Paul Holmes wins European Championship Final in Germany

11.15.2010

The grand finally for the 2010 Goldspeed European Championship was held this past weekend at the spectacular venue of Rudersberg in Germany. The hill side based, hardpack circuit was perfectly prepared and with the thousands of spectators filling the hill side the event was a great success and it was Paul Holmes who took the overall honors fighting hard in all 3 races and to take the win. The only disappointment for Paul this weekend was not being able to be in two places at the same time. After leading the Scottish Championship from the start a clash with dates meant Paul had to miss the final round to be in Rudersberg. However, despite not being there he still managed 2nd place just 17 points
behind John Mitchell.

Saturday’s track action consisted of two free practice sessions and a 30 minute qualifying session in which Holmes made the 6th quickest time. In the closing stages of the session and in his attempt to improve on his time Holmes made an uncharacteristic mistake and came off his quad. He quickly re-mounted but had run out of time to make another attempt to improve his time and had to settle for 6th choice of the gates for Sunday’s
racing.

Race 1: Holmes rounded the first corner in 4th place and after a very intense opening lap made a pass for 3rd early in the race. At the half way stage of the race Holmes had made his way through to 2nd place where he stayed until the chequered flag, finishing behind Frenchman Jeremie Warnia.

Race 2: Making an awesome start Holmes grabbed the Holeshot, but the battle was on for the lead immediately as Holmes and Italian rider Nicola Montalbini fought over first place. Holmes went wide on a corner allowing Montalbini through then just before the end of the first lap Holmes was forced wide during an attempt to pass Montalbini as he made a mistake coming short on an up hill step up jump and Holmes sadly lost two places avoiding him. About 3 laps in, Holmes had settled nicely into the race and started making the passes he needed, blasting past Maessen and Montalbini to get up to 2nd place just before the half way mark. Holmes’s race got a lot more difficult when race leader Warnia developed mechanical problems and stopped on the down slope of a large table top jump just as Holmes took off…! The riders collided and Holmes was thrown off his quad and into the banking. After re-mounting as quickly as possible Holmes found himself down in 7th place. Whilst catching back up to the front of the pack, Holmes set some impressive lap times eventually setting the fastest lap of the race, 2:08.363 on lap 9, 1.5secs faster than any other rider. Holmes, making it look easy, worked his way up to 4th place and then with 4 laps to go made the pass on Maessen leaving him in 3rd.Despite catching right up to Vlaemans and Montalbini, Holmes had to settle for the bottom step of the podium as there wasn’t enough time left on the closing laps to complete any passes.

Race 3: Putting the race 2 dramas behind him, Holmes knew that to secure 2nd place in the Championship he had to finish in
front of Jan Vlaeymans who stood 2 points ahead going into the race. Unfortunately Holmes didn’t make the perfect start,
rounding the first corner in 8th place. He had a lot of work to do as Vlaeymans had managed a better start and was in 2nd place.
Holmes used his time and speed wisely making the passes he needed to get himself in 2nd place behind Warnia at the half way
stage, just one place in front of Vlaeymans. The positions stayed the same to the chequered flag so Holmes not only claimed another race podium but won the overall event.
Race 3 Podium Image: Karina Kompus

Through sheer dedication and determination to succeed Holmes overcame his early season difficulties, pushing relentlessly throughout the Championship, giving 100% all the time. Fortunately his hard work paid off but as the battle for 2nd place came down to the very last race it proves that anything can happen. Holmes commented after the weekends racing action; I’m really pleased with my performance this weekend and thrilled with the overall win. It is always nice to finish a Championship like this of with an overall win, it really helps me take momentum into the remaining races this season and get ready for the tough training months of winter. I had to work really hard this weekend as the competition was fierce and am really pleased to take home 2nd place overall after my tough start to the Championship. Once again I’d like to say a huge thanks to all my amazing sponsors and supporters because alone these results wouldn’t be possible.

http://www.paulholmesatv.com/News/Germany.html

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