Bremen Six Day
Event: 12-17 January 2012
Location: Bremen, Germany
Report: Matt Winston
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Above: Junior world champion Jon Paul took a win in the sprint omnium on day four.

Day four saw Great Britain's Jon Dibben and Sam Lowe battle it out in a furious final UIV madison, while Oliva, Emadi and Paul were once again wowing the German crowd in the sprint omnium. Coach Matt Winston report.

The final stage of the UIV cup was another one hour Madison ran off at furious speed. Within five minutes a team had taken a lap over the rest of the field on the short, tight 166 metre track. Jon Dibben and Sam Lowe representing GB were desperate to win the stage so responded as soon as the first team had taken a lap by gaining a lap themselves. It was evident that the field was beginning to get tired after three brutal days of racing and a nasty crash occurred which meant the race had to be stopped whilst the track was opened up and Paramedics brought in to take the crash victim to hospital. Thankfully the German rider involved was OK.

After the re-start a couple more teams gained a lap and once again Dibben/Lowe managed to take a lap solo. The top three teams overall were happy to let this happen, knowing they had a safe cushion over the rest of the field. Into the last 15 minutes there was another crash that meant the race had to be stopped once again. Meanwhile a couple of teams were half a lap up when the crash occurred and were awarded the lap gain without actually completing the lap. This saw Dibben/Lowe’s chances of the stage win disappear as after the restart Sam was brought down when one of the teams crashed during a change, Sam originally thought at first he wouldn’t be able to continue but after being checked over by the officials he was determined to finish and got back on his bike to complete the race. The lads were unable to fight it out for 3rd place and in the end did a great ride to stay one lap behind the stage winners and finish the race. A great first outing at this level for the two juniors.

Stage 4 Results:

1st Nesslich/Horstmann (GER) 3points
2nd Kraft/Burkart (GER) 2points
3rd Wotschke/Zwingenberger (GER) @ 1lap 5 points
4th Ollegarrd/Sandstod (GER) @ 1lap 4points
5th Dibben/Lowe (GBR) @ 1lap 2points

Overall Result:

1st Wust/Stucki (SWI) 51points
2nd Pirius/Beyer (GER) 43points
3rd Busk/Bigum (DEN) @1lap 29points
4th Ollegaard/Sandstod @3laps 13points
5th Lowe/Dibben @3laps 13points

The sprinters were also back in action during the Sunday afternoon entertainment. It had been a tough first three days for the sprint riders and they came into the track centre looking like they had a few hard days under the belts. By the time racing came around though they had perked up a little bit and were ready to take on their German counterparts once again! Over the past few days a fair bit of banter had built up around the guys and they are having lots of fun.

The sprint qualifying was first and as the riders rode their warm up laps the spotlight focused on each rider whilst Zorba the Greek and We Will Rock You played on the PA. Over the past few days the German crowd has warmed to our Sprint academy riders and they are getting a many cheers as the Germans. Max Niederlag was the winner of the sprint qualifying whilst John Paul was second with Sebastian Dohrer in 3rd place.

1st Max Niederlag (GER) 9.407
2nd John Paul (GBR) 9.487
3rd Sebastian Dohrer (GER) 9.505
4th Kian Emadi (GBR) 9.527
5th Lewis Oliva (GBR) 9.576
6th Philipp Thiele (GER) 9.772

The sprint ride off for 4th – 6th place was won by Lewis Oliva from Philipp Thiele and Kian Emadi. In the sprint final it was looking like it was going to be between the two Germans, Niederlag and Dohrer to battle it out for the win with John Paul unable to come off the black line until a flick from Niederlag on Dohrer saw Dohrer swing up towards the fence, John Paul saw his opportunity and came around Niederlag on the short home straight to take the victory is some style.

It was a German 1 – 2 in the Keirin after a lot of barging and headbutting went on in the opening stages that on a world cup scene would have certainly been penalized by the officials. However they were happy to turn a blind eye on this occasion and the battle commenced with the German riders not holding back on each other, once the motorbike pulled off it was a drag race to the finish from Niederlag and Thiele with Thiele managing to take the victory, Lewis Oliva was making a charge around the outside until Sebastian Dohrer’s bike broke and Lewis’ charge was held up, he managed to salvage 3rd however.

The team sprint was reduced to a 2 lap affair as Dohrer was unable to compete as his bottom bracket had completely detached from the frame. This left Lewis Oliva and John Paul to face the two German riders Max Niederlag and Philipp Thiele, as the two teams lined up ready to go they were joined in the man 1 position on the cote d’azur as the black line was already occupied by six day riders Marcel Barth for the Germans and taking out temporary British nationality Ralf Matzka. The sprinters were all very impressed at the speed the six day riders started and it was a tight contest throughout with the Germans taking it by 2 tenths of a second.

Germany: 33.730
Great Britain: 33.986

The overall after four days of competition is:

1st Philipp Thiele 47 points
2nd Sebastian Dohrer 50 points
3rd Max Niederlag 53 points
4th John Paul 59 points
5th Lewis Oliva 60 points
6th Kian Emadi 61 points