Yellow peril as gate four costs Adams in Danish GP (From Swindon Advertiser)

Yellow peril as gate four costs Adams in Danish GP

8:59am Monday 16th June 2008 in Sport By Gareth Moorhouse

LEIGH Adams admits he must make more of the "bad gates" in future if he wants to sustain his championship challenge after another sub-par performance on the Grand Prix circuit in Denmark.

The Robins captain failed to capitalise on a promising start, which saw him grab an early heat victory over eventual winner Tomasz Gollob, as he crashed out in the semi-finals for the second consecutive meeting.

Adams was left to rue his misfortune from the unfancied gate four, as three times he skidded home in fourth place, the last spelling an end to his night's work at the Parken Stadium.

With the next round of the Grand Prix series just a fortnight away, Adams insists he must work harder to score points in the yellow helmet.

"The gate draws are not working my way at the moment," said the Australian after collecting just eight points.

"I should be making something of the bad gates, but I'm not and it's putting me in a bad position.

"When you make the semi-finals in last place you always get the worst gate and it makes it very hard.

"It's just disappointing really. I felt as though I was on the pace and felt pretty confident but it just did not happen for me."

The night began well for Adams as he followed his victory in three with a second place in heat seven, Dane Kenneth Bjerre pipping him to the chequered flag.

But all his good early work was undone in heats nine and 14, as Adams failed to make any impression from the outside gate, limping home last in both.

A second heat win of the night in 20 ensured another semi-final spot for the world number two, but again gate four proved his nemesis as Adams' night ended prematurely.

"Don't get me wrong, I felt good and I thought we had the equipment to do the job," admitted Adams afterwards.

"I started with a win and a second place and things were going to plan.

"When you look through the stats for the top five you see they all had gate blue twice and they made their most of the opportunity to score good points.

"But even from the bad gates they still managed to score points, and that's what I failed to do."

While Adams was left licking his wounds, his championship rivals were battling it out for a podium finish in front of 29,000 screaming supporters.

Defending champion Nicki Pedersen extended his lead at the top of the standings to 11 points, but the night belonged to Gollob, who became the first rider to claim two Grand Prix wins this season following his triumph in Slovenia.

The Polish star looked every inch a future world champion as the Danish fans were treated to some of the most exciting racing of the season to date.

The next round of the series is the British Grand Prix, which takes place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday, June 28.