Editor

The legendary Nurburgring circuit was the venue for the penultimate round of the 2011 European Junior Cup, and Germany's Tom Busch was determined to use his home round to take back the title lead from Australian Matt Davies. A tense qualifying session looked to have Davies take pole position, until in the final seconds Busch put in an incredible last sector on his Kawasaki Ninja 250R to claim P1 by 0.149 seconds. Northern Ireland sensation Adam McLean was third with Californian Brandon Kyee completing the front row.


The race start saw McLean and Davies lead into the complex followed closely by Busch and in a return of his early season form, French rider Jean Francois Demoulin. As the race progressed McLean, Busch and Davies battled fiercely for the lead until, after a few close calls with the other riders, McLean seemed to lose composure; dropping back and eventually colliding with Demoulin on the straight. This controversially brought the young Frenchman to the ground in a spectacular crash but Demoulin remounted and finished the race with no footpeg or gear lever. His show of true racing spirit was much appreciated by the German spectators - the whole crowd cheering as he cornered with foot in the air and shifted gear by hand. Two laps later McLean himself crashed out after another hard fight with South African wild card Kyran De Lange.


Meanwhile at the front Davies and Busch were once again glued together, passing each other repeatedly until the last lap when Busch tried a brave passing move at turn one only to run slightly wide. This allowed Davies to pull a half second lead and although Busch closed the gap in the final sections of the lap it wasn't enough to prevent Matt Davies claiming his fourth win of the season by 0.2 seconds.


Results: 1. Matt Davies (Davies Auto); 2. Tom Busch (ADAC Sachsen/Kraftwerk); 3. Kyran De Lange (Silverton Midas); 4. Daniel Mettam (Whareatea Investments); 5. Ruben Fenoll (Bateig Kawasaki); 6. Amelie Demoulin (JFA Performances); 7. Ross Patterson (RPM Performance); 8. Susi Steibl (ADAC Nordbayern); 9. Jean Francois Demoulin (JFA Performances); 10. Qays Hashmi (Three Delta).


Points (after 5 of 6 rounds): 1. Davies 108; 2. Busch 98; 3. Mettam 59; 4. Fenoll 56; 5. Kyee 48; 6. Demoulin JF 30; 7. Patterson 28; 8. Hashmi 28; 9. Demoulin A 27; 10. Hunt 26; 11. De Aguiar 24; 12. Aranda 20; 13. Teixeira 17; 14. De Lange 16; 15. McLean 16; 16. Khumalo 13; 17. Jackson 11; 18. Lewis 9; 19. Steibl 8.

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Source: World Superbike

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