Peter Charles comfortably earned his slot on the starting grid for today's World Cup qualifier by finishing sixth in the eliminator class with Traxdata Carnavelly at Olympia yesterday.
Charles is lying third in the western European league of the World Cup with 39 points and needs just a few more points to guarantee his place at the finals in Gothenburg, Sweden in April. His third place in Geneva last weekend, also with Carnavelly, boosted his points tally by 15 and he will be keen to add a few more this afternoon when he starts six from the end in the reverse order of merit draw.
The 10-year-old Carnavelly certainly looks ready for the job and is undoubtedly fresher than some of his rivals after missing 14 months work with a leg injury picked up in the field.
Charles was drawn 20th of the 34 starters in yesterday's speed class and his clear in 68.56 put him third at that stage, but by the finish he had dropped to sixth. He has no intention of being that far down the line this afternoon, however.
"There'll be no messing about, I'm going to try and win it. I don't go out to win every class. I target things and this is one of them. I want to get enough points before Christmas to qualify for Gothenburg and I reckon another five will do me."
Despite the transport delays at Calais on Wednesday, there was a good international spread at the sharp end, with former world champion Franke Sloothaak heading up affairs with Landdame. The German made it a double later, winning the speed class with Paramo K, with Charles third on Traxdata Mulligan.
Switzerland's Beat Mandli and the German pair Lars Nieberg and Helena Weinberg completed the top four, with Robert Smith one place ahead of Charles on Senator Mr Springfield. But there was no qualifying slot left for Cameron Hanley, whose single mistake with Ballaseyr Leonardo was enough to keep him down in 21st.
Hanley had better fortune in the Andersen Consulting Puissance, riding the talented Ballaseyr Olympic to third place, while Charles shared in a four-way divide for fourth. Rene Tebbel scored his 16th win over the big wall on the big jumping grey Renometto dividing the spoils with Norway's Geir Gulliksen and the 19-year old Alex H.
