After Finland I was keen to improve on my recent poor performances. For the second time this year I stayed out between events. I had saved some days holidays by flying home between France and Italy. The weather leading up to Sweden was a mixed bag. There was heavy rain followed by sunshine and a drying wind.
There were 4 tests, two of which were fast and flowing and suited me. I crashed heavily off a jump on the opening test. I tweaked my ribs, shoulder and neck and thought i was in for a bad weekend but my next test time wasn't far off the pace. Euan Syme was present with a notebook and test times throughout the day so I knew I was running top ten. All my tests went well and with support from Mike Carter and Darryl Peach my day was improving. I should also thank Fordy from Surfing Life and Tony Dinham for their trackside cheering. They have been at few WEC's this year and their support is very welcome.
After a few good tests I was on a high and the times were getting better. I was lying 6th going into the last lap with Freddy Blanc only a few seconds back. My highest position was previously 7th so I really wanted to finish 6th. Freddy took time out of me on the shorter tests but on the long fast ones I took time back to beat him by a few seconds and claim my first 6th in class and my first top 20 overall with 18th. On the second day I never got going like on the first as I suffered a high speed crash on the going after hitting a tree stump. I hurt my neck again but rode on for 10th in class and 23rd overall which I wasn't unhappy with. And I beat Paul Edmondson both days which I was very happy with! Infact after over 70mins of tests on Saturday I was only 20 odd seconds behind Knighter.
I finished 10th in the 250cc two-stroke class. Only one position better than last year but this year I scored points every day, finished with nearly twice the points of last year and finished as highest placed privateer.