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David Coates Wins the Red Bull SteepleX as TM Sweep the Stakes

June 21st 2010 Buttevent, Cork, Ireland, the inaugural Red Bull Steeple X from Buttevent Ireland took place this past weekend June 19/20th. A new concept in off-road motorcycling, combining horsepower with History, kicked off at Buttevent Castle in Cork, Ireland.

This age old sport of steeple chasing is taking a jump into modern day racing. Swapping hooves for wheels and horses for motorbikes, Red Bull certainly delivered and brought Steeplechasing into the 21st century.

What is Steeplechase?

Steeplechase began as the result of a wager in 1752 between Mr. Cornelius O'Callaghan and Mr. Edmund Blake. They decided to race on horseback from one church steeple to another. The race took place over four miles (6 km) cross-country from Buttevant Church to St. Leger Church in Doneraile, County Cork - and Red Bull SteepleX will take place across the same terrain

The modern event consisted of a short 3 kilometres looped course around Buttevent castle.With a series of grass track sections, lots of Enduro/woodland sections and live action arena for the public to see the final jumps/layout. All 110 riders had to qualify through a heat system where the top 26 riders were picked to do the official steeple chase on Sunday which consisted of re-enacting the famous steeplechase, which would end with 3 laps of the short cross country loop with the winning driver taking the Steeple Cross win . Top level Motocross riders were faced off against the top Enduro riders from the Irish Enduro Championship.

Day 1 - Saturday

Day 1 consisted of warm ups and the first of 3 heats per group. All 110 registered riders were split into four groups. Each group would do battle until a top 15 had been established. These 15 riders would then go through to the weekends semi-finals on Sunday

Raymond Casey from Cork took the lead early on in his group with numerous heat wins and clocking some of the fastest times on the short circuit. Jim O’Neil and Tsar Sheane took home their group wins to ensure their path through to the semi finals.

Top Irish/Southern centre rider Brian O’Connell returned to racing in 2010 at Buttevent with a strong showing with 2 heat wins and holding back David Coates in some very tight racing. The two rivals from former years exchanging paint the whole way around the circuit.

Day 2 - Sunday

Sunday kicked off with a series of Heats followed by the Semi Finals and of course the grand final. The Final heat Races where packed with action with Jim O’Neil, Raymond Casey and Brian O’Connell and taking wins again. With such great weather came great crowds and nearly 3000 spectators over the course of the day packed into Buttevent Castle to see what all the noise was about in Red Bulls first ever Steeple Cross. Fans were treated to Red Bulls resident DJ’s keeping the paddock entertained while the Red Bull ‘Wings’ Girls kept everyone energised with drinks.

Semi-Final 1

The first semi- final kicked off with Raymond Casey from cork, on his Honda CRF 250, taking the hole shot. Casey led from Andrew Reeves on his VMX KTM EXC 300, for the Semi final run .Both riders pushed the limit of their speed and Casey came home with the win with a 10 second lead over Reeves. Robert Lynn, Seamus Hayes and Tsar Sheane followed close behind.

Andrew Reeves was only just back from Austria where the he was one of the top 20 finishers in the world at the 2010 Red Bull Hare Scramble/Erzberg Race. Reeves was hungry for the Steeple cross win and would be looking to go one better in the Final.

Semi-Final 2

David Coates took the holeshot with O’Connell close behind. Raymond Tolan chased close behind as well as Andréa Bassi from Italy on his TM 125.On the second lap around O’Connell got by and chased hard all the way to the flag opening a substantial lead by the end of his race showing why he was one of the pre-race favourites.

In the support race, Philip Powderly took the win easily. After a misfortunate crash in his heats meaning him missing out on the main final, Powderly easily took the win showing that he could have been a major force to be reckoned with in the final.

Update

TM's David Coates has won the inaugural Red Bull SteepleX held at Buttevant Castle, Cork, Ireland on Sunday June 20th. Home of the world's first ever Steeple Chase held some 340 years ago, Red Bull reinvented the sport but this time replaced horses with horse power. Replicating the original format of Steeple Chase racing saw riders race 7km point to point cross-country between the two villages of Doneraile and Buttevant before arriving in the castle grounds of Buttevant to complete three laps of the hare and hound loop in front of hoards of spectators.

Under glorious sunshine, it was Coates on his CCM Racing TM who grabbed the initial holeshot to lead the charge of riders out of the first corner, chased by the Red Bull helicopter in the skies overhead. Momentarily loosing the lead as the riders leapt out through the ruins of an abandoned cottage, Coates once again took over the reins and led the pack as they started the first of three laps around the woodland of Buttevant Castle. With local favourite Brian O'Connell hot on his tail, the duo battled bar to bar out across chase fences, river crossings and woodland tracks. With a lap to run, it was O'Connell that cracked under the pressure and handed the lead over to Coates who held his nerve to take victory in the first ever running of the Red Bull Steeple Chase.

David Coates: "The race went really well for me to be honest. My start was perfect and I held the lead early on before getting passed coming up to the jump through the cottage but luckily I managed to get it back again coming into the castle grounds. I got stuck slightly coming out of the first river crossing and that let Brian get passed as we jumped out through the chase fence. We stuck together for the next lap and when he made a mistake on the hill climb that was enough to let me through for the win. It's been a brilliant race with the most exciting part of it racing flat-out from the country into the castle grounds with the helicopter chasing us overhead. I'm delighted to have won!"

Red Bull SteepleX 2010: 1. David Coates (TM); 2. Paul McLoughlin; 3. Jim O'Neill