Kops and De Laat win the National Championship sidecar title.
Ijen Kops and Lars de Laat have in Varsseveld the season ended with the day victory and the National Championship title in the sidecar. The duo achieved fourth place in the first heat and ended the last heat of 2018 in style with the heat victory and securing the National Championship title. Kops started the season with Moreno Hoesen in the box. However, Hoesen was injured during the season, which meant that a replacement had to be found. In Geldermalsen, Hoesen was replaced by Pim Lambrechts, after which the season ended with Lars de Laat.
Second place in the daily rankings went to Sven Wisselink / Bart Sloot. After the heat victory in the first heat, the duo finished in fourth place in the second heat. Based on the second round they had to leave the victory to Kops / de Laat. The last place on the podium went to Thom van de Lagemaat / Dion Rietman with a second and third place in the heats.
First heat:
Wisselink / Sloot were the fastest at the start. They were followed by van Ton van Keulen / Stephan Weijers, Stalman / van Leuken, Jeroen Boeve / Rick Sellis and van de Lagemaat / Rietman. In the fourth round it was Stalman / van Leuken who were briefly in second place, but van Keulen / Weijers managed to regain this position in the next round. The sting was mainly in the final phase of the heat. On the eighth lap Stalman / van Leuken went sideways and fell back to eighth place. Van de Lagemaat / Rietman passed Boeve / Sellis and were now third. Tim Leferink / Sam Veldman now came in fifth place. In the ninth lap Kops / de Laat passed Leferink / Veldman and Boeve / Sellis. This put them in fourth place after a bad start. In the final lap van de Lagemaat / Rietman also passed van Keulen / Weijers to finish second behind Wisselink / Sloot. Van Keulen /Weijers took third place ahead of Kops /de Laat. Boeve / Sellis lost two places in the last round. It was again the duo Leferink / Veldman who entered the top five.
Second heat:
Stalman / van Leuken fought for their last chance at the title and took the holeshot. Kops / de Laat now had a good start and were immediately behind Stalman / van Leuken, followed by Boeve / Sellis, Leferink / Veldman and Wisselink / Sloot. In the first lap Kops / de Laat took over the lead. Wisselink / Sloot lost fourth place to Leferink / Veldman. Halfway through the heat, van de Lagemaat / Rietman passed Wisselink / Sloot and they reported in fifth place. In the sixth lap Boeve / Sellis lost three places and ended up sixth behind Wisselink / Sloot. It was again Stal / van Leuken who had to give up places in the final phase of the heat. Kops / de Laat won the round ahead of Leferink / Veldman. Third place went to van de Lagemaat / Rietman and Wisselink / Sloot also crossed the finish line ahead of Stalman / van Leuken.
All combinations in the top ten managed to maintain their position in the rankings.
First round of National Championship sidecar:
1.Wisselink / Sloot, 2. van de Lagemaat / Rietman, 3. van Keulen / Weijers, 4. Kops / de Laat, 5. Leferink / Veldman, 6. Rouwenhorst / Rouwenhorst, 7. Boeve / Sellis, 8. Stalman / van Leuken, 9. Sesink / Beijenhof, 10. Bissels / Susbeek.
Second heat:
1.Kops / de Laat, 2. Leferink / Veldman, 3. van de Lagemaat / Rietman, 4. Wisselink / Sloot, 5. Stalman / van Leuken, 6. van Keulen / Weijers, 7. Boeve / Sellis, 8.Tjoelker / Klein Nijenhuis, 9. Vos / Eggink, 10. Sesink / Beijenhof.
Daily ranking NK sidecar:
1.Kops / de Laat 188, 2. Wisselink / Sloot 188, 3. van de Lagemaat / Rietman 186, 4. Leferink / Veldman 181, 5. van Keulen / Weijers 181, 6. Stalman / van Leuken 169, 7. Boeve / Sellis 168, 8. Rouwenhorst / Rouwenhorst 164, 9. Sesink / Beijenhof 163, 10 Tjoelker / Klein Nijenhuis 158.
Final standings NK sidecar 2018:
1. Kops / de Laat 1496. 2. Stalman / van Leuken 1431, 3. van Keulen / Weijers 1389, 4. Wisselink / Sloot 1387, 5. Leferink / Veldman 1371, 6. Boeve / Sellis 1354, 7. Tjoelker / Klein Nijenhuis 1333, 8. Sesink / Beijenhof 1312, 9. Heurkens / de Graauw 1203, 10. Smit / Wesselink 1190
By: Maycel de Bruijn
Photo: mdbmxpics
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