EMX Quad European Championship:
Kevin Saar crowned champion
For the third and final round of the 2021 European Quadcross Championship, we found ourselves once again in Czech Republic, this time however the stakes were much higher; a championship had to be won. Mathematically, 4 riders were still in the title hunt but Kevin Saar, who came into the weekend with a 147 point advantage, was a whole 34 points ahead of second placed rider Christopher Tvaraen and could potentially take the crown in the first outing! Tvaraen would be absolutely giving it his all to overturn this deficit, which was bound to lead to some exciting racing.
Qualifying
Under a beautiful cloudless sky, the gladiators of the EMX Quads championship made their way into the Kramolin arena, ready to fight for the gate picks. Twenty-five minutes was the duration of the session, and within the first five minutes, Saar had already set a fantastically high bar of a 1:42.562. This laptime stood for the first half of the session until Christopher Tvaraen, the man closest to Saar in the championship, blew that time out of the water and went sub-1:41 for the first time. It was very much Saar vs Tvaraen throughout this qualifying session, which concluded with Tvaraen taking first blood over Saar by +0.263. Also fighting for the rostrum positions were the Italian duo of Patrick Turrini and Paolo Galizzi. They may be compatriots, however they are in complete contrast to one another in terms of this years championship. Galizzi scoring points in each of the 6 races so far this year, with Turrini making this weekend his first appearance of 2021 in the Europeans championship. The battle for the final rostrum position was not only involving the Italians, but also local riders of Jiri Kasper, Adam Tucek and David Susa. This closely contested battle saw the Italians third and fourth, with the home heroes having to settle for positions outside of the top six.
Results
Christopher Tvaraen 1.39.689
Kevin Saar +0.263
Patrick Turrini +2.271
Paolo Galizzi +2.617
Miro-Romeo Cappuccio +2.651
Jiri Kasper +2.967
David Susa +3.392
Adam Tucek +3.530
Kacper Mieszkowski +3.792
Jakub Kostelecky +4.594
Race 1
Sixteen quadcross warriors lined up at the gate, prepared and ready for the twenty-five minute race + two laps duration. As soon as the five second board was thrown aloft, the air was filled with a thick 4-stroke crescendo which was only interrupted by the drop of the gates. Into turn one we saw the local rider David Susa claim an early lead, but the ominous figure of Kevin Saar soon dived to the inside and took a hold of the race. Main championship rival was bogged down in fourth place, however some impressively daring moves saw him move into second place with one goal in mind; to take the fight to Saar.
The two protagonists of this 2021 EMX Quadcross championship were, at quite a rapid rate of knots, opening up the gap between themselves, and the battle for third which consisted of both Italian riders and an abundance of local racers looking to upset the regulars. Throughout the entirety of the race it was Saar who had the upper hand over Tvaraen, even when contending with lapped riders and yellow flags which hampered Tvaraen’s charge, even by just a small amount. While this fierce battle raged on at the front, Patrick Turrini and Paolo Galizzi were slowly edging away from not only the Czech challengers, but also themselves. This positioning would remain the same during the course of the race which is in complete contrast to what was happening at the front.
Two laps were left in this epic clash of the titans, and Tvaraen decided that this was the best time to attack. Saar had done an absolutely sublime job of defending his lead but unfortunately for the Estonian, he left the door ajar and this gap was quickly filled by a determined young Norwegian. Saar tried to fight back but Tvaraen had superior pace and in the end, would take the chequered flag ahead of the championship leader, thus reducing the championship deficit to thirty-one points…or so we thought. Patrick Turrini crossed the line in the bronze-placed position with Galizzi a creditable fourth.
There was one more unexpected twist in the story as it became known that the man who crossed the line first, Christopher Tvaraen, had been given a penalty for a noise infringement, so those vital twenty-five points were soon reduced to eighteen.
Results
1. Kevin Saar
2. Patrick Turrini
3. Paolo Galizzi
4. Christopher Tvaraen
5. Zdenek Polacek
6. Adam Tucek
7. Jakub Kostelecky
8. Kacper Mieszkowski
9. David Susa
10. Lukas Prochazka
Race 2
This was it then, the final day of the European Quadcross Championship was upon us. Kevin Saar came into this race with a forty-one point advantage over Christopher Tvaraen after his penalty had been applied. Paolo Galizzi was now out of title contention so it came down to a two-horse race for the title. Could Saar take the title yet again, or did Tvaraen have something up his sleeve?
For the penultimate time, the gate dropped and it was a scrap between all sixteen riders to scramble their way towards the front with Saar being the man to take control of the race. Patrick Turrini slotted into second place and for the first half of the race, looked as though he was going to challenge the champion-elect for the lead! The Norwegian, Tvaraen was bogged down in sixth place in the early stages of the race but soon plucked away and found himself in third place, by which time it was too late, Saar and Turrini were long gone.
With around ten minutes remaining, plus those important two laps that would conclude proceedings, Turrini was struggling to match the pace of the race leader but was still putting the gap between himself and Tvaraen who, it would seem, was being forced to settle for third. A heroic effort from Christopher was put on display but the honour of being crowned European champion was slipping through his fingers.
Further down the order we had a brilliant battle between both Jakub Kostelecky and Kacper Mieszkowski, with Miro Cappuccio adding some extra ferocity into the challenges. This was for eighth place, and Cappuccio eventually found his way through and was flying up the track. Come races end, he was charging hard after Adam Tucek and David Susa, the two leading home riders putting on a patriotic display for the crowd.
The chequered flag beckoned the three-time European champion Saar and he took the win by seven seconds over Turrini, and a surprise third place finish for Paolo Galizzi who put in a sterling final handful of laps to overcome Tvaraen who eventually finished in yet another fourth place.
With Saar scoring twenty-five points and Tvaraen on eighteen, the gap opened up to an insurmountable forty-eight points, and with only one race left to go in the final round of this fantastic season, Kevin Saar became European champion once again. The podium completed by the Italian duo of Turrini and Galizzi, and let’s not forget that these positions means that going into the final race of the 2021 season, the battle for vice-champion is still being fiercely fought over with only nine points separating Tvaraen and Galizzi.
Results
1. Kevin Saar
2. Patrick Turrini
3. Paolo Galizzi
4. Christopher Tvaraen
5. Adam Tucek
6. David Susa
7. Miro-Romeo Cappuccio
8. Zdenek Polacek
9. Kacper Mieszkowski
10. Jakub Kostelecky
Race 3
The final race of the season got under-way much to the delight of the fans lining the circuit. Re-crowned European champion Kevin Saar was the man who got the best jump off of the line, but he was very closely tailed by home hero David Susa who had improved no end as the weekend had progressed. Paolo Galizzi was fighting hard inside the top five however Christopher Tvaraen was languishing down in seventh in the first few turns. Patrick Turrini muscled his way into the runner-up spot but just as quick as he got there, he was soon tumbling his way down the order as a rare mistake saw him hit the deck.
Throughout the next five minutes, Susa and Galizzi were matching each other blow for blow and were writing the script of what could’ve been a brilliant way to end the season. However, with seventeen minutes remaining in the race, the red flag was brought out due to an incident involving Zdenek Polacek and this meant that the race was to be re-run in its complete form. Our best wishes go out to the twenty-five year old Czech.
Race 3 re-run
For the final time then, the gates dropped and the now-fifteen pairs of rear tyres gripped the surface, sending the riders hurtling towards the first turn. Again, it was Saar who took up an early race lead ahead of Patrick Turrini and David Susa. This time, Saar left the field wondering where he had gone as he opened up the deficit to a substantial level. Second place was in complete contrast as Susa had Turrini all over the back of him and this battle would rage on for the first half of the race before a bold move from the Italian saw him muscle his way past Susa who, as a direct consequence of this move, found himself upside down on the outside of the circuit. He would eventually make his way to inside the top ten but we were left wondering of what could have been for the Czech rider.
Back at the front, Kevin Saar had slowed right down and Tvaraen reclaimed the lead. It soon became clear that the lack of pace of Saar was due to a puncture of the front-left tyre. He moved to the inside of the circuit and got the tyre somewhat fixed, not quite to the extent he would’ve liked but either way, he was still circulating and looking to score good points.
Tvaraen was left unchallenged at the front of the race, and the win the eluded him in the first two encounters was his for the taking. Twenty-five points for Tvaraen meant he had cemented his place as vice champion, fourteen points ahead of his Italian rival Paolo Galizzi.
Results
1. Christopher Tvaraen
2. Patrick Turrini
3. Paolo Galizzi
4. Adam Tucek
5. Kevin Saar
6. Jakub Kostelecky
7. Tomas Trojan
8. Martin Dopita
9. Pavel Kashov
20. David Susa
Overall Results
1. Patrick Turrini 66
2. Kevin Saar 66
3. Christopher Tvaraen 61
4. Paolo Galizzi 60
5. Adam Tucek 49
6. Jakub Kostelecky 40
7. David Susa 38
8. Kacper Mieszkowski 34
9. Martin Dopita 32
10. Lukas Prochazka 31
