EMX Quad European Championship: Kevin Saar ruled in Jinin
21 riders from all areas on Europe had descended onto the MX Enduro Park in Jinin, in the Czech Republic, for what would be the first round of their championship. The atmosphere had a distinctive electricity about it, and this was only going to grow as the action for the day unfolded.
Qualifying – This got underway in sublime conditions. The track was freshly watered, the sun was beating down and the quads were as every bit as good as what we have become accustomed to. The main man that everybody wanted to beat was 6-time Estonian Champion and 3-time European Champion, Kevin Saar. Things were going well for Saar in the early stages of the qualifying session but there was one thing that I suspect nobody took into account, Norwegian rider Christopher Tveraen. Christopher put in an absolutely fantastic time of 1:57.934 to give himself first gate pick over Kevin Saar by +0.521. Roman Gwiazda, Miro-Romeo Cappuccio and Jiri Kasper completed the top 5 with +3.841 covering the 5 riders.
Race 1 – Kevin Saar was initially relegated to 2nd, but soon fought his way back into the top spot. 2nd spot was occupied by Zdenek Polacek for the majority of the race, however an unforeseen issue arose that forced him to pull to the inside of the circuit and lose vital positions. Roman Gwiazda was running a strong 3rd place but it was to amount to nothing, as a rare crash damaged the Polish riders hopes of a good finish. The rest of the race was waiting for an answer with the question in mind being, could Tveraen, now in 2nd place, catch up to Saar who was 9 seconds up the circuit. The answer would come soon enough, as Saar crossed the line to take the win ahead of Tveraen, with Cappuccio coming home a strong 3rd. Gwiazda battled his way up to 12th in the end, but you can absolutely guarantee that he will be fighting for the podium positions in tomorrow’s 2nd and 3rd races.
Race 2 – The gates dropped and the atmosphere was filled with the sound of 4-stroke machinery as they hurled towards turn 1 at a great speed. Kevin Saar took the holeshot as Jiri Kasper and Paolo Galizzi slotted into 2nd and 3rd positions. The race went on and with each and every lap, Kevin Saar opened up the advantage at the front and was very much unchallenged. The conditions of the circuit proved too much for some, most notably Zdenek Polacek, who at the mid-point of the race had issues with his vision. His solution? Take the goggles off! They cant be an issue if you don’t have any! The biggest drama of the race came when, in the closing stages of the race, the man who was riding a strong 4th place had a potential mechanical issue and had to pull off to the inside of the circuit. This was young, fast German rider Miro-Romeo Cappucio who finished on the podium in the first race yesterday. He eventually managed to claw his way back up into 10th position by the end of the race.
Race 3 – Saar came into the 3rd race with the full 50 points, so it goes without saying that his plan was to score another 25. The gates dropped for the final time of the weekend and once again it was Saar who got the holeshot. Tvaraen was up inside the top 3 as they plunged down the steep descent battling hard with the likes of Gwiazda, Galizzi and Susa. Saar, as he had done in the previous 2 races, left the rest of the pack to fight amongst themselves as he pulled the pin at the front. Once the Estonian was in his groove, there was no stopping him. Gwiazda made his way up into 2nd place with Susa and Tveraen chasing after him. For the most-part of the race, they were all end-on-end as Gwiazda was doing an almighty job defending his 22 points position. Tveraen, try as he might, just could not get past Susa and eventually he dropped a small way behind the dicing duo. Susa wanted 2nd place, but he was going to have to work hard for it because Gwiazda was making his machine as wide as possible. In the end, despite his best efforts, it was Gwiazda coming home 2nd, some +16.551 adrift of Kevin Saar. David Suso on the Honda held onto 3rd ahead of Tveraen and Galizzi, who had a relatively lonely ride to 5th position.
Top 5 standings
1. Saar, 75 points
2. Galizzi, 56 points
3. Gwiazda, 49 points
4. Suso, 48 points
5. Tveraen, 44 points
