STUNNING DEBUT FOR DAVEY TODD AT HENGELO

The International Road Racing Championship got underway and saw the Wepol Road Racing Penz13.com team continue their preparations.

Riding a BMW S1000RR, Todd, who won both the Newcomers Trophy and RST Stars of Tomorrow award on a sensational TT debut twelve months ago, was making his first appearance at the 4.8km Varsselring circuit and, just like all other previous road courses he’s visited, he was immediately on the pace.

The 23-year old qualified in second place behind German rider and Macau Grand Prix regular Didier Grams, but left his rivals trailing in his wake in Saturday’s nine-lap race with an eventual winning margin of 7.5s. Sunday’s second encounter followed a similar pattern as Todd grabbed the lead early on and gradually pulled away to win on this occasion from Grams by 2.2s.

Todd and team mate Mathison, who both have personal best lap times at an average speed of over 128mph at the TT, now head to the North West 200 for their final run out ahead of the TT.

Todd’s best finish last year was ninth in the Senior, where he became the second fastest newcomer in TT history with a best lap of 128.379mph. Mathison finished 13th in the same race, repeating his result of 2017, and both will be looking to climb even further up the leaderboard in two weeks’ time.

Regular Isle of Man TT Races competitor Frank Gallagher was also in action at Hengelo where, riding for the Performance Racing Achterhoek team, he claimed solid 13th and 16th place finishes.

German rider David Datzer, who is set to make his Isle of Man TT debut in the two Monster Energy Supersport Races, finished 4th and 11th in the two 600cc races at Hengelo. Frenchman and TT regular Xavier Denis took 10th and 14th place finishes.

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