Veldman/Janssens win their very first Grand Prix sidecar cross in France!
Julian Veldman and Glenn Janssens have achieved the first Grand Prix victory of their young career in Vesoul, France! With a first and second place in the heats, they were clearly the strongest and 'the Frogg' from Kampen was proud to take a seat on the first scaffold together with his Belgian companion Glenn Janssens. This year's World Champions, Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart showed that they did not ride around with golden helmets and ditto champion colors for nothing. With a third and fourth place in the heats, she took second place in the daily results in the last GP sidecar cross of 2018. Bax/Stupelis finished third in the daily results with a fifth and third place in the heats and were thus allowed to advance take a seat on the last podium scaffold.
After celebrating the daily total, they will also experience standing there for a while because they also came third in the World Cup sidecar cross. Hermans/Musset then took second place on the podium to receive the silver World Cup medals and Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart, who had already been unable to compete for the competition in the previous GP, were honored as the new ones amid loud cheers from supporters who traveled with them. World Sidecar Cross Champion 2018!
On Saturday, all Dutch and Belgian participants finally managed to qualify for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Boussy/Sabbe had to go very deep, but they managed to do so through the 6e place in the last change as the last team to participate in the final World Cup points battle on Sunday. Brown/Millard had won that last change after stopping as a precaution in the qualifying race earlier due to an injury to driver Stuart Brown. On Sunday the pain turned out to be too bad and with a view to the Nations Sidecar Cross in three weeks in Slagelse, Denmark, it was decided not to start. We also did not see the Czech sub-toppers Cermak on Sunday. During the qualifying race they jumped a table mountain and crashed hard, bouncing off the track like a rag doll. Both were taken to hospital with reportedly a broken ankle for one and a serious concussion for the other.
Heat 1
Around a quarter past one the gate fell for the first round of sidecar cross in Vesoul. As has often been the case this season, Dierckens took the holeshot, followed by Hermans and very surprisingly the Irishman Molds together with his English baking player Steve Kirwin.
Veldman, fourth at the start, was soon able to pass Moulds and hung on the wheel of Hermans, who immediately increased the pressure on Dierckens. In the meantime, Giraud, Vanluchene and Wilkinson had also passed the Irish Molds and two groups of three combinations rode around the circuit in the top 6. Giraud/Badaire then closed the gap to the leading group with Vanluchene in tow. That was also the signal for Veldman to take over second place from Hermans, even as Giraud, loudly encouraged in his own country, came on strong.
A lap later we saw Veldman/Janssens in the lead, Giraud in second and a big fight between Dierckens, Vanluchene and Hermans who were exchanging a lot of money until disaster struck at Hermans and they had to retire with a stuck engine block! Dierckens also had to return to the pits at almost the same time with a broken steering damper. So it was grist to the mill for Vanluchene, who so easily took third place. At the front, Giraud increased the pressure, but Veldman/Janssens continued to drive very cool and tight, so that they even ran away from Giraud in the final phase and gloriously won their first ever heat victory with a lead of just under ten seconds! Giraud/Badaire came second and in third place we saw Vanluchene. Fourth came Wilkinson/Chamberlain, who just couldn't keep up with Giraud and Vanluchene in the middle phase, but finished fourth at the finish. On fifth place we saw Bax/Stupelis who once again had a bad start at the start around fifteenth place and therefore had to squeeze past ten other sidecars. Willemsen/Bax were also shorter, but were still able to get a sixth place, just ahead of Sanders/Haller, who kept up with the pace of the multiple World Champion from Lochem and took a nice seventh place. The Irish/British team Moulds/Kirwin finished eighth after their super start and managed to keep Thomas/Van der Putte in ninth place. In the final phase of the race, Varik/Daiders just took the last top ten spot from Keuben/Rietman, who was nevertheless satisfied as 11th.e crossed the line. Mike Keuben/Lars de Laat, who are not allowed to participate in all GPs due to IMBA participation, also scored a large number of points with their left sidecar and came in fourteenth. Dierckens/Rostingt returned to the track after their pit stop and managed to take two World Championship points in nineteenth place. Boussy/Sabbe did not score any points and that unfortunately also applied to Van Werven/Beunk who, like Hermans, dropped out with machine luck.
Heat 2
The second heat was launched under dusty conditions and Hermans/Musset were there like the chickens and took the holeshot just ahead of Dierckens, Van Werven, Veldman and Vanluchene. Hermans/Musset immediately drove away from the pursuers and those competitors would only see a cloud of dust for the entire heat, left behind by Hermans/Musset who managed to take a beautiful head-to-tail victory in the second heat!
Behind this we saw Dierckens/Rostingt in battle with Veldman/Janssens, causing Vanluchene and later Bax/Stupelis, who had left around tenth place, to join in. This was the signal for Veldman/Janssens to cleverly refer Dierckens back to three at the exit of a bend. Later, Vanluchene and Bax passed Dierckens and started chasing Veldman while they were also fighting for third place. That third place belonged to Vanluchene for a long time, but Bax finally passed the new World Champion and headed resolutely towards Veldman/Janssens. The latter combination, however, remained the same as in the first heat without any errors and managed to claim second place at the finish and thus the day's victory in Vesoul! Bax then finished third and that was just enough for third place in the daily total, with Vanluchene crossing the finish line in fourth place and thus gaining enough points for second place in the daily results.
Wilkinson came fifth, who rode a nice GP and Dierckens now returned to sixth place at the finish. At seven it was Giraud/Badaire who, despite all the passionate encouragement from the French crowd, were never able to challenge for the top spots in this heat. Willemsen/Bax then finished eighth and in ninth place we saw Van Werven/Beunk who now managed to score again after their earlier failure in the first heat. The Frenchman Thomas now finished tenth with the Dutchman Van der Putten in the box, followed by Sanders/Haller in eleventh place.
Keuben/Rietman were classified fifteenth after they had stopped in the last lap due to a broken gear. This created another dire situation when the Frenchman Auvray, driving directly behind, crashed into Keuben's stranded sidecar. The Dutch escaped unscathed, but the Frenchman suffered a number of injuries.
Unfortunately, Mike Keuben and Lars de Laat did not score in this heat and we no longer saw Boussy/Sabbe at the start.
So we now have the final standings in the World Cup Side Pancross with Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart as undisputed champion, Hermans far behind as vice world champion and Bax/Stupelis who still managed to capture the bronze with third place in the final ranking of the World Cup. sidecar cross.
In four places we see Willemsen/Bax, in five, Giraud/Badaire and in six, thanks to their top performances in the last few GPs, we see Veldman/Janssens. Sanders/Haller and Dierckens Rostingt are back in the top ten in ninth and tenth place.
The standings are still subject to change pending the counter-expertise of the petrol from Bax/Stupelis and Willemsen/Bax, which was initially rejected by the FIM after the Bessenbach GP. If Bax or Willemsen lose Bessenbach's points, it would not matter for Bax/Stupelis, they would then remain third in the final results.
Willemsen/Bax, however, could still drop from fourth place to sixth place in the World Cup standings, which would mean that Giraud and Veldman would move up one place in the ranks of the Sidecar Cross World Championship.
With the GP season at an end, there is one more important competition for the sidecar crossers when they can defend the country's honor in three weeks' time during the sidecar cross of nations in Slagelse, Denmark, where both the Netherlands and Belgium are the top favorites for the title.
Daily results Grand Prix sidecar cross Vesoul, France
01. 10. Julian Veldman-Glenn Janssens NL-BE WHT-Husqvarna 47
02. 09. Marvin Vanluchene-Ben van den Bogaart BE-NL VMC-Zabel 38
03. 82. Etienne Bax-Kaspars Stupelis NL-LV WSP-Zabel 36
04. 02. Valentin Giraud-Johnny Badaire FR-FR WHT-Husqvarna
05. 08. Brett Wilkinson-Dan Chamberlain GB-GB WSP-Zabel 34
06. 111. Daniel Willemsen-Robbie Bax NL-NL WSP-Zabel 28
07. 05. Koen Hermans-Nicolas Musset NL-FR WSP-Zabel 25
08. 11. Davy Sanders-Andres Haller BE-DE WSP-Zabel 24
09. 39. Bastien Thomas-Siebe van der Putten FR-NL WSP-Zabel 23
10. 85. Arne Dierckens-Luc Rostingt BE-FR WSP-Zabel 17
11. 21. Justin Keuben-Dion Rietman NL-NL VMC-Zabel 16
12. 38. Zeno Compalati-Lemuel Ravera IT-IT WSP-Zabel 14
13. 20. Guennady Auvray-Rodolphe Lebreton FR-FR WSP-Zabel 13
14. 30. Benjamin Weiss-Patrick Schneider AT-AT VMC-Zabel 13
16. 63. Gary Moulds-Steve Kirwin GB-GB VMC-Husqvarna 13
15. 12. Gert van Werven-Peter Beunk NL-NL WSP-TM 12
17. Riku Kunnas-Lari Kunnas FI-FI WSP-KTM 14
18. 15. Kert Varik-Lauris Daiders EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 11
19. 110. Jake Brown/Zac Snell GB-GB WSP-Zabel 8
20. 90. Michael Hodges-Charlie Ide GB-GB WSP-Zabel 8
21. 22. Mike Keuben-Lars de Laat NL-NL VMC-Husqvarna 7
22. 54. Pavel Hroch-Martin Hroch CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 4
23. 49. Joachim Reimann-Martin Betschart DE-CH WSP-Zabel 3
24. 44. Thomas Hamard-Simon Villaines FR-FR WHT-KTM 1
25. 411. Adrian Leutenegger-Pascal Leutenegger CH-CH VMC-Zabel 0
26. 56. Fabian Hoffman-Cornelius Dorig CH-CH WSP-KTM
27. 48. Jan Boukal-Pavel Boukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 0
28. 32. Hotmar Pozzi-Simon Walti IT-CH WSP-Husqvarna
29. 17. Christophe Cuche-Maxime Cuche CH-CH VMC-KTM 0
30. 04. Stuart Brown-Joe Millard GB-GB WSP-Husqvarna 0
31. 116. Willy Bouquet-Geoffroy Le Large FR-FR WHT-KTM 0
32. 100. Dylan Boussy-Dagwin Sabbe BE-BE WHT-Husqvarna 0
Final standings World Championship Sidecar Cross 2018;
01. 9 Marvin Vanluchene-Ben van den Boogaart BE-NL VMC-Zabel 507
02. 5 Koen Hermans-Nicolas Musset NL-FR WSP-Zabel 426
03. 82 Etienne Bax-Kaspars Stupelis NL-LV WSP-Zabel 392
04. 111 Daniel Willemsen-Robbie Bax NL-NL WSP-Zabel 343
05. 2 Valentin Giraud-Johnny Badair FR-FR WHT-Husqvarna 330
06. 10 Julian Veldman-Glenn Janssens NL-BE WHT-Husqvarna 308
07. 15 Kert Varik-Lauris Daiders EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 291
08. 8 Brett Wilkinson-Daniel Chamberlain GB-GB WSP-Zabel 268
09. 11 Davy Sanders-Andres Haller BE-DE WSP-Zabel 243
10. 85 Arne Dierckens-Luc Rostingt BE-FR WSP-Zabel 229
11 Riku Kunnas-Lari Kunnas FI-FI WSP-KTM 14
12. 7 Tomas Cermak-Ondrej Cermak CZ-CZ WSP-MEGA 219
13. 4 Stuart Brown-Joe Millard GB-GB WSP-Husqvarna 213
14. 12 Gert van Werven-Jens Mans NL-BE WSP-TM 206
15. 30 Benjamin Weiss-Patrick Schneider AT-AT VMC-Zabel 166
16. 19 Kristof Santermans-Kostas Beleckas BE-LT WSP-Zabel 110
17. 21 Justin Keuben-Dion Rietman NL-NL VMC-Zabel 88
18. 38 Zeno Compalati-Lemuel Ravera IT-IT WSP-Zabel 71
19. 24 Marco Heinzer-Ruedi Betschart CH-CH VMC-KTM 69
20. 39 Bastien Thomas-Siebe van der Putten FR-NL WSP-Zabel 56
21. 54 Pavel Hroch-Martin Hroch CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 48
22. 17 Christophe Cuche-Stefan Forster CH-DE VMC-KTM 43
23. 49 Joachim Reimann-Philipp Reimann DE-DE WSP-Zabel 31
24. 25 George Kinge-David Keane GB-GB VMC-Zabel 30
25. 22 Mike Keuben-Lars de Laat NL-NL VMC-Husqvarna 29
26. 27 Markus Normak-Karl-Albert Kasesalu EE-EE WSP-Zabel 28
27. 20 Guennady Auvray-Rodolphe Lebreton FR-FR WSP-Zabel 27
28. 110 Jake Brown/Zac Snell GB-GB WSP-Zabel 26
29. 112 Jarno van den Boomen-Kenny van Gaalen NL-NL WSP-Zabel 25
30. 32 Hotmar Pozzi-Simon Walti IT-CH WSP-Husqvarna
31. 48 Jan Boukal-Pavel Boukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 20
32. 63 Gary Moulds-Steve Kirwin GB-GB VMC-Husqvarna 19
33. 31 Margo Sonn-Arturs Linters EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 19
34. 16 Andreas Clohse-Han van Hal BE-NL WSP-KTM 16
35. 100 Dylan Boussy-Dagwin Sabbe BE-BE WSP-Husqvarna 16
36. 90 Michael Hodges-Charlie Ide GB-GB WSP-Zabel 15
37. 171 Bjorn Roes-Hantje van Hal NL-BE WSP-Zabel 14
38. 101 Petr Kolenchik-Matej Hejhal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 13
39. 191 Didzis Gorbenko-Tanel Koiv LV-EE WSP-Zabel 12
40. 89 Remo Inderbitzin-Martin Betschart CH-CH VMC-Yamaha 11
41. 26 Tomas Vejchoda-Miroslav Zatloukal CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 9
42. 23 Nick Janssens-Glenn Janssens BE-BE VMC-Zabel 9
43. 41 Litauras Variakojis-Janis Paipals LT-LV WSP-Husqvarna 7
44. 43 Mantas Kisunas-Rytis Kisunas LT-LT WSP-Zabel 6
45. 36 Tobias Blank-Nick Maas DE-NL VMC-Zabel 6
46. 271 Tomas Baltusis-Tadas Natka LT-LT WSP-Husqvarna 6
47. 124 Romaric Chanteloup-Josselyn Chanteloup FR-FR WSP-KTM 6
48. 53 Taavi Pungits-Birger Language EE-EE WSP-MEGA 5
49. 56 Fabian Hoffman-Cornelius Dorig CH-CH WSP-KTM
50. 84 Tanel Reesna-Teet Egg EE-EE WSP-Zabel 4
51. 83 Argo Poldsaar-Ruslan Talf EE-EE VMC-KTM 4
52. 80 David Bolliger-Meinrad Schelbert CH-CH VMC-KTM 3
53. 58 Kevin Cordeau-Dylan Cordeau FR-FR WSP-Zabel 2
54. 59 Janis Jegorovs-Peteris Jegorovs LV-LV VMC-KTM 2
55. 44 Thomas Hamard-Simon Villaines FR-FR WHT-KTM 2
56. 69 Joosep Hansar-Arno Peever EE-EE VMC-KTM 2
Text: Emil Bilars
Photo: Stijn Vanoverbeke/WSC
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