Round 8: Teutschenthal, Germany

CAS riders Billy MacKenzie and Steve Boniface showed great speed and determination at Teutschenthal for the 8th round of the World Championship.

Qualifying was successful for both riders with Billy in 3rd position and Steve in 13th, this would give both riders a decent gate for the following days racing.  Billy had not been on a bike since cracking his shoulder in France so he needed to take it easy this weekend.
Race 1
Both Billy and Steve got out of the gate really well, before the end of lap 1 Billy had take the lead and Steve was in 4th behind Nagl and Coppins.  Billy held the lead for 5 laps before Coppins passed.  MacKenzie fought back the pain of his shoulder keeping the bike upright and riding with his head, although he dropped back through the pack to 15th eventually, this had been a good steady race.  Steve crashed into Pourcel, who was down on the floor, this damaged his bike forcing him to retire, which was a big disappointment for him on his first outing for the CAS Team
Race 2
Billy got another cracking start leading for the first 4 laps.  Steve's start was mid pack but crashed on the second lap damaging the throttle and forcing him to retire again.  Meanwhile Billy was riding a good steady race and finally passed the finishing flag in a well deserved 10th spot.
CAS rider Billy MacKenzie stated "with my current injury I was pumped to qualify in 3rd on Saturday but knew I would have to be sensible on Sunday.  Both starts were great and I could only ride to what my shoulder would allow, I'm pretty pleased with my recovery and now really looking forward to Sweden".
At his first GP for the CAS Team Steve Boniface said "I am very pleased with the set up of the bike, but very disappointed to have damaged the bike in both races forcing me to retire".
At then end of the weekend Team Manager Neil Prince said "Billy rode the best he could this weekend, he just needs a little more recovery time for his shoulder, his second race was better.  He will have complete rest this week.  Steve was going really well, in the first race he was running 4th but ran into  Pourcel when he went down, this ripped off his front brake caliper and damaged the rear sprocket.  In the second race unfortunately he crashed damaging the throttle and had to pull in, however both races he was up there with the guys and this was a promising start".

Results Race 1
1st J Coppins, 2nd S Ramon, 3rd D Philippearts, 4th K DeDycker, 5th J Bill, 6th T Leok
Results Race 2
1st J Coppins, 2nd K DeDycker, 3rd T Leok, 4th M Nagl, 5th S Pourcel, 6th D Philippearts
Overall Results on the day
1st J Coppins, 2nd K DeDycker, 3rd T Leok
Championship positions to date
1st D Philippearts 266 points, 2nd J Coppins 262 points, 3rd S Ramon 250 points, 4th K DeDycker 240 points, 5th S Pourcel 231 points, 6th J Barragan 192 points, 7th T Leok 186 points, 8th M Nagl 179 points, 9th B MacKenzie 176 points, 10th M DeReuver 156 points.