Bertram Allen’s Valkenswaad United picked up a tidy €1,371,520 in Prague on Sunday afternoon although only finishing second in the inaugural €6.4 million Global Champions Super Cup final.
Twelve teams competed in the quarter- and semi-finals on Thursday and Friday in the capital of the Czech Republic with the Paris Panthers, who featured Offaly native Darragh Kenny in their three- rider line-up, winning the opening session while Madrid In Motion proved unbeatable on Friday.
Six teams contested Sunday’s final in the O2 Arena but two failed to progress to the second round. Jumping in reverse order of merit in round two, the Scandinavian Vikings remained in fourth place when their three riders jumped clear but picked up a time fault apiece which were added to their first-round total of 24.
The Paris Panthers went into the second round eight faults clear of the Vikings but were fortunate to stay in that position as they amassed 10 faults in round two for a total of 26.
Both Valkenswaard United and Madrid In Motion were on eight faults after round one and while they had the faster combined times, the former went first in round two. Wexford native Allen recorded a second clear with his new ride Harley vd Bisschop but, most unusually, Germany's Marcus Ehning had a pole down with Comme Il Faut while Italy's Alberto Zorzi had a fence down and picked up a time fault on Contanga 3 for a two-round total of 17.
As with the first team to jump, the Madrid In Motion trio of Marc Houtzager (Sterrehof's Calimero) and Maikel van der Vleuten (Verdi TN) from The Netherlands and Spain's Eduardo Alvarez Aznar (Rokfeller de Pleville Bois Margo) narrowly failed to make the time but left all the fences intact to claim the first place prize-money of €2,743,040 on 11 faults.
GLOBAL CHAMPIONS SUPER CUP FINAL 1 Madrid In Motion 8/3 = 11, 200.04; 2 Valkenswaard United (Germany’s Comme Il Faut (Marcus Ehning) 0/4, 64, Ireland’s Harley vd Bisschop (Bertram Allen) 0/0, 62.71 and Italy’s Contanga 3 (Alberto Zorzi) 4, 71.59) 8/9 = 17, 193.49; 3 Paris Panthers (Brazil’s Ibelle Ask (Yuri Mansur) 4/1, 67.63, Belgium’s MJT Nevados S (Gregory Wathelet) 8/4, 62.95 and Ireland’s Balou du Reventon (Darragh Kenny) 4/5,66.94) 16/10 = 26, 197.52; 4, Scandinavian Vikings 24/3 = 27, 194.66; 6 teams started.
