Harry Walker and the Par Homes ZIP Racing Quadcross team headed to the superbly prepped Cusses Gorse MX in Wiltshire at the weekend for the European Quadcross and World Sidecarcross Championship round to be held in the UK in 13 years.
Report by the Par Homes ZIP Racing team – Feature Image courtesy of WSC
After last weekends wash out in Ireland the long-awaited FIM European of UK was eventually here and only an hour from us and after a convoy of Europeans hovering in the UK to get into the circuit we saw Norwegians, Estonians, Czech and Italians passing by our house washing, cleaning, mending and stealing all my spares !!!, I’m sure they would all do the same for us in their native countries …
Saturdays qualifying practice saw Harry in 3rd behind Patrick Turrini and 16 yrs old Estonian Karl Robin Rillo. Going into the Qualifying race, Harry secured a strong 2nd place behind Turrini for the next days gate pick.
Sundays saw two races of 25min +2 and the format was looking to be pretty exciting, it was an hour from our home which saw a support contingent of family and friends all down to support Harry and the PAR team.
The Pressure was on, second to the line!
Harry gated 4th but within 2 laps he had taken the lead passing Mark Mclernon, Dafydd Davies and Turini along the way.
He was able to gap Mclernon for a 7 second lead with the rest all attempting to pass the Mac.
This was the Break H needed. The next 10 laps he was riding well in the lead with Turrini attacking everything at superfast pace slowly stealing a split second a lap.
By the wire it was 0.7 second difference for Harry to be the first ever Brit to win a home EMX race !! Taveren a strong 3rd place from Norway.
Moto 2
The predicted heavens had opened unfortunately, and it was a sticky start. The holeshot was on, but the sloppy circuit saw Harry take the wide line allowing Turrini to sneak up the inside. Within a lap Harry swapped places with him, and pulled a 4 second gap. Christopher Tveraen was 3rd waiting to pounce too!
For 8 laps Harry commanded the race but the ever demanding Turrini was trying everything in his arsenal as the track dried slightly to make his move even dropping his goggles !
3 laps from the end a small mistake by Harry in the slippy conditions unfortunately allowed Turrini through.
Harry re grouped and made a last lap charge to come over the line within a couple of seconds of Turrini!
A win and a second, was a great result but unfortunately Turrini had the same giving him the overall with the last race taking priority.
What an absolutely awesome weekend in our own country. A terrific shout out goes to all who make this possible on our part, Par Homes, PEP suspension, Baldwin Motorsports, Yamaha, and many many more.
You Know who you are, and we respect you all. It’s a consolidated team effort with all the correct ingredients in the mixing Bowl !!
This weekend we head back out to Devon for round 5 of the British Championship where Harry has a commanding lead of 55 points which means mathematically it could all be wrapped up this weekend with a meeting to spare, but the reality is a reliable ride and one race out of the last meeting is more likely!
