HThe supermoto season started on Easter Day at the Midland circuit in Lelystad, the Netherlands. Thanks to the collaboration between BMB and KNMV, the first race of the Belgian Supermoto Cup was held on this beautiful circuit. No fewer than 36 SM Open licensees offered themselves for this first race. And 8 prestiges registered for the ONK race. Still a success on the Belgian side, because most pilots had to travel several hundred kilometers!
On Saturday there was plenty of training during free practice sessions, just a matter of making the final adjustments to the machine and pilot. The start of the first series was a bit chaotic due to a different starting procedure than in Belgium, but once the start there was a lot of hard work on this very fast circuit. The first BSC round was a two-man battle between Come Geenen and Michaël Lacroix. Both pilots continued to ride each other's wheels throughout the entire heat, Geenen won with a lead of 1-tenth of a second! Third place for Franc Chriss, already at 40 seconds.
The second round was again a battle between the same pilots. Due to an early flagging of the match after a very hard hit by Jason Horward against a concrete wall, Michaël Lacroix became the winner this time for Come Geenen. Sylvain Joly finished third and these 3 pilots received a beautiful trophy for their final ranking. Surprise at the prestiges. Marc Fraikin, multiple Belgian champion, had hung up his helmet after the sponsor Luckey team stopped. But he still adds another year. During the first series of ONK, Fraikin led the way for a long time, but due to a lack of competition rhythm, he had to let Devon Vermeulen in front at the end of the race with a difference of 0,8 seconds. Maik Voorwinden, reigning Dutch champion, finished third.
With Sebastien Soyeurt, Thomas Decaigny and Jean-Marc Gaillard, 3 more Belgians finished in the top 10. The second series of ONK was canceled, partly due to lack of time due to Jason's unfortunate accident, but also because the organization had to end at 18 p.m. order of local authorities. The next BSC appointment is on April 29 in Zelhem, but first there is the first BK competition in Chimay on April 22, 2012.
Text: Leslie Beys
Photo: Devonvermeulen.com
