Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart take double heat victory during thrilling GP sidecar cross Czech Republic!
Marvin Vanluchene and Ben van den Boogaart have further strengthened their leading position in the World Championship Sidecar Cross by winning the heats twice in Kramolin, Czech Republic, and thus also the GP. The injured Bax garnered a lot of respect with two second place finishes and managed to challenge Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart, especially in the second heat. A strong performance by Varik/Daiders allowed the Estonian to climb onto the GP podium on the third scaffold for the first time in his career. Both team Hermans and team Giraud scored as many points as Varik, but the latter finished third in the second heat, which was decisive for the day's result.
Even before the starting gate closed for the first time on Sunday, there was once again a lot to do around the sidecarcross paddock.
First of all, team Willemsen/Bax missed the GP in the Czech Republic due to a bizarre case of fate.
Daniël Willemsen was on an outing in a car with two mechanics from his team, but he was involved in a head-on collision! Those involved were transported to hospital and Daniël Willemsen himself was taken to the Netherlands a day later where he had to undergo surgery. Hopefully we will see the cannibal from Lochem back on the circuits soon, but when this will be is still uncertain. The warm messages from all his competitors must have done him good, within sidecar cross the ties between people are somewhat closer than in other sports and the general impression was that people in the paddock were upset by the accident that had occurred that day. for the GP sidecar cross in the Czech Republic.
The qualifications on Saturday were started by 46 participants, which meant that 16 sidecars would be eliminated for the actual GP on Sunday. In group A we saw Vanluchene win with a big lead over Bax who came in second place, excruciating the pain after his shoulder was dislocated barely a week ago.
In group B, Hermans seemed to be the king until a minute before the end the machine broke down, which Veldman/Janssens took advantage of to take their very first heat victory of this season.
Team Hermans worked tirelessly to get the sidecar moving again and this was only just accomplished before the last-change qualifying would finish. They quickly set a time, and that was the first time in the last chance, resulting in place 26 in the total, so they would have to come from the second row on Sunday. Keuben/Rietman were also selected for the last chance due to a broken ignition and came third and therefore qualified, meaning that all participants from the Benelux would appear behind the starting gate on Sunday.
Between Hermans and Keuben it was the Czech team Cermak in 2nd place in the last chance.
They also fell to a promising third place due to bad luck in the qualifying heats, to the dismay of the enthusiastic home crowd, but were still allowed to enter the GP via the last chance.
Heat 1
The sun did its best again in Kramolin, Czech Republic, on Sunday and around a quarter past one the tension increased when the starting gate dropped for the first time. The holeshot was for Vanluchene with Veldman behind him, Giraud who was able to almost cross in from the outside in the first corner and behind him the Finnish Kunnas brothers who were also well ahead.
Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart accelerated as if they wanted to and were slightly ahead of Veldman and Giraud, who had clearly found each other in the first heat, but Giraud was never able to really attack Veldman.
In the final phase, Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart got some breathing space as Bax suddenly joined the battle for second place. Bax/Stupelis had started around place eight but worked their way to the front to arrive at third man Giraud and Veldman in second place.
Almost 'on' Bax aggressively pinned his sidecar quite quickly on the inside of Giraud in a slow bend where the teams touched each other and Giraud was abruptly pushed out onto a track.
Bax/Stupelis continued and a little later they were able to outwit Veldman/Janssens very nicely on the inside of a corner. Veldman tried to cross back, but this was in vain, which brought team Bax into second place at the finish. Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart had already crossed the line as glorious winners. Veldman/Janssens finished third and Giraud fourth a few seconds behind. Hermans/Musset came in fifth just behind Giraud after another incredibly nice catch-up race after their start from the 2nd row of the grid, where they had started around 15th place after falling from the starting gate.
At almost half a minute Brown came in sixth and best of the rest. Brown competed well in the sub-top group, but then had a tough duel with Kunnas in which baking player Millard almost fell out of the box but barely kept himself in.
Brown then had to give chase again, which he managed to do with verve and willpower, with a P6 at the finish. Behind this it was Varik/Daiders at 7, Kunnas at 8, Sanders at 9 and Weiss/Schneider at 10. Van Werven/Mans then finished 11th just behind Weiss but just ahead of Dierckens in 12th place.
'Radio' driver De Laat finished 14th alongside British rider Wilkinson and Santermans managed to take 18th place. Keuben/Rietman were just a few seconds short and finished 21st and therefore scored no points. Closhe and Van Hal quickly retired with machine trouble.
Heat 2
The weather had changed a bit with a few minimal drops of rain when the starting gate closed at 16 p.m. for the second series of the GP Sidecars in Kramolin.
Vanluchene again did the same as in the first heat, namely taking the holeshot, but now immediately followed by Bax and behind him Dierckens, Varik, Giraud, Veldman and Kunnas.
Bax immediately stuck to the rear wheel of leader Vanluchene and a fantastic battle arose between these two sidecar cross matadors that lasted almost the entire heat.
In the initial phase it seemed as if Vanluchene was running away, but Bax came back after ten minutes.
Bax then took action against Vanluchene halfway through the match. Just as he had defeated Veldman in the first heat, he now wanted to perform exactly the same trick on leaders Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart.
On the inside of the corner, Bax/Stupelis started the attack, but Vanluchene came out of the corner faster on the outside.
Naturally, both combinations ended up on the same piece of circuit at the exit of the bend and they briefly touched each other, that is, Bax's front wheel tapped the side of Vanluchene's box. Fortunately, Bax quickly kept his handlebars straight and was then able to close a small gap to Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart.
Bax/Stupelis quickly caught up to Vanluchene's rear wheel, but with the finish in sight they could do nothing but settle for 2nd place when Vanluchene edged out the tired Bax/Stupelis in the last two laps.
So Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart once again crossed the line as winners, with Bax in second place, just like in the first heat, who was visibly in a lot of pain when the helmets came off after the finish. The performance of Bax, who had just dislocated his shoulder a week ago, garnered a lot of respect from everyone, not least from his own baking player Stupelis.
Behind the teams of Bax and Vanluchene, Varik/Daiders crossed the finish line in third place at an appropriate distance and with this the Estonian Varik also took his very first total GP podium with a third place in the final results. Varik was able to quickly pass Dierckens in the first lap and then quickly ran away from his pursuers who were fighting each other for fourth place.
At the finish this place went to Hermans/Musset who were able to advance from five to four in the final phase as Giraud, lying in fourth place, briefly pulled over when entering the starting field. Hermans breezed past, but luckily for the Frenchman he was quickly able to get the sidecar working again and finished fifth.
Behind this we saw Veldman/Janssens, who were once again driving well, lying there for a long time until they had to drop out of the starting field in the final phase due to machine trouble!
This then gave Brown/Millard the opportunity to finish sixth after already being able to move Dierckens/Rostingt back one place in the last few laps, and so Dierckens finished seventh on the line.
Just like in the first round, the Finnish Kunnas brothers took eighth place, with the Belgian Sanders just behind them in ninth place and in tenth place we saw Van Werven/Mans, once again performing strongly.
Keuben/Rietman now crossed the finish line within points in 16th place and this also applied to Closhe/Van Hal who finished 19th.
Santermans soon retired with bad luck and the Dutchman Lars de Laat, who played once this weekend alongside the British rider Wilkinson, also had to retire due to machine trouble.
By bringing back the full loot of 50 points from the Czech Republic, Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart are now even more firmly in first place in the 2018 World Championship Sidecar Cross, with Hermans/Musset second, who despite twice starting from the second row, also did well. managed to score in Kramolin. Because team Willemsen/Bax could not participate, Giraud moves up to third, but with an entire GP's worth of points behind Vanluchene and Hermans.
One point behind Giraud, Willemsen is fourth, five points behind Varik/Daiders, five points behind Bax/Stupelis at six, with Brown/Millard just 1 point behind at seven. Then a small gap of 1 points with Veldman/Janssens in eighth place.
In four weeks the next sidecar cross GP will be in Latvia, with the Estonia GP the following week and here again a week after the Belgian GP on the folding sand track in Lommel.
In the meantime, you can watch the sidecar cross in your own country because next Sunday, May 20, the penultimate ONK sidecar cross will be held in Varsseveld and a week later on May 27, the BK sidecar cross will follow in Gooik.
Daily results GP sidecar cross Kramolin, Czech Republic
01. 09. Marvin Vanluchene-Ben van den Boogaart BE-NL VMC-Zabel 50
02. 82. Etienne Bax-Kaspars Stupelis NL-LV WSP-Zabel 44
03. 15. Kert Varik-Lauris Daiders EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 34
04. 05. Koen Hermans-Nicolas Musset NL-FR WSP-Zabel 34
05. 02. Valentin Giraud-Johnny Badaire FR-FR WHT-Husqvarna
06. 04. Stuart Brown-Joe Millard GB-GB WSP-Husqvarna 30
07. Riku Kunnas-Lari Kunnas FI-FI WSP-KTM 14
09. 11. Davy Sanders-Andres Haller BE-DE WSP-Zabel 24
08. 85. Arne Dierckens-Luc Rostingt BE-FR WSP-Zabel 23
10. 12. Gert van Werven-Jens Mans NL-BE WSP-TM 21
12. 30. Benjamin Weiss-Patrick Schneider AT-AT VMC-Zabel 20
11. 10. Julian Veldman-Glenn Janssens NL-BE WHT-Husqvarna 20
13. 07. Tomas Cermak-Ondrej Cermak CZ-CZ WSP-MEGA 18
14. 24. Marco Heinzer-Ruedi Betschart CH-CH VMC-KTM 13
16. 32. Hotmar Pozzi-Simon Walti IT-CH WSP-Husqvarna
15. 17. Christophe Cuche-Stefan Forster CH-DE VMC-KTM 9
17. 08. Brett Wilkinson-Lars de Laat GB-NL WSP-Zabel 7
18. 21. Justin Keuben-Dion Rietman NL-NL VMC-Zabel 5
19. 38. Zeno Compalati-Lemuel Ravera IT-IT WSP-Zabel 5
20. 101. Petr Kolenchik-Matej Hejhal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 5
21. 54. Pavel Hroch-Martin Hroch CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 4
22. 19. Kristof Santermans-Kostas Beleckas BE-LT WSP-Zabel 3
23. 16. Andreas Clohse-Han van Hal BE-NL WSP-KTM 2
24. 110. Jake Brown/Zac Snell GB-GB WSP-Zabel 1
25. 37. Lukas Pudlo-Radek Viton CZ-CZ WSP-MEGA 0
26. 48. Jan Boukal-Pavel Boukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 0
27. 80. David Bolliger-Meinrad Schelbert CH-CH VMC-KTM 0
28. 49. Joachim Reimann-Philipp Reimann DE-DE WSP-Zabel 0
29. 56. Fabian Hoffman-Cornelius Dorig CH-CH WSP-KTM
30. 25. George Kinge-David Keane GB-GB VMC-Zabel 0
Standings World Championship Sidecar Cross 2018
01. 9 Marvin Vanluchene-Ben van den Boogaart BE-NL VMC-Zabel 226
02. 5 Koen Hermans-Nicolas Musset NL-FR WSP-Zabel 194
03. 2 Valentin Giraud-Elvijs Mucenieks FR-LV WHT-Husqvarna 137
04. 111 Daniel Willemsen-Robbie Bax NL-NL WSP-Zabel 136
05. 15 Kert Varik-Lauris Daiders EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 132
06. 82 Etienne Bax-Kaspars Stupelis NL-LV WSP-Zabel 127
07. 4 Stuart Brown-Joe Millard GB-GB WSP-Husqvarna 126
08. 10 Julian Veldman-Glenn Janssens NL-BE WHT-Husqvarna 107
09 Riku Kunnas-Lari Kunnas FI-FI WSP-KTM 14
10. 7 Tomas Cermak-Ondrej Cermak CZ-CZ WSP-MEGA 99
11. 11 Davy Sanders-Andres Haller BE-DE WSP-Zabel 92
12. 8 Brett Wilkinson-Daniel Chamberlain GB-GB WSP-Zabel 85
13. 85 Arne Dierckens-Luc Rostingt BE-FR WSP-Zabel 84
14. 30 Benjamin Weiss-Patrick Schneider AT-AT VMC-Zabel 80
15. 12 Gert van Werven-Jens Mans NL-BE WSP-TM 80
16. 19 Kristof Santermans-Kostas Beleckas BE-LT WSP-Zabel 80
17. 24 Marco Heinzer-Ruedi Betschart CH-CH VMC-KTM 37
18. 38 Zeno Compalati-Lemuel Ravera IT-IT WSP-Zabel 32
19. 21 Justin Keuben-Dion Rietman NL-NL VMC-Zabel 30
20. 54 Pavel Hroch-Martin Hroch CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 29
21. 17 Christophe Cuche-Maxime Cuche CH-CH VMC-KTM 28
22. 112 Jarno van den Boomen-Kenny van Gaalen NL-NL WSP-Zabel 25
23. 49 Joachim Reimann-Philipp Reimann DE-DE WSP-Zabel 24
24. 16 Andreas Clohse-Han van Hal BE-NL WSP-KTM 16
25. 101 Petr Kolenchik-Matej Hejhal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 13
26. 20 Guennady Auvray-Rodolphe Lebreton FR-FR WSP-Zabel 13
27. 32 Hotmar Pozzi-Simon Walti IT-CH WSP-Husqvarna
28. 23 Nick Janssens-Glenn Janssens BE-BE VMC-Zabel 9
29. 26 Tomas Vejchoda-Miroslav Zatloukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 9
30. 90 Michael Hodges-Charlie Ide GB-GB WSP-Zabel 7
31. 25 George Kinge-David Keane GB-GB VMC-Zabel 6
32. 124 Romaric Chanteloup-Josselyn Chanteloup FR-FR WSP-KTM 6
33. 171 Bjorn Roes-Dagwin Sabbe NL-BE WSP-Zabel 5
34. 48 Jan Boukal-Pavel Boukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 4
35. 56 Fabian Hoffman-Cornelius Dorig CH-CH WSP-KTM
36. 271 Tomas Baltusis-Tadas Natka LT-LT WSP-Husqvarna 3
37. 89 Remo Inderbitzin-Martin Betschart CH-CH VMC-Yamaha 3
38. 58 Kevin Cordeau-Dylan Cordeau FR-FR WSP-Zabel 2
39. 41 Litauras Variakojis-Janis Paipals LT-LV WSP-Husqvarna 2
40. 110 Jake Brown/Zac Snell GB-GB WSP-Zabel 2
41. 69 Joosep Hansar-Arno Peever EE-EE VMC-KTM 1
Photo: Luc Vanderaa
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