New GP sidecar cross team Junior Verhelst/Niklas Willemsen speaks!
In 2019, many ambitious sidecar cross teams from the Benelux are eager to start the World Cup cycle. A new young team that can be seen in action during the first GP on April 6/7 in Lommel is that of the Belgian rider Junior Verhelst and the Dutch baking player Niklas Willemsen.
MXmag spoke to Niklas Willemsen who this year prefers 'baking' to riding himself, which he used to do in his youth and afterwards in the National Championships.
MXmag: 'Last year you started the season as a sidecar driver and now in 2019 we see you as an upcoming World Cup driver. Can you explain to us how that works?
Willemsen: “I made this choice last year. I wanted to try something different. Then I saw on Facebook that Junior (Verhelst) needed a bakist because he was without one. The intention at first was to only ride in Made, but he also wanted to start in Varsseveld. Then we started training the week before Varsseveld and that went really great! After this we rode super heats in Varsseveld and Made. So now I'm suddenly a baking expert and so far it's been really great!”
MXmag: You are immediately going for the big work between the World Cup teams. How many GP races do you want to participate in and what is your goal in the GPs this year?
Willemsen: “We are going to try to qualify at 11 GPs and we will mainly gain a lot of experience, so this will really be a learning year. But of course a few GP points at the end of the year wouldn't go amiss! We will also participate in almost all ONKs and some other competitions in Germany, France and Belgium.”
MXmag: What do you think is your strong point as a team and where is there room for improvement?
Willemsen: “There is currently no area for improvement in our team. We are currently a very strong team that is training hard to be ready for the upcoming season. A strong point is certainly that we have our mechanic Dave Bellens with us this year. He makes our engine in tip-top condition and that gives us a lot of peace of mind later during the competitions but also now during training because he really prepares the engine perfectly. A camper has also been purchased. That is of course also very easy, especially for international competitions.”
MXmag: 'Finally, is there anything you would like to say?'
Willemsen: “Yes, certainly. Junior and I would first like to thank all our sponsors. Without them this is not possible.
In addition, I would personally like to thank Rudi and Junior (Verhelst) for their confidence in me as a novice baking artist.
Finally, a word of thanks to my mother and my girlfriend. They are there for me day and night and I am really supported by them at every cross.”
Tekst: Emil Bilars
Photos: Team Verhelst/Willemsen
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