1:53 bracket, to stretch his leading margin over Mclernon with every passing lap. In the meantime, both Walker and Turrini set about climbing further up the ranks, with Walker making a pass every lap in the early stages, and Turrini claiming an impressive four positions in one lap! A highly impressive performance, especially given the narrow nature of this circuit.

Mclernon would fall into the clutches of Zienecker and Petit and, a slight mistake at the top of the step-up would result in both Zienecker and Petit promoting themselves into the podium positions, leaving Mclernon left chasing in fourth.

Frustratingly for Jiri Brhel, his rear suspension decided it had done enough today, and left Brhel stranded on the side of the circuit to credit him with a DNF after completing nine laps.

Into the closing stages, and Saar was maintaining his advantage at 10 seconds ahead of Zienecker, whilst Sylvain Petit would sadly drop down the order and, with that, out of the podium positions in front of the home supporters.

This would be beneficial to Turrini as this meant a podium position was on the cards, which he would need no second invitation to claim.

Results

Race 2

The sunshine had found its way through the clouds as the final gate-drop took place, and it was Turrini who took the reins immediately, as Saar and Walker were left playing catch-up. Zienecker had made a great start, too, and would do his best to keep tabs on Turrini, but would soon come under pressure from Saar, who found his way past Petit and McLernon in the opening couple of laps.

Walker, despite being the quickest man on circuit, could not do much from fifth position as he had lost valuable time from the start. He would, however, be ready to pounce should the opportunity to do so arise.

As expected, nobody was hitting the big step-up in the opening couple of laps, but by the time lap three came around, it was clear to see that Turrini, Zienecker and Saar were becoming more accustomed to the track conditions.

A brilliant five-way tussle was developing in the mid-pack, as Jordi Niclas Gieler had made a much better start compared with race one, and was defending seventh position from Matteo Stiller, Theo Gourmaud, Jiri Kasper and Karlis Neija. The pressure would soon be too much to cope with, as Gieler dropped a few places to put him in the final position, inside the top 10 riders.

Saar made his presence felt and, more importantly, his move stuck against Zienecker, by which point Turrini was a few seconds up the road. Time was not on his side, but the relentless Estonian does not know the phrase “giving up” and was soon riding on the rear axle of his Italian rival.

Onto the final lap, and tailenders were coming into play, but the blue flags did their job of warning the riders that the leaders were rapidly approaching, and they did not have a say in the outcome. Turrini, riding a defensive masterclass, would position his machine exactly where Saar wanted to go to hold onto his leading advantage, to claim a gate-drop to chequered flag victory ahead of Saar, by the slender margin of +0.401.

Results

Overall Results

Kevin Saar takes the red plate into round 2 of the World Championship, as the paddock heads east in a fortnight’s time to Kramolin, across the weekend of 02nd / 03rd May. As always, you can catch up with all of the latest news on www.fimquadcross.com, and watch every minute of live action on www.fim-moto.tv.

There was plenty of cloud cover and a slight chill in the air as the paddock woke up on Sunday morning, but these cooler conditions would suit the competitors perfectly to contest the inaugural round of the FIM World Quadcross Championship.