Looking back at the GP Sidecars Oss: 2012
In this third look back at previous sidecarcross GPs in Oss, we go to the end of the season in 2012. MC Oss may not be organizing a GP that year, but it is organizing another sidecarcross event of the same order; The Sidecar Cross of Nations. Every year, this competition for countries is held on one weekend somewhere in Europe and in 2012 this spectacle could be observed in Oss, the Netherlands.
The three sidecars that competed for team Netherlands were Daniël Willemsen/Robbie Bax, Etienne Bax/Kaspars Stupelis and Marcel Willemsen/Gertie Eggink. The organizing country can always use a second team and so there was also a Netherlands 2 team. This consisted of Thijs Derks/Ben van den Boogaart, Marcel Grondman/Christijan Verhagen and Jan and Jeroen Visscher. Team Belgium consisted of only two teams and had no chance of a top ranking. Jan Hendrickx's third Belgian team unfortunately had to cancel on Saturday morning due to sad family circumstances.
Team Netherlands was the top favorite on paper and that was not surprising. Just a week before this competition, Daniël Willemsen had become World Sidecar Cross Champion for the tenth time and Etienne Bax/Kaspars Stupelis had finished second in the World Championship with five points less. The third Dutch combination of Marcel Willemsen/Gertie Eggink had ended the World Cup cycle in eighth place. The team feeling and confidence in a good outcome was very strong and the orange atmosphere in Oss even made the drivers participate in the Orange madness. For example, we saw Thijs Derks from team Netherlands 2 and Etienne Bax appear at the start with bright orange hair!
During the competition weekend, the Netherlands team also fulfilled its role of favorite, while other less fast countries clearly had more difficulty on the tricky Oss track. We saw several crashes or 'narrow escapes', such as the Danish sidecar of Nilsen/Hanssen that almost went off on a fast track but was still able to continue on its way through some skill.
When the final heat arrived on Sunday, and team Netherlands was leading by a wide margin, people were convinced that the Netherlands would take the title, especially since both the World Champion and the vice-World Champion were in action for team NL in that final heat. . Daniël Willemsen led the dance for a long time in that third heat... until it was proven once again that, especially in Oss, the race is only over when one has crossed the finish line! Suddenly Willemsen stood still! A large stone had become stuck between his front fork and the wheel.
Daniel, driven as always, tried everything to get the stone loose. At one point, a wooden post from the track barrier was even pulled out of the ground to pound away the stone...
It was somehow cynical to see that Daniël Willemsen tried everything, up to and including pounding with the pole, and it just wouldn't work... Until Robbie Bax took a good look at the situation and in one way or another number of times, the stone finally fell off the machine!
With loud cheers from the home crowd, the combination ultimately crossed the finish line in 11th place, overjoyed, knowing that the Netherlands had won the title.
The result of Willemsen/Bax in this heat was the least scored by a sidecar from team Netherlands, so ultimately it was deleted as only five of the six results count in the final result. Daniël Willemsen and Robbie Bax could just as well not have finished, but at the time of the stone the race was still going on and Bax/Stupelis had dropped out and the title could easily have been lost... So the perseverance of Daniël Willemsen and Robbie Bax at that moment would have been necessary to win from one of the devilish stones of Oss and the Nationscross with team Netherlands ahead of team Latvia and team Great Britain.
Text: Emil Bilars
Photos: www.orangehat.nl
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