Joel Roelants wins ONK in Harfsen
The typical sand track in Harfsen that partly winds around trees was today the setting for the fourth round of the 'Open Dutch Championship'. We saw many dominant performances. For example, Jorge Prado Garcia, in the 85cc, won the first heat with dominance by leading from the first meter to the last centimeter. Behind him was one of the contenders for the title, Jago Geerts, who was therefore unable to progress to third place after Roan van de Moosdijk. Sergi Notario Lopez and Sander Agard Michelsen completed the top five. In the second round it looked like the Spanish talent Jorge Prado Garcia was going to win again. But Jago Geerts, who fell in the fourth corner, had a great run and made up for the deficit he had incurred in the last lap to take victory in the second round. The man from Balen was ahead of Jorge Prado Garcia, Roan Van de Moosdijk, Sander Agard-Michelsen and Sergi Notario Lopez. The day's victory went to our Spanish KTM friend Jorge Prado Garcia.
In the 125cc class we saw Davy Pootjes in the first heat, who rubbed everyone's pants for more than half a minute. Cyril Genot crowned himself best of the rest and in turn did this with bravado. Conrad Mews took third place ahead of Max Engelen and Rene De Jong. In the second round of the 125cc class we once again had a true Davy Pootjes show. The man in the making and Jeffrey Herlings' successor will tolerate no opposition. Cyril Genot came second again but was penalized with one minute for ignoring the yellow flag. As a result, the Kemea Yamaha pilot dropped to fourth place in this second heat. Max Engelen and Rene de Jong 'finished' second and third in this second series. The day's victory went, surprisingly, to Davy Pootjes.
Herlings, Herlings, Herlings is the best way to summarize the first round of the MX2 class. The factory KTM pilot humiliated friend and enemy by going around the Peppelenbos inimitably fast. Only 4 of his competitors were able to finish in the same laps as Jeffrey Herlings. One of these was Petar Petrov who managed to claim second place after a short duel with the Husqvarna boys. This for Romain Febvre and Aleksandr Tonkov. Brain Bogers completed the top five in one lap. The best Belgian was Brent Van Doninck in seventh place. Not much surprise was expected in the second heat here in Harfsen. But there were surprises. The holeshot went to Jeffrey Herlings, but the reigning world champion was forced to the side a little later due to technical problems. This cleared the way for Tonkov. He was able to drive to victory without any worries. Behind him, however, we saw a more than fascinating catch-up race by a fallen Romain Febvre. The Frenchman picked off one opponent after another and just before the finish, Brian Bogers also took second place. The day's victory went to Aleksandr Tonkov who had a one point bonus over Romain Febvre.
The first round of the MX1 class in turn started with a holeshot by Ceriel Klein Kromhof. The HSF Logistics pilot kept his compatriot Marc De Reuver behind him at the start. However, De Reuver soon dropped out of the match. CKK in turn passed both Tyla Rattray and Joel Roelants to finish in third place. Rattray and Roelants in turn finished first and second. After the finish, Tyla Rattray was sanctioned with one minute for ignoring yellow. This made the result slightly different. Roelants won the first round for the so-called green table ahead of CKK, Dewulf, Rattray and Brakke. The start of the second round in the MX1 class brought Marc De Reuver who imposed a strict pace on his opponents for several laps. Joel Roelants then took over command and finished his race perfectly. De Reuver kept his pace nicely and came under pressure from Tyla Rattray at the end. But the South African's attempt to take over second place failed. The top five was completed by Jeffrey Dewulf and Ceriel Klein Kromhof. The victory of the day obviously goes to our Belgian Joel Roelants.
Text: Matthias Van Eeckhoven – Photo: Frederik Van Eeckhoven
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