Europa Cup 4 Man Race

The final Europa Cup 4 man bobsleigh race prior to the Christmas Break was held in Cesana Pariol on Sun 17 December 2006 and it proved to be an excellent finish to the first half of the season for the British team. The British team entered 4 sleds in the 4 man race and 2 of these achieved a top 10 finish. Corporal Neil Scarisbrick and his GB2 crew of Matthew Roberts, Glen Kerr and Richard Sharman finished in 8th position following 2 consistent runs down the track. In the first run they had a staert time of 4.95 seconds, which was the 7th fastest start in the first run. Neil had a good run down the track however he lost a little bit of time towards the bottom of the track and he finished the first run in 8th place. In the second run the crew had a slower start time of 4.98 seconds (11th fastest in the second run) but Neil had a strong run down the track and he gained time, finishing in 56.86 seconds. This was the 8th fastest time of the second run therefore giving him a combined finish time of 1 minute 53.63 seconds and a final placing of 8th position. This was an excellent result for Neil and his crew.

The GB1 sled piloted by Royal Marine Lee Johnston and crewed by Allan Condon, Steve Smith and Dan Money had a start of 4.98 seconds in the first heat (11th fastest start) and Lee had an excellent drive down the track, making up plenty of time and finishing the first run in 56.60 seconds. This placed him in 3rd place after the first run. The crew managed a faster start in the second heat of 4.96 seconds which was the 8th fastest start but Lee did not have a particularly good drive in this heat. He finished the run in 57.02 seconds. This was only the 12th fastest run of the second heat thereby pushing his final placing back to 9th with a combined time of 1 minute 53.72 seconds. This was 0.09 seconds behind the GB2 sled. However, two top 10 finishes for the British Team should be commended.

The GB3 sled piloted by Marine Martin Wright with his crew of Ryan Freckleton, John Jackson and Deen Lamin had a first heat start time of 4.97 seconds (9th fastest start) and Martin had a very strong drive down the track finishing the first run in 56.78 seconds. This was good enough to place him in 6th place after the first heat. In the second heat, they matched their first run start time but Martin did not have a fast drive down the track. He finished in 57.08 seconds which was the 14th fastest time of the second heat. This meant that the GB3 sled dropped out of the top 10 and finished in 12th place with an overall time of 1 minute 53.86 seconds. However this was only 0.75 seconds behind the winning Switzerland I sled. A total of 24 sleds started the race but only 22 finished.

The British team now take a well deserved Christmas break before resuming the Season in January 2007.