Mefo Round 1

Michelle Disalvo mixes it with the dutchies in Blijham!
Stichting Baansport Blijham hosted the first round of the International Mefo Sport Flattrack Cup 2011 on their short track, where a good crowd was treated to plenty fierce battles between the cup regulars and the local experts.
Former European Short Track Champion Sytze Hilleger was fast from the get go while American Flat Track star Michelle Disalvo needed a couple of heats to get used to the dirt track again after she had been supermoto and road racing the last years. German number one Stefan Gatzenmeier was challenging hard, and leading a heat when he went down hard over one of the bumps. It was another Dutch grass track ace Johan Berndt who took advantage of the inline restart winning the heat.
The grand final saw Hilleger, Disalvo and Berndt on the front row, joined by cup regular Mick Jansen.
Hilleger and Disalvo were battling for the lead throughout the final, constantly being challenged by Berndt, but Hilleger held on and brought home his first flat track win in a lot of years, making him grin from ear to ear throughout the ceremony! Gatzenmeier had to start from the third row with a sore right wrist. He progressed through the field to battle it with the Jansen brothers, and moved momentarily into 4th position, but the 15 lap final proved to painful on his wrist and he had to settle for 5th, still scoring valuable championship points. New comer Stefan Claussen jumped into the deep end with his beautiful homemade hybrid, consisting of a modern yamaha motor in a modified 70s KTM enduro frame. He showed strong performances and we hope to see more of him in the next races.
Round 1, Blijham (NL), Expert results:
1. #2 Sytze Hilleger, Ferwert(NL), KTM
2. #97 Michelle Disalvo, Modesto (USA), Suzuki
3. #4 Johan Berndt, Stadskanaal(NL), Gebben Honda
4. #15 Jan-Willem Jansen, Adetswil(CH), Harley-Davidson
5. #70 Stefan Gatzenmeier, Ruhpolding(D), KTM
6. #16 Mick Jansen, Utrecht(NL), Harley-Davidson
7. #40 Leroy v.d. Weerd, Wolvega(NL), Dutch-Brothers KTM
8. #19 Arjan deJong, Steggerda(NL), Suzuki
9. #65 Stefan Claussen, Westerstede(D), Claussen-Yamaha
10. #27 Tom van Nes, Adliswil(CH), Dutch-Brothers Rotax
Next up, round 2 in Homberg (Ohm) 5 June 2011!