Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart also win the GP of Latvia!
Marvin Vanluchene and Ben van den Boogaart remain on course for the World Championship sidecarcross title and have won another Grand Prix, this time in Cesis, Latvia. In the first heat Bax/Stupelis had to be recognized as superior, but in the second heat the verdict was exactly the other way around, meaning that Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart were allowed to take their place on the highest step of the podium, with Bax/Stupelis in second place, who finally scored well again. Koen Hermans and Nicolas Musset finished third twice in the heats and were therefore also able to climb onto the podium as third for the honoring of the GP Sidecar Cross of Latvia in Cesis.
38 sidecars had registered in Latvia, which meant that 8 participants would have to be eliminated for the actual GP on Sunday. Qualifying was no problem for all participants from the Benelux, but Sanders/Haller still had a bad day. Sanders' machine made too much noise and they were moved back five places, meaning they were assigned to the last change. They rode the first time there, but a place on the second starting row for Sunday was not what they had aimed for.
Willemsen/Bax also received a reprimand from the race management for the umpteenth time this season, this time just like Sanders for a little too much noise. As a result, Willemsen/Bax were only placed ninth in the results instead of their fourth place at the finish of the qualifying heat, which meant they would also have to start from the second row on Sunday.
Heat 1
At a quarter past one on Sunday, the first heat started under warm conditions. Brown/Millard took the holeshot with Giraud, Vanluchene, Dierckens, Santermans and Hermans directly behind.
Veldman was too eager at the start and rode away just a little too early, causing the starting gate to be seen to end up between the wheel and the front fender. With a delay of almost ten seconds, they were the last to leave the starting area, seemingly having no chance of a good ranking in this heat.
Giraud quickly took over the top spot at the front with Vanluchene in his wake. However, Giraud/Badaire could not enjoy the leading position for long because in the third lap their engine literally gave up on Maarten. Balend, Giraud left the race with a score of 0 points.
Vanluchene then took the lead, but their machine also did not run smoothly.
Bax/Stupelis, who came from around tenth at the start, were already pushing themselves forward and finally had the strength to take control of the race again. Halfway through the first heat they were able to join Vanluchene and almost immediately take over the lead position. Bax/Stupelis then continued to drive a hell of a race and rode half a minute away from the rest of the field and crossed the finish line first with force majeure.
Vanluchene then put his money where his mouth is and secured second place at the finish. Behind Vanluchene, it was Hermans who ended up in third place halfway through the race after having dealt with Santermans, Dierckens and front starter Brown. However, the gap to Vanluchene was already huge and there was no more than third place at the finish for the young Hermans together with his baking player Nicolas Musset.
Five seconds behind Hermans, the Czech Cermak brothers finished fourth after a strong race that started from midfield. Fifth came Brown/Millard, clearly at a disadvantage on the track in Cesis with their left sidecar. Behind this, Arne Direckens crossed the line at six and scored a large number of points for the World Cup standings.
On seventh we saw, unbelievable but true, Veldman/Janssens who had had a hell of a catch-up race after the delay at the start, and in the last lap were able to exchange their eighth place for seventh at the expense of Santermans who now would finish eighth. Just behind this came the chasing Wilkinson who finished ninth, with Weiss/Schneider from Austria close by who would finish tenth. Willemsen finished eleventh, Van Werven was twelfth with his starting number and Sanders managed to finish fourteenth. Justin Keuben/Dion Rietman also took their points with sixteenth place and in eighteenth place we finally saw the first World Cup points for baking player Nick Maas from Lierop. Maas, back in action for the first time after a broken collarbone earlier this year, could look back with satisfaction on his return to the World Championship together with his German rider Tobias Blank.
Heat 2
During the start of the second heat we again saw the holeshot for Brown/Millard with the Finnish brothers Kunnas, Vanluchene and Veldman on the checkered rope. Santermans hit Wilkinson's box in the first few meters after the fence and then flew sideways after a big swing into Dierckens. Fortunately, this time nothing went wrong in the melee of sidecars on the starting field, although everyone held their breath. Unfortunately, Keuben/Rietman and Blank/Maas came to a stop on the inside of the first corner and were the last to start the race with a small delay.
Vanluchene quickly took over the first place at the front and then quickly drove away from his attackers. Veldman was also able to move up to second place and took Hermans in his wake in third place. Halfway through, Bax joined in and Hermans was moved back one place and the hunt for Veldman started. Unfortunately for 'the Frogg' from Kampen, he had to give away his second place to Bax after a number of laps because the machine no longer did what it was supposed to do due to a loose exhaust silencer and, disappointed, Veldman/Janssens then went to the riders' quarters with 0 points. .
At that moment, Vanluchene and Van den Boogaart had already left with flying colors and they brilliantly won the second heat and therefore also the Grand Prix of Latvia. Bax/Stupelis were able to gradually catch up to Vanluchene in the race, but the gap was simply too big and more than a second place in this heat, and the day's results were also not possible for Bax/Stupelis.
Hermans/Musset finished third, just like in the first heat, and were therefore able to take their place on the lowest step of the podium for the honoring of the Latvian GP. Brown/Millard finished fourth and in fifth place we saw Dierckens/Rostingt who had driven a hell of a race after a somewhat poor start, especially for Dierckens. Varik/Daiders fell victim to Dierckens' urge to act in the final phase and finished sixth. On seventh we saw Willemsen/Bax with just behind them the Czech brothers Cermak and on nine the Finnish brothers Kunnas who were able to convert their good start into a top ten ranking. Wilkinson/Chamberlain finished the top ten in the second heat with a tenth place.
Despite his critical moment during the first meters of the race, Santermans, together with his baking player Beleckas, managed to finish eleventh, with compatriot Sanders behind him in twelve place. Van Werven finished thirteenth and despite leaving almost last, Keuben/Rietman still managed to finish fifteenth. Blank/Maas, who were really the last to leave at the start, despite having been through a lot, still managed to finish eighteenth and once again they were able to add a number of World Cup points.
The Frenchman Giraud can almost certainly put his title chances on hold after Latvia because they once again dropped out with machine trouble!
In the World Cup standings, Vanluchene is seven points ahead of Hermans and Bax/Stupelis have now ended up in third place due to their good performance in Latvia, albeit well behind Hermans/Musset.
This coming weekend will be the next GP sidecar cross in Estonia and the following week you can see the GP toppers at work in the area again during the Denicol Belgian GP Sidecars in Lommel on June 23 and 24.
Daily results GP sidecar cross Cesis-Latvia;
01. 09. Marvin Vanluchene-Ben van den Boogaart BE-NL VMC-Zabel 47
02. 82. Etienne Bax-Kaspars Stupelis NL-LV WSP-Zabel 47
03. 05. Koen Hermans-Nicolas Musset NL-FR WSP-Zabel 40
04. 04. Stuart Brown-Joe Millard GB-GB WSP-Husqvarna 34
05. 85. Arne Dierckens-Luc Rostingt BE-FR WSP-Zabel 31
06. 07. Tomas Cermak-Ondrej Cermak CZ-CZ WSP-MEGA 31
07. 111. Daniel Willemsen-Robbie Bax NL-NL WSP-Zabel 24
09. 15. Kert Varik-Lauris Daiders EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 23
08. 08. Brett Wilkinson-Dan Chamberlain GB-GB WSP-Zabel 23
10. 19. Kristof Santermans-Kostas Beleckas BE-LT WSP-Zabel 23
12. 12. Gert van Werven-Jens Mans NL-BE WSP-TM 17
11. 11. Davy Sanders-Andres Haller BE-DE WSP-Zabel 16
13. 10. Julian Veldman-Glenn Janssens NL-BE WHT-Husqvarna 14
14. Riku Kunnas-Lari Kunnas FI-FI WSP-KTM 14
16. 21. Justin Keuben-Dion Rietman NL-NL VMC-Zabel 11
15. 30. Benjamin Weiss-Patrick Schneider AT-AT VMC-Zabel 11
17. 38. Zeno Compalati-Lemuel Ravera IT-IT WSP-Zabel 7
18. 31. Margo Sonn-Arturs Linters EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 7
19. 36. Tobias Blank-Nick Maas DE-NL VMC-Zabel 6
20. 191. Didzis Gorbenko-Tanel Koiv LV-EE WSP-Zabel 6
21. 110. Jake Brown/Zac Snell GB-GB WSP-Zabel 4
22. 84. Tanel Reesna-Teet Egg EE-EE WSP-Zabel 4
23. 59. Janis Jegorovs-Peteris Jegorovs LV-LV VMC-KTM 2
24. 48. Jan Boukal-Pavel Boukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 1
25. 27. Markus Normak-Karl-Albert Kasesalu EE-EE WSP-Zabel 1
26. 53. Taavi Pungits-Birger Language EE-EE WSP-MEGA 0
27. 02. Valentin Giraud-Johnny Badaire FR-FR WHT-Husqvarna
28. 49. Joachim Reimann-Philipp Reimann DE-DE WSP-Zabel 0
29. 17. Christophe Cuche-Stefan Forster CH-DE VMC-KTM 0
30. 25. George Kinge-David Keane GB-GB VMC-Zabel 0
31. 43. Mantas Kisunas-Rytis Kisunas LT-LT WSP-Zabel 0
Standings World Championship Sidecar Cross 2018;
01. 9 Marvin Vanluchene-Ben van den Boogaart BE-NL VMC-Zabel 273
02. 5 Koen Hermans-Nicolas Musset NL-FR WSP-Zabel 234
03. 82 Etienne Bax-Kaspars Stupelis NL-LV WSP-Zabel 174
04. 111 Daniel Willemsen-Robbie Bax NL-NL WSP-Zabel 160
05. 4 Stuart Brown-Joe Millard GB-GB WSP-Husqvarna 160
06. 15 Kert Varik-Lauris Daiders EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 155
07. 2 Valentin Giraud-Elvijs Mucenieks FR-LV WHT-Husqvarna 137
08. 7 Tomas Cermak-Ondrej Cermak CZ-CZ WSP-MEGA 130
09. 10 Julian Veldman-Glenn Janssens NL-BE WHT-Husqvarna 121
10 Riku Kunnas-Lari Kunnas FI-FI WSP-KTM 14
11. 85 Arne Dierckens-Luc Rostingt BE-FR WSP-Zabel 115
12. 8 Brett Wilkinson-Daniel Chamberlain GB-GB WSP-Zabel 108
13. 11 Davy Sanders-Andres Haller BE-DE WSP-Zabel 108
14. 19 Kristof Santermans-Kostas Beleckas BE-LT WSP-Zabel 103
15. 12 Gert van Werven-Jens Mans NL-BE WSP-TM 97
16. 30 Benjamin Weiss-Patrick Schneider AT-AT VMC-Zabel 91
17. 21 Justin Keuben-Dion Rietman NL-NL VMC-Zabel 41
18. 38 Zeno Compalati-Lemuel Ravera IT-IT WSP-Zabel 39
19. 24 Marco Heinzer-Ruedi Betschart CH-CH VMC-KTM 37
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. 31 Margo Sonn-Arturs Linters EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 7
31. 90 Michael Hodges-Charlie Ide GB-GB WSP-Zabel 7
32. 191 Didzis Gorbenko-Tanel Koiv LV-EE WSP-Zabel 6
33. 25 George Kinge-David Keane GB-GB VMC-Zabel 6
34. 110 Jake Brown/Zac Snell GB-GB WSP-Zabel 6
35. 36 Tobias Blank-Nick Maas DE-NL VMC-Zabel 6
36. 124 Romaric Chanteloup-Josselyn Chanteloup FR-FR WSP-KTM 6
37. 48 Jan Boukal-Pavel Boukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 5
38. 171 Bjorn Roes-Dagwin Sabbe NL-BE WSP-Zabel 5
39. 56 Fabian Hoffman-Cornelius Dorig CH-CH WSP-KTM
40. 84 Tanel Reesna-Teet Egg EE-EE WSP-Zabel 4
41. 271 Tomas Baltusis-Tadas Natka LT-LT WSP-Husqvarna 3
42. 89 Remo Inderbitzin-Martin Betschart CH-CH VMC-Yamaha 3
43. 58 Kevin Cordeau-Dylan Cordeau FR-FR WSP-Zabel 2
44. 59 Janis Jegorovs-Peteris Jegorovs LV-LV VMC-KTM 2
45. 41 Litauras Variakojis-Janis Paipals LT-LV WSP-Husqvarna 2
46. 27 Markus Normak-Karl-Albert Kasesalu EE-EE WSP-Zabel 1
47. 69 Joosep Hansar-Arno Peever EE-EE VMC-KTM 1
Text: Emil Bilars
Photo: Luc Vanderaa
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