April 21st. 2026.


Cloud cover and a slight chill in the air made for cooler conditions at Castelnau de Lévis, France, last weekend, for the first round of the newly-formed FIM World Quadcross Championship.

Race 1:
The pressure was on. A great start could make or break the race, and no one knew that better than Kevin Saar who got a flyer, claiming the holeshot and leading the pack through the woops. The same, unfortunately, could not be said for Harry Walker or Patrick Turrini, who found themselves outside the top 10 positions on the opening lap. Mark McLernon, who had spoken about top 7 being the goal, slotted into second place ahead of Dafydd Davies for a British 2-3 at the end of lap one.

Saar never left the 1:53 bracket, stretching his leading margin over McLernon with every passing lap. In the meantime, both Walker and Turrini set about climbing further up the ranks, with Walker making a pass in every lap in the early stages, and Turrini claiming an impressive four positions in one lap! A highly impressive performance, especially given the narrow nature of this circuit. McLernon fell into the clutches of Manfred Zienecker and Sylvain Petit, leaving McLernon left chasing in fourth.

In the closing stages Saar was maintaining his advantage at 10 seconds ahead of Zienecker, whilst Sylvain Petit dropped down the order and out of a podium position. This benefitted Turrini, who went on to claim third spot on the podium.

Race 1 results:
1. Kevin Saar, 2. Manfred Zienecker, 3. Patrick Turrini, 4. Mark McLernon, 5. Harry Walker.




Race 2:
Turrini took to the front as Saar and Walker were left playing catch-up. Zienecker had also made a great start and was doing his best to keep tabs on Turrini, but was soon under pressure from Saar, who found his way past Petit and McLernon in the opening couple of laps. Despite being the quickest man on circuit, Walker could not do much from fifth position as he had lost valuable time at the start.

As expected, nobody was hitting the big step-up in the opening couple of laps, but by the time lap three came around, it was clear to see that Turrini, Zienecker and Saar were becoming more accustomed to the track conditions.

A brilliant five-way tussle was developing mid-pack as Jordi Niclas Gieler was defending seventh position from Matteo Stiller, Theo Gourmaud, Jiri Kasper and Karlis Neija.

Saar made his presence felt and, more importantly, his move stick against Zienecker, by which point Turrini was a few seconds ahead.

In the final lap, backmarkers were coming into play, but the blue flags did their job, and the leaders were able to blast through. Turrini held his position ahead of Saar and claimed a start to finish victory with a slender margin +0.401.




Race 2 results
1. Patrick Turrini, 2. Kevin Saar, 3. Manfred Zienecker, 4. Harry Walker, 5. Mark McLernon.

Overall Round 1 results:
1. Kevin Saar, 47, 2. Patrick Turrini, 45, 3. Manfred Zienecker, 42, 4. Harry Walker, 34, 5. Mark McLernon, 34.

9. Dafydd Davies, 25, 17. Oli Sansom, 5, 19. Ayrton Knowles, 4, 21. Louie Holt, 3.

Kevin Saar takes the red-plate to round 2 of the World Championship, as the paddock heads east in a fortnight’s time to Kramolin, Czech Republic, over the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of May.

Thanks to Bradley Hix (words). FIM World QuadX Championship (images).

Pictured:
1. Start of the inaugural FIM World Quadcross Championship.
2. Harry Walker.
3. Mark McLernon.