Frank Mulders/Henry van der Wiel extend the European sidecar cross title!
Frank Mulders and Henry van der Wiel managed to extend their European title in sidecar cross during the IMBA final in Meijel, Limburg. They went to Meijel with a large lead of 42 points over the number two in the standings, Mike Keuben and Lars de Laat. In fact, only a number of failures could throw a spanner in the works. This did not happen, on the contrary, it actually happened to competitor Keuben who dropped out in the second round with bad luck, clearing the way for Mulders/Van der Wiel to definitively seize the title and also become the day winner in Meijel. The podium at the end of the day was completely orange with Thom van de Lagemaat/Dion Rietman in second place and Patrick Greup/Maurice Visser in third.
For weeks, people in Meijel had been busy getting the 'De Vossenberg' circuit into optimal condition for the final round of the 2018 European Championship Sidecars. Many great sidecar crossers from the 1s onwards have worked in blood, sweat and tears on the historic cross-piste situated by the formation of the paths and nature in the forest. The MCC Meijel had everything in tip top shape and had even ensured that the FXNUMX fans present in the tent could watch the achievements of Max Verstappen and his colleagues in Russia. It was a beautiful autumn day and the sidecar-loving public therefore showed up in large numbers in Meijel.
It was therefore a pity that there were only seventeen sidecars that would participate in the IMBA battle. It turned out that people in France are very afraid of the Dutch sand because the entire team ignored Meijel. Only one team from Switzerland, partly due to an injury to the third man in the IMBA standings, Marco Boller, who simply could not participate. Two teams came from Germany, followed by Belgium and England with three registered sidecars. These nine foreign teams would then compete with the eight teams from the Netherlands that participated in this IMBA final in Meijel.
The sidecars present all gave their best and that was visible during the three heats, but unfortunately the number of sidecars remained poor.
Heat 1
The start of the first heat was a prey for the Germans Prumer/Lange with behind them the two title pretenders who, leaning back and forth, spectacularly dived into the first gentle bend.
Prumer at the front had to recognize his superior in Mulders who took the lead in the first lap and Keuben also quickly relegated the German to third place.
Behind the Germans we saw a nice duel for fourth place between Van de Lagemaat and the Belgian Davy Maris, who has Henry's son, Aivar van der Wiel, next to him in the box. This match later turned out to even be about third place when the German Prumer, until then unthreatened in third place, dropped out with machine trouble.
At the front, Mulders/Van der Wiel had driven away with Keuben/De Laat in pursuit with their left sidecar.
After about ten minutes of the race, Keuben started the attack on Mulders and after two laps the first place could be taken over, after which Keuben/De Laat even drove away from Mulders. The two clearly fastest combinations crossed the finish line, with Van der Lagemaat/Rietman in third place and Maris/Van der Wiel in fourth place. After a solid race, Greup/Visser took fifth place in this heat.
Heat 2
In the second heat there was again the holeshot for Prumer/Lange, with Keuben/De Laat behind them, the Germans Hentrich/Effertz and Mulders/Van der Wiel on fourth.
Keuben/De Laat took over the lead on the first lap from Prumer, who was also passed by Mulders/Van der Wiel on the following lap.
Keuben probably wanted to take first place again, but mechanical misfortune put a stop to that! In the third lap the machine started to smoke slightly, rider Keuben felt a rattling in the engine block and before they knew it the sidecar came to a standstill at the back of the circuit. Thus, Keuben/De Laat's well-intentioned intentions to make the title battle a little more exciting ended in an apotheosis, which was also a downer for the team after a season in which they already had a lot of bad luck, but also showed themselves well during the World Cup. round in Lommel and they finished nicely in the top ten of the ONK sidecars, with only four of the five ONKs participating.
The failure of his biggest competitor naturally paved the way for Mulders/Van der Wiel to take over first place and be welcomed at the finish as champions of 2018 by happy supporters with confetti and fireworks.
The Germans Prumer/Lange kept things intact and deservedly crossed the finish line in second place. A bit behind Prumer we saw a nice duel between Maris and Van der Lagemaat with Greup on the rope just behind. Whatever Van der Lagemaat tried, he seemed unable to overtake the experienced Belgian Maris. Five minutes before the end, Van der Lagemaat/Rietman managed to find a gap after a fierce but fair battle and took third place, which they kept until the finish. Maris/Van der Wiel then finished fourth and Greup/Visser took fifth place at the finish.
Heat 3
Unfortunately we no longer saw Keuben/De Laat at the start in the third heat. They were no longer able to get the sidecar moving in time. The new champions Mulders/Van der Wiel had very little to fear from significant opposition and that was clearly shown. With a great display of power and at times in a show-like manner, Mulders/Van der Wiel rode their 'honorary' round in Meijel and took the day's victory unchallenged.
It was more exciting back there. Van der Lagemaat/Rietman deservedly finished second and thus also took second place in the daily total. Patrick Greup and Maurice Visser did themselves a great service by finishing third on the broken circuit in Meijel. Behind Greup, Maris/Van der Wiel were on four, and at the end of the race the British Osbaldiston/Cooper were breathing down their necks. In the final phase, the always fanciful Brit even managed to refer Maris back to fifth place.
Precisely this meant that the Belgian Maris scored just one point too few today, meaning that not he but Greup/Visser would be classified third in the day's results.
The Germans Prumer/Lange now crossed the finish line in seventh place, gaining so many points that they overtook the injured Marco Boller from Switzerland in the European overall standings, finishing third in the 2018 European IMBA Sidecar Cross Championship, albeit far behind the Dutchmen Keuben/de Laat who were almost assured of their second place in the standings and European Champions Mulders/Van der Wiel who managed to extend their title in Meijel.
Daily results final IMBA sidecars Meijel
Final standings IMBA European Sidecar Championship 2018
Text: Emil Bilars
Photo: André de Wit
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