Sunday 10th June 2012, 10:25

British star Chris Harris reached his first SGP final of 2012 in Copenhagen on Saturday, but that was of little comfort to the Cornishman as he missed out on the medals.

Bomber didn’t make the best of starts from gate three and trailed home behind Jason Crump, Freddie Lindgren and Greg Hancock in the FIM Dansk Metal Danish SGP decider.

Harris’ fourth place was a massive step forward given that he had not even reached a semi-final and had just one SGP race win to his name this term prior to the PARKEN Stadium showpiece.

The 2007 FIM British Grand Prix winner climbed two places in the standings to 13^th and has 27 points – putting him 19 adrift of the top-eight automatic qualification berths for 2013.

Harris knows he just needed to score in the final to move up to 11^th and was dejected to end the meeting without a medal.

He said: “I’m pleased to make some progress, but I’m very disappointed to get to the final and finish last. It’s a bit gutting really. Gate three was rubbish all night – I didn’t have a hope of getting out of there.

“I’ve moved a bit, but the guys ahead of me haven’t dropped enough points. We’re moving in the right direction. It’s pleasing to get to the final, but disappointing to run a last when I got there.”

Harris admits he had to change bikes after crashing in the first run of his semi-final, when Emil Sayfutdinov fell under pressure from Bjarne Pedersen. The Russian took the Coventry star down with him.

For the first time this season, it was clear Bomber was happy with his setup. But he said: “The track went quite slick at the end and after my crash, I had to change bikes.

“The one I went on to was probably a bit too strong really. The changes we made for the final didn’t really work – the bike was still too strong.”

Reaching the final was a great way for Harris to answer the critics who have questioned his ability to mix it in the SGP series, but the man himself has never had any doubts.

Harris, who returns to Grand Prix action at Polish track Gorzow on June 23, said: “I know I’m good enough to be here and everyone else knows I’m good enough.

“We’ll take this result into Gorzow. We’re still fighting and still going. This was a good meeting, but we’ll move on to the next one now.”

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