The first triple GP of Scandinavia takes place this year in Sweden, on the nice track of Uddevalla, home of several 500 GPs in the past. The track is not really sandy, built on a nice valley with a perfect view for the fans.
A great number of fans were following this practice day, and the Danish visitors were happy to see Brian Jorgensen winning the first 125cc qualifying race; Sven Breugelmans was leading the first laps but made a couple of mistakes and finished seventh, Luigi Seguy and Alessandro Puzar crossing the line in second and third positions. Thomas Traversini didn’t qualify after a crash on the first lap, finishing only 14th.
Both James Dobb and Eric Eggens crashed at the start of the second 125cc qualifying race, and were back in the pits; KTM’s 125cc points leader, Dobb, went to the hospital with a broken left collarbone, and he will miss the GP tomorrow! The Brit will visit his doctor back in England on Monday and will decide if an operation is necessary.
Alessandro Belometti got the holeshot and won this race, Steve Ramon coming back second and really close. Back on a KTM, Marco Dorsch finished fourth behind Steven Sword, and Patrick Caps didn’t qualify as he crashed on his second lap.
Caps, Eggens and Dupasquier qualified in the last chance session, but Traversini missed it with the 14 position.
Rain fell during the 250cc qualifying session, and some riders missed a good result, as they were not pushing in the first part of the session. Points leader Mickael Pichon took another pole (his sixth), but he was unsatisfied as he made many mistakes and crashed during the session, and as the gap back to Claudio Federici second was less than 0.1 second! Defending champ Frederic Bolley finished only seventh, but he was confident for the race, and Gordon Crockard surprised everyone with a fourth position, his best-ever qualifying performance!
In the 500cc class, Peter Johansson got the pole position of his home GP, despite some pain to his arm in the whoops section. Leader of the championship Stefan Everts finished second, while his main rival Joel Smets was only ninth on this slippery track, after a heavy shower at mid-session.
125 Qualifier 1: 1. Jorgensen; 2. Seguy; 3. Puzar; 4. Gundersen; 5. Stevanini; 6. Sorby; 7. Breugelmans; 8. De Reuver; 9. Werner; 10. Eliasson; 11. Dobes; 12. Townley.
125 Qualifier 2: 1. Belometti; 2. Ramon; 3. Sword; 4. Dorsch; 5. Salaets; 6. Strijbos; 7. Huvell; 8. Fraikin; 9. Rattray; 10. Guidetty; 11. Cervantes; 12. Pyrhonen.
125 LCQ: 1. Kallonen; 2. Eggens; 3. Dupasquier; 4. Oddenino; 5. Caps; 6. Leok.
250 Qualifier: 1. Pichon, 2’04’’269; 2. Federici, 2’04’’352; 3. Maschio, 2’06’’388; 4. Crockard, 2’06’’591; 5. Coppins, 2’06’’774; 6. Beirer, 2’06’’846, 7. Bolley, 2’07’’079; 8. Cooper, 2’07’’161; 9. Dugmore, 2’07’’180; 10. Kovalainen, 2’07’’ 281.
500 Qualifier: 1. Johansson, 2’05’’816; 2. Everts, 2’07’’ 137; 3. King, 2’07’’348; 4. Bervoets, 2’07’’349; 5. Noble, 2’07’’550; 6. Burnham, 2’08’’061; 7. Lindhe, 2’08’’094; 8. Garcia Vico, 2’08’’113; 9. Smets, 2’08’’401; 10. Van Doorn, 2’08’’730.
