After a delay of over an hour, the 6th round of the PATA European Junior Cup eventually got underway and lived up to expectation by providing yet another thrilling climax to a race that nobody could predict the winner as the race entered its final lap.
Pole setter Jake Lewis was in confident mood and led at the end of lap one from Italian Kevin Manfredi.
Michael Canducci from Italy crashed on lap 2 leaving a breakaway of five riders at the front.
Lewis continued to lead while behind him positions were changing at almost every turn.
Guillaume Raymond (France) showed his hand at the start of lap four but Lewis responded instantly. Agusto Fernandez (Spain) then hit the front but again Lewis reacted and reclaimed the lead half way around the lap.
With one lap to go the leading group was now 9 riders all covered by less than half a second.
Fernandez and Hungarian Richard Bodis crashed out at turn one leaving 7 to battle for the podium.
As the gaggle reached the final straight they were line astern with nobody seemingly wanting to lead and as the riders entered the final corner it was Bo Bendsneijder (Netherlands), who was making his second wildcard appearance in the series who took the lead, holding a slender advantage to claim his 2nd win of the year.
Kevin Manfredi held on to second while Robin Anne (France) took his chance on the run into the line to grab the final podium spot.
4th was Britain’s Josh Harland who produced his best ride of the year, marginally ahead of compatriot James Flitcroft in 5th.
Championship leader Lewis had to be content with 6th after being pushed wide on the run in to the flag, the Kiwi holding on to his championship lead albeit by a reduced margin.
7th eventually went to Spaniard Javier Orellana who rode superbly from the back of the grid. 8th was Adrian Pittet (Switzerland) who got the better of Estonian Hannes Soomer and Stinius Odegard (Norway) who grabbed his first top ten finish of the season.
Local rider Marcel Schultheiss was an impressive 12th as Guillaume Raymond picked up a 20 second penalty and was eventually classified 13th.
Sabrina Paiuta from Brazil rode her CBR 500cc Honda machine into 16th position.
Magny-Cours in France will be the setting for the penultimate round of the PATA European Junior Cup powered by Honda in 5 weeks time.
