20 november 2009

Stuttgart: knock down prevents De Ronde from victory

Dutch driver Koos de Ronde was on his way to win the warming up competition of the FEI World Cup in Stuttgart, but one ‘wrong’ knock down prevented him from his victory. De Ronde knocked a ball down from an obstacle, which he had not taken yet after which the clock stopped, and the member of the golden team 2008 received extra penalty seconds. De Ronde came second anyhow, thanks to a perfect first round. Hannover winner Boyd Exell proofed to be strong again and drove his team magnificently without hesitation through the course and won the warming up competition.

Foto: Dirk Caremans

IJsbrand Chardon had to make a lot of effort to make his team go fast, but nevertheless came third with 20 seconds difference to Exell. Hungary’s Jozsef Dobrovitz drove his second competition of this season and came fourth, ahead of wild card driver Michael Brauchle and Theo Timmerman.
Timmerman is competing in his first World Cup event of this season and used the first round to drive his team faultless and controlled through the course. In the second round, Timmerman encountered the same situation as De Ronde, but it took some time before the judges rang the bell. Timmerman got out of concentration and knocked too many balls down to be able to end in a good placing.