Warm-up
Only ten riders would contest the warm-up session on Sunday morning with track conditions, slightly better than yesterday, still wet and difficult to deal with. Coincidentally, only competitors from the Baltic countries would make their way onto the circuit, with Kevin Saar and Karl Robin Rillo taking the top two spots, and Reinis Bicans joining them. Mihkel Murk, the most senior rider here this weekend and making his world championship debut, would show some impressive speed to claim sixth spot.
Patrick Turrini would not compete in the remainder of the weekends programme, as he went to seek recovery options to ensure that his broken left wrist is nursed back to full health before round seven in Madona, in six weeks’ time.
Race 1
With no Patrick Turrini on the gate, the championship lead would be decimated, and no one knew that better than Saar and Walker, who would have to make hay whilst the sun shone. As the gate went down, it was Karl Robin Rillo who slid through on the inside line to put himself level with Manfred Zienecker as they negotiated the first section of jumps. Mark Mclernon would level the Estonian and German, going three-wide through the woops. Rillo used his local knowledge and sheer speed to hit the front of the race, leaving Zienecker defending second position from Mclernon.
Saar did not make the best of starts but would soon find his stride and claw back the deficit that had been opened by Mclernon. With the race approaching half distance, he was with Mclernon and made his move. Meanwhile, on the cusp of the top five, Karlis Straubergs was having his best ride of the season playing chase to Harry Walker and defending from Reinis Bicans. After stalking the Brit for a handful of laps around the 1.75km Karksi Nuia circuit, Straubergs seized the opportunity to promote himself into fifth place. Reinis Bicans followed suit a couple of laps later, leaving Walker with no option to retaliate.
Walker would fall into the clutches of Sylvain Petit who enjoying a solid ride, but an issue would rear its head in the deep ruts on the exit of a right-hander, leaving Walker stranded. Petit was caught behind the reigning European champion and would suffer three losses of position as he righted himself and got himself back into contention.
With a leading margin of seven seconds, Rillo was very much in control of the race, but Zienecker would close the gap into the latter stages of the race, eventually bringing it down to four seconds. Rillo responded and controlled the gap until the flag.
It was a brilliant race all-round for the Estonian riders, with all eight of them finishing inside the points scoring positions, with Rillo taking his first win of the season, and Rasmus Sona taking a season-best of eighth.
With the chequered flag waving, Rillo took the honours which I’m sure felt much sweeter after the dramas on qualifying on Saturday. Manfred Zienecker took his fifth race podium of the season whilst Kevin Saar claimed 20-points, to level Turrini in the world championship standings.
Results
1. Karl Robin Rillo
2. Manfred Zienecker
3. Kevin Saar
4. Mark Mclernon
5. Karlis Straubergs
Race 2
With Kevin Saar now level on points with Turrini in the standings, he knew that a top 20 would give him the red-plate coming away from his home GP, but this would not stop him from fighting for the win.
Gates slammed down and Harry Walker took the holeshot as he slid past Manfred Zienecker and Kevin Saar. Mark Mclernon bogged down and appeared to stall on the first turn resulting in the Ulsterman dropping to the back of the pack, with a huge mountain to climb over the 25-minute duration. Only a couple of turns later and Zienecker, Saar and Petit would make their way past Walker, with Rillo following suit. This would drop Walker into the hands of Straubergs, and what would ensure would be a race-long battle.
With Saar out in front, he could fulfil his plan of extending his lead so that there was no worry of a challenge. In order to claim overall victory, Rillo knew he had to finish ahead of Zienecker but it almost turned into disaster as Rillo misjudged the left-hander, and almost exited the race over the handlebars. Thankfully, he was able to save it and rejoined the track behind Manfred.
Karlis Straubergs, Rasmus Sona and Oli Sansom were enjoying their best races of the season so far, but Sansom would be caught out later in the race and drop a few positions. He would, however, complete the race in a point-scoring position.
From the back of the pack after turn one, Mclernon was carving his way through the field and was inside the top-eight placings after four laps, but he wasn’t done there. He caught up to Straubergs who still could not find the room to pass Walker, but it wouldn’t be before too long that Mclernon passed both the Latvian and the Brit.
At the mid-point, Rillo decided that now was the time to challenge Zienecker for second position and a shot of the overall victory. Side-by-side action saw Rillo make the pass stick, and with no opportunity for Zienecker to come back, Rillo set about quickening the pace to ensure that he was secure in second place.
By the time the chequered flag went out, Saar had increased his lead to over 16 seconds as he took his first race win since race two in Canada Heights. Rillo was 12 seconds up on Zienecker to confirm the podium, and Mclernon took another fourth position after an incredible fight back through the field.
Results
1. Kevin Saar
2. Karl Robin Rillo
3. Manfred Zienecker
4. Mark Mclernon
5. Sylvain Petit
Overall Results
1. Karl Robin Rillo – 47
2. Kevin Saar – 45
3. Manfred Zienecker – 42
4. Mark Mclernon – 36
5. Karlis Straubergs – 31
Championship Standings
1. Kevin Saar – 276
2. Patrick Turrini – 251
3. Manfred Zienecker – 225
4. Harry Walker – 216
5. Mark Mclernon – 209
Two-thirds of the season is now in the books, and a massive swing in the world championship means that Saar now leads by 25 points over Turrini, who will undoubtedly be even more fired up and determined to fight back strong in Madona.
With six weeks until the next round, there’s plenty to look back on and to look forward to as we head to the latter stages of the first edition of the FIM Quadcross World Championship. Keep up to speed with all of the latest news on www.fimquadcross.com, and we look forward to seeing you in Latvia on www.fim-moto.tv.