A crowd of over 1000 spectators was present to witness a night of classic racing. There were high expectations of qualification for the final on French heroes Stephane and Mathieu Tresarrieu’s shoulders.
However there were several riders who had other ideas, particularly Chris Harris from UK and Henry van der Steen from the Netherlands.
After two rides each Chris Harris led the standings with two quality tapes-to-flag wins whilst the Tresarrieu brothers had 8 points Stephane and 9 points Mathieu. Dutchman Steen had also 8 points.
Then the drama for Chris Harris began. During his second ride in heat 5 his engine had a severe oil leak. His pit crew then worked frantically, removing the sick engine and fitting a spare one.
All appeared to be going as planned for him to be ready in time for his third ride but when they started the spare engine suddenly blew-up, leaving him without any motorcycle.
He was unable to take his third ride in heat 9, being replaced by the exciting young reserve number 19 Gaetan Stella.
Harris obtained an engine from a French tuner present at the event and his pit crew set about removing the blown motor and fitting another one.
At heat 10 Harris appeared again and raced to a sublime win earning a total of 15 points from 3 wins ensuring his place in the A Final and therefore qualification to the final round regardless of the result.
The first attempt to stage the B Final ended with a dramatic first turn crash. As the riders left the start the rider from gate 2, Gabriel Dubernard, clipped the rear wheel of Christian Hulshorst.
Dubernards motorcycle headed flat out and head-on into the air fence in front of the pit-gate. Martin Malek took evasive action and also collided with the air fence.
Following some 6 minutes whilst Dubernard was treated on the track he amazingly got up and walked back into the pits. Following an examination by the doctor he took his place in the 6 riders re-run where he finished 2nd to earn a place in the A Final.
Having finished top of the standings from the qualification heats with 17 points, Stephane Tresarrieu had the first choice of gates and elected the outside gate 6, which gave him the faster outside run in turns 1 and 2.
Sadly it all ended in disaster for the popular Frenchman as on turn 2 on the second lap he collided with the air fence, resulting in his disqualification.
In the re-run his brother Mathieu Tresarrieu kept the home fans cheering as he roared to a sublime tapes-to-flag win with the ever threatening Chris Harris keeping him under pressure for all 4 laps.
So the nine qualifiers to the final, to be held at Swingfield in the UK on 11th September are: M. Tresarrieu,C. Harris, H. Van Der Steen, G. Dubernard, C. Hulshorst, S. Tresarrieu, M. Helmout, H. Stichauer and M. Malek with L. Zandvliet being the reserve.
Photos @Tineke Barels
