IJsbrand Chardon finished his outdoor season by winning his fourth individual World title in Beesd and started his indoor season again with a perfect win. Chardon won the first leg of the FEI World Cup™ Driving season 2008/2009 in Hannover, ahead of Hungary’s Jozsef Dobrovitz and Koos de Ronde from the Netherlands.
With title defender Christoph Sandmann (Germany), Jozsef Dobrovitz (Hungary), Boyd Exell (Australia), Tomas Eriksson (Sweden) and Chardon and De Ronde from the Netherlands, the drivers considered the competition in Hannover as the competion with the strongest field of competitors.
The German Classics in Hannover hosted the first competition of the season and attracted many enthusiastic spectators. Sponsor and organiser Paul Schockemöhle complimented Ijsbrand Chardon afterwards with his win and the fantastic show he and his fellow competitors put on for the nearly sold out hall: “We lost our Michael Freund for the sport, but we received IJsbrand Chardon in return!”
Chardon drove an impeccable, clear and fast first round and secured his leading position by repeating this in the second round. Chardon stayed 12 seconds ahead of Jozsef Dobrovitz, who had one ball down. Dobrovitz used three Lipizzan horses of the team, with which Ijsbrand Chardon won the try out World Cup competition in Budapest last year. Furthermore, Dobrovitz drove with Chardon’s old marathon carriage and he is determined to stay on Chardon’s tail in the next competitions. Koos de Ronde also used a different carriage. The golden team member of Beesd used his old marathon carriage again. He lost faith in his new one after he tipped up twice during the outdoor season. De Ronde left the arena with 15 penalty seconds behind his name but was nevertheless pleased with his third place.
Title defender and wild card driver Christoph Sandmann was first to go today and came less than a second short to qualify for the winning round. Sandmann uses his outdoor horses and knows that his team has to get used to the indoor atmosphere again. The silver team medallist of Beesd came fourth today. Boyd Exell knocked two balls down and came fifth in the Hannover Messe. Tomas Eriksson was slightly disappointed with his sixth place. His left leader horse did not cooperate at all and although Eriksson used the same team of horses when he won the World Cup competition in Mechelen 2007, he will most probably change his team for his next start.
Quotes:
Ijsbrand Chardon (Ned):
“One of my best indoor horses was injured two weeks ago and I was forced to use a different horse. The 6-year-old mare Thalita was a little impressed the first day by the atmosphere in the hall and the music, but did a superb job today. I was a bit doubtful whether she would perform again so well after my first fast clear round, but she didn’t let me down and I was surprised that she made it to this level so quickly.”
Jozsef Dobrovitz (Hun):
“I normally use Dutch warm blood horses during the outdoor season, but for the indoors I use Lipizzan horses. They are very fast and can turn very quickly.”
Koos de Ronde (Ned)
“I was pleased that I managed to qualify for the winning round. I drove two very fast rounds, but unfortunately, I had too many knockdowns. I chose to save my outdoor team and to use my indoor team with which I also competed last season. I know that with this team I can make it to the Top Three. They need a bit touching up, but I noticed they get better every time.”
Results CAI-W Hannover
1. IJsbrand Chardon (Ned) 238,76
2. Jozsef Dobrovitz (Hun) 250,42
3. Koos de Ronde (Ned) 255,71
4. Christoph Sandmann (Ger) 130,75
5. Boyd Exell (Aus) 132,14
6. Tomas Eriksson (Swe) 134,29
Classification after 1 of 7 events
1. IJsbrand Chardon (Ned)
2. Jozsef Dobrovitz (Hun)
3. Koos de Ronde (Ned)
4. Boyd Exell (Aus)
5. Tomas Eriksson (Swe)