BMB celebrates its champions this weekend
With the start of the 2014 motorsport season in sight, the Belgian Motorcycle Riders' Association FMB/BMB will look back to 1 one more time on Saturday, February 2013, with the annual awards ceremony and champions' honoring. The motorsports association will also honor the laureates of the 'Golden Handlebar' and the 'Price for the promising young person'. The association also awards the annual BMB environmental prize.
Golden Handlebar
The 2013 'Golden Handlebar' trophy has been awarded by the Board of Directors of the Belgian Motorcyclists' Association to Ben Adriaenssens, 2013 sidecar motocross world champion. The Golden Wheel – awarded for the first time in 2003 – goes to a driver or team with a BMB permit that has achieved a world championship and/or victories in Grand Prix. In 2013, Ben Adriaenssens was the only Belgian rider to win an individual world title. 25-year-old Ben Adriaenssens, who forms a team with Dutch baking artist Ben van den Bogaert, calls 'The Golden Steering Wheel' a reward for a fantastic year. “We became Belgian champions and world champions. That requires a lot of effort from us and the team. Then this prize is a nice appreciation for that work. We upheld Belgian honor and every time the national anthem was played for us, it was also an advertisement for Belgium.”
It is also a good thing for the sidecar sport to gain attention through its title and the Golden Handlebar. “We had to work hard for it, but we have been very consistent. We have won seven of the fourteen Grand Prix's and have only failed to finish on the podium once. We were 97 points ahead of number two in the final rankings.”
Ben Adraenssens also points out that both he and his passenger have to work full-time to finance the sport and calls sidecar cross a hobby that has gotten out of hand. “I work from eight to five every day and then I also have to do my training afterwards. This is not easy, especially during the season with sometimes long journeys. But if things are going well and you are performing, then you are happy to do so. And everything runs on its own budgets. There is no sponsorship from large companies. The sponsors we have are companies with a heart for sidecar sport.”
Promising youngster
Damon Graulus (Belgian MX2 Champion 2013) will be laureate of the honorary title 'Promising Young Person 2013' during the champions' ceremony this Saturday. This prize is awarded by the Board of Directors of the FMB/BMB to a rider under the age of 21 for a major international achievement. Nineteen-year-old Graulus took third place in the European MX2 Championship last year. “I am very happy to win that award. This means that the year 2013 has been quite good for me. The objective was to finish in the top five or top three. In the first matches I thought there was more to it, but in the middle of the season I had a bad period due to circumstances. That made me lose the title fight, but I am still happy with that third place.”
Graulus was spared from injuries last year for the first time since 2009. The other years he had bad luck: fractures of his wrist and shoulder and once a dislocated shoulder. “2013 was indeed a year without injuries in which the pleasure in cycling grew again.” He also combined school and sports last season. “I graduated from high school (business management) last year. That's what I wanted and my parents wanted that too. That meant I wasn't always able to train. This year – 2014 – thanks to my parents, I can focus on motocross full-time.” This coming season he will also switch to the Grand Prix in the MX2 class.
Environmental Award
The FMB/BMB will also award the FMB/BMB environmental prize for the third time this Saturday. This year that honor goes to AMC Eau Noir Nismes “….for the great efforts it has made to respect the environment during the organization of the Motocross Sidecar World Championship on September 21 and 22. The club received high praise from both the FIM and FMB/BMB environmental delegates. In terms of the environment, the club scrupulously respected the FMB/BMB and FIM environmental regulations and is therefore a model organization for other clubs.”
The FMB/BMB has been committed for years to encouraging organizations, riders and the public to practice motorsport in an environmentally friendly manner. The motorsport association has drawn up recommendations as well as a checklist. Environmental efforts during competitions include special washing areas for engines, the ban on the use of detergents when washing engines, the provision of special containers for oil, oil filters, tires and other harmful substances, the obligation of an environmental mat to prevent oil, petrol and other liquids from seeping into the ground and to provide many waste bags around the circuits that the public can use (see also www.fmb-bmb.be/nl/content/miliever) .
100 years
2013 also marked 100 years of competitive sport under the auspices of the Belgian Motorcyclists' Association. The FMB/BMB was founded on December 7, 1912 and the affiliated clubs organized their first competitions in 1913.
Practical
The champions' ceremony of the FMB/BMB will take place this Saturday, February 1, in the Oosterhof Culture and Meeting Center, Dokter Vanderhoeydonckstraat 56 in Lummen, with free entrance from 15.30:XNUMX PM. In addition to the tribute to the Belgian world champion and the Belgian champions, there is the opportunity to view the motorcycles of Joris Van Dyck and Gwen Backx and the rally car of Gregoor Bouwens who successfully drove the past Africa Eco rally.
That same evening, the awards ceremony for the championships in the 'tourist' disciplines.
Text & photos Ad van Poppel
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