GRAND PRIX CHALLENGE SEMI FINAL 1
 
For many the Danish duo of STEEN ERIKSEN and LEON JEPPESEN started the meeting as favourites and they both duly delivered performances to see them reach the GP Challenge.  Eriksen looked the best rider on show and he finished 3 points clear of the field, for Jeppesen it was a tougher afternoon but 10 points and a run-off victory saw him join his countryman on the rostrum.  With just 4 places in the GP Challenge these meetings are always very tight and this was no exception with 2nd to 5th all finishing on 10 points, meaning a run-off in which one rider would miss out.  The other riders to progress from the final heat of the day were OLLE BJORN THORESEN, who seemed to have faded after a good start but recovered to do enough, and LEONID IZOTOV, Latvia's number 1 holding off Ove Dalasen to clinch the vital place to see him into the GP Challenge.
 
As always there were hard-luck stories which the riders can now only hope will be enough to tug on the heart-strings of those in charge of picking the one Wild Card place for the next round!  Liam Reay hit the tapes in his second heat and fell just a point short of the run-off for 2nd place whilst Nikita Federenko and Jakub Fekete suffered an engine failure and exclusion respectively and finished just a point further back.  Another rider who finished on 8 points was Under 21 star Robbie Cormack and, whilst disappointed his run has come to an end, he definitely put down a marker as a star of the the future in this meeting.  Other young riders Frankie Young (20) and Henry Valentine (18) both took a tumble as they pushed hard in an international class field but showed enough signs to suggest they could be back and part of the GP series over the next several years.
 
  1. Steen Eriksen............. 2  3  3  2  3  13   ---   QUALIFIED
  2. Leon Jeppesen............. 1  2  3  3  1  10   ---   QUALIFIED
  3. Olle Bjorn Thoresen....... 3  3  1  0  3  10   ---   QUALIFIED
  4. Leonid Izotov............. 3  2  0  2  3  10   ---   QUALIFIED
  5. Ove Dalasen............... 3  1  2  2  2  10
  6. Liam Reay................. 2  E  3  3  1   9
  7. Nikita Federenko.......... 2  3  0  R  3   8   ---   WILD CARD
  8. Jakub Fekete.............. 3  0  X  3  2   8
  9. Robbie Cormack............ 0  3  2  1  2   8
 10. Korey Pierce.............. 1  2  2  1  2   8
 11. Robbie Bell............... 0  1  3  3  0   7
 12. Frankie Young............. 2  1  2  0  Fx  5
 13. Enzo Innacone............. 0  2  1  1  1   5
 14. Henry Valentine........... 1  0  1  Fx 1   3
 15. Hannu Helinen............. 0  0  R  2  R   2
 16. Ferdinand Neuser.......... 1  1  Fn N  N   2
 
 No. Results
  1: Jakub Fekete, Nikita Federenko, Korey Pierce, Hannu Helinen 
  2: Leonid Izotov, Steen Eriksen, Henry Valentine, Robbie Cormack 
  3: Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Liam Reay, Leon Jeppesen, Enzo Innacone 
  4: Ove Dalasen, Frankie Young, Ferdinand Neuser, Robbie Bell 
  5: Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Leonid Izotov, Frankie Young, Jakub Fekete 
  6: Robbie Cormack, Korey Pierce, Ove Dalasen, Liam Reay (E) 
  7: Nikita Federenko, Leon Jeppesen, Robbie Bell, Henry Valentine 
  8: Steen Eriksen, Enzo Innacone, Ferdinand Neuser, Hannu Helinen 
  9: Leon Jeppesen, Robbie Cormack, Jakub Fekete (X), Ferdinand Neuser (Fn) 
 10: Robbie Bell, Korey Pierce, Enzo Innacone, Leonid Izotov 
 11: Steen Eriksen, Ove Dalasen, Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Nikita Federenko 
 12: Liam Reay, Frankie Young, Henry Valentine, Hannu Helinen (R) 
 13: Jakub Fekete, Ove Dalasen, Enzo Innacone, Henry Valentine (Fx) 
 14: Leon Jeppesen, Steen Eriksen, Korey Pierce, Frankie Young 
 15: Liam Reay, Leonid Izotov, Nikita Federenko (R), Ferdinand Neuser (N) 
 16: Robbie Bell, Hannu Helinen, Robbie Cormack, Olle Bjorn Thoresen 
 17: Steen Eriksen, Jakub Fekete, Liam Reay, Robbie Bell 
 18: Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Korey Pierce, Henry Valentine, Ferdinand Neuser (N) 
 19: Nikita Federenko, Robbie Cormack, Enzo Innacone, Frankie Young (Fx) 
 20: Leonid Izotov, Ove Dalasen, Leon Jeppesen, Hannu Helinen (R) 
 21: Leon Jeppesen, Olle Bjorn Thoresen, Leonid Izotov, Ove Dalasen 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRAND PRIX CHALLENGE SEMI FINAL 2
 
Irishman ALAN CONNOR rode an excellent meeting to upset the pre-match odds and blast his way into the GP Challenge, beating RUMUN DIMOTROV in a run-off to top the rostrum in this Semi Final.  Dimotrov showed that the GP organisers can certainly pick a wild card, qualifying along with fellow wild card choice JERNEJ KEGLOVITS.  Keglovits got the better of JEAN-MARC STRUTHERS in a run-off for 3rd in the meeting but there was little more than pride at stake with both riders definitely on their way to the GP Challenge by that stage.
 
The only other rider who put up a serious challenge for a vital top 4 spot was Sitiveni Chand, the young Fijian getting more and more into the meeting as it went but falling a point short in the final analysis.  Of the rest nobody could get any great consistency together although mention must be made of 20 year old South African rider Andre Hayward, who finished 7th, and also teenage Swede Alexander Bengtsson, who looked competitive at senior level.  So the 8 qualifiers now wait to see which 7 current GP regulars will join them in the Challenge.  The 16th rider was announced as Nikita Federenko who has been in Europe this year and was unlucky, with a costly engine failure, not to qualify from the first Semi Final a few weeks ago.
 
  1. Alan Connor............... 3  3  2  3  2  13   ---   QUALIFIED
  2. Rumun Dimotrov............ 3  3  1  3  3  13   ---   QUALIFIED
  3. Jernej Keglovits.......... 1  3  3  2  3  12   ---   QUALIFIED
  4. Jean-Marc Struthers....... 2  2  2  3  3  12   ---   QUALIFIED
  5. Sitiveni Chand............ 1  2  3  2  3  11
  6. Tyler Tebby............... 2  0  1  3  1   7
  7. Andre Hayward............. 3  0  1  1  2   7
  8. Ludo Parizek.............. 3  1  0  2  1   7
  9. Peter Doyle............... 1  Fx 3  2  0   6
 10. Vaclav Ruzucha............ 1  1  2  0  2   6
 11. Craig Leonard............. 0  3  0  1  1   5
 12. Johannes Flood............ 2  2  0  1  Fx  5
 13. Jason Isaacs.............. 0  1  3  0  0   4
 14. Alexander Bengtsson....... 0  2  2  0  R   4
 15. Anders Solberg............ 2  1  0  1  0   4
 16. Leon Westfall............. 0  0  1  0  2   3
 
 No. Results
  1: Rumun Dimotrov, Tyler Tebby, Jernej Keglovits, Alexander Bengtsson 
  2: Andre Hayward, Anders Solberg, Vaclav Ruzucha, Jason Isaacs 
  3: Ludo Parizek, Jean-Marc Struthers, Sitiveni Chand, Craig Leonard 
  4: Alan Connor, Johannes Flood, Peter Doyle, Leon Westfall 
  5: Craig Leonard, Johannes Flood, Anders Solberg, Tyler Tebby 
  6: Rumun Dimotrov, Jean-Marc Struthers, Vaclav Ruzucha, Leon Westfall 
  7: Alan Connor, Alexander Bengtsson, Ludo Parizek, Andre Hayward 
  8: Jernej Keglovits, Sitiveni Chand, Jason Isaacs, Peter Doyle (Fx) 
  9: Peter Doyle, Vaclav Ruzucha, Tyler Tebby, Ludo Parizek 
 10: Sitiveni Chand, Alan Connor, Rumun Dimotrov, Anders Solberg 
 11: Jason Isaacs, Alexander Bengtsson, Leon Westfall, Craig Leonard 
 12: Jernej Keglovits, Jean-Marc Struthers, Andre Hayward, Johannes Flood 
 13: Tyler Tebby, Sitiveni Chand, Andre Hayward, Leon Westfall 
 14: Rumun Dimotrov, Ludo Parizek, Johannes Flood, Jason Isaacs 
 15: Jean-Marc Struthers, Peter Doyle, Anders Solberg, Alexander Bengtsson 
 16: Alan Connor, Jernej Keglovits, Craig Leonard, Vaclav Ruzucha 
 17: Jean-Marc Struthers, Alan Connor, Tyler Tebby, Jason Isaacs 
 18: Rumun Dimotrov, Andre Hayward, Craig Leonard, Peter Doyle 
 19: Sitiveni Chand, Vaclav Ruzucha, Alexander Bengtsson (R), Johannes Flood (Fx) 
 20: Jernej Keglovits, Leon Westfall, Ludo Parizek, Anders Solberg 
 21: Jernej Keglovits, Jean-Marc Struthers 
 22: Alan Connor, Rumun Dimotrov