Tuesday September 20, 2011 at 9:16am
2011 Quadcross of European Nations
24th - 25th September, Jauer, Germany
The third annual Quadcross of European Nations takes place this weekend with 17 countries entered for the European Motorcycle Union (UEM) hosted event. The ACU are once again supporting a team to represent Great Britain. The three riders picked by team manager Martin Fletcher and heading to the magnificent track of M.C. Jauer (Germany) are John Mitchell, Paul Holmes and Mark Watson.
Mitchell and Watson rode in the 2010 team and Holmes competed the year before. In both events team GB finished in a respectable fourth place.
Martin Fletcher commented: “I believe we are going into this event with a very competitive team. Paul Holmes has just finished in an impressive second place in the European Championships and is finishing in the top three positions in the British. John Mitchell hasn’t raced in Europe yet this year but has dominated the podium winning four of the last five rounds of the British Championship. Mark Watson is following closely behind on points as all three riders have been battling it out to become the new British Champion. We showed in Slovakia last year that Great Britain has some of the most talented quadcross riders in Europe and we hope to build on that result and do even better this year.”
Speaking with all three GB riders about being involved in this prestigious event, here is what they had say:
John Mitchell: “We’ve a really strong team and we all get along well so I think we have a good chance if we don’t encounter any problems. Key to success at this event is consistency. I feel I’ve been riding better than ever this year and I’m looking forward to improving on our position from last year.”
Paul Holmes: “I’m really excited about representing the UK again in this Quadcross of Nations event and I’m confident we can get a good result. Finishing the European Championship with a win last weekend and ending the championship in runner-up spot overall is great for me and I hope to carry the momentum into this weekend’s event. I’m aiming for race wins like I did two years ago when I represented the team in 2009 and helped us to fourth overall.”
Mark Watson: “I have raced at the Jauer circuit in 2005 as sidecarcross passenger representing GB in the Des Nations. We narrowly missed out on the win as our handrail broke in the final race while laying 2nd. We slowed and finally finished 12th costing us the win, finishing 2nd overall. I'm happy to be back representing GB for the second time at Quad Des Nations along with Paul Holmes and John Mitchell. Both John and Paul have won European Championships and I've also won at European level. I know we are all capable of winning against other riders in Europe and think we have the strongest team in the event. I'm focused on taking the win for GB”
Riders will be working closely together at this team based event and will be divided into three separate groups for qualification races on Saturday. There are then three groups which compete in separate heats on Sunday with the worst results from each country dropped. The country with the lowest total points score will win.