Joël Roelants' new column is here!
Hello friends! It's been a shamefully long time since I've had anything to say about me. My sincere apologies to anyone who missed me. BLame it on the sunshine, blame it on the moonlight, for all I care on the boogie. Or if you really want to know the truth: blame it on those lazy people from MXM. They were probably sitting there all day long again MX Vs. Playing ATV instead of posting my column on the site!
Anyway, I don't have much time for playing at the moment. The awkward first weeks at the start of the season are already behind us so we can gradually prepare for the first GP. I must say that I am certainly not dissatisfied with the first matches. My speed is better than the results suggest, but the feeling on the bike is also okay. We are not going to pull old cows from the ditch here - there is trained staff for that - with full race reports, but it is still useful to quickly go over the races so far. Okay? Here we go. Lommel: in general quite good, despite the holiday on ice circumstances. Only the second series was less due to too many cases. Valence: or the stuttering starting gate! In the first series my fence remained standing and I had to leave as the very last. Still, I finished tenth and I caught a number of fast riders such as Van Horebeek. Not that bad and with that place on the baar there was definitely something wrong. Later I saw that Gregory Aranda and Nicolas Aubin also had the same problem! Bad start in series two, but rode smoothly to seventh place. Dennis (Verbruggen) did well in France and had good starts, so it is certainly not the engine's fault. In terms of the engine, I am very confident. We tested with the Negaan-JM Racing Team in Italy and were able to work well there to fine-tune the setup.
Last year I started too late and I definitely want to avoid that this year. On the other hand, achieving top results in the spring competitions or peaks is of no use. I just want to do my own thing, make sure I can stay injury-free and that I am completely there from the second or third GP. There are a few cool crosses on the program for Bulgaria. On March 7 I will ride the Hawkstone Park International in England. A real old school This is a track with a sandy surface and yet level differences. A strange combination, but I enjoy driving it. The start is also special in Hawkstone, because you have to start from concrete. Dju! I forgot to practice that in America because they start on concrete more often there...
Because my last column was just before my second training internship in the States, I would like to say a few things about it. I went there with Ken De Dycker, so the atmosphere was of course excellent. Ken already said in his column that you miss the really tough physical courses in California. I have to agree with him on that, but on the other hand you do have perfect conditions to complete your physical training. So that compensates and I was able to ride a lot. We also have something in between sporty sightseeing done.
Ken had arranged tickets for a home game of the LA Lakers through an acquaintance. And who had prepared those tickets for “JR” and Keeno? None other than Didier DJ Mbenga himself, our Belgian basketball star with the Lakers. After the match we of course went to say hello to Didier. That Lakers match was very cool to follow, but the absolute highlight was the first Supercross of the season in Anaheim.
Just to stand in that stadium among all those people was unbelievable. It gave me goosebumps. Everywhere was packed, about 70.000 people cheering and hollering. Formidable! And of course there was also spectacle on the circuit. Even early in the day because we also saw the qualifications. 80 drivers are allowed to participate in the qualifications and then you see quite a few things, I must say. To avoid the risks for the top riders, the lesser gods or those who have virtually no chance are dropped in a separate series so that they do not get in the way during the timed training. You do something with that. Men who really want to jump a triple, but are hopelessly short, riders who dance rodeo on the washboard. The falls were innumerable, although that also has to do with the number of riders they allow to participate in the qualifications. In the GPs there are also (wildcard) pilots who do not belong there. Of the Europeans in Supercross, I thought Aranda performed well while Searle came across as fairly cautious. Not really special actually. Paulin did drive fast, he certainly had the speed of the fast men, but he also drove as crazy as a back door and was badly beaten a few times! I think Gauthier wanted to prove himself a bit too much. When I saw that Supercross, I really started to itch to participate in it…
The week after Hawkstone I drove back close to home because then the ONK starts in Mill on March 14. As you know, I will be defending my MX2 title in the Netherlands this year and these are always races that I enjoy attending. Mill is already a bit special, the track is really tough and the many small mountains also make it difficult. Which makes it fun of course! We are still looking at doing a race of the French championship in between, which would certainly be good training in view of the GP of Bulgaria. However, that has not yet been determined. The week before Sevlievo is already the second ONK in Halle, March 28. It's a bit of a shame to have to eat sand at that moment, but that's the way it is. And by switching the Italian GP to first Mantova and then Fermo, there will still be sand on our plate for the second GP. It doesn't really matter to me, you have to drive fast everywhere with full enthusiasm, otherwise nothing will ever happen!
Voila, enough writing for now. Time for an endurance run, I thought.
See you later,
Joël 'JR' Roelants
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