Bax/Stupelis win heat 2, Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart take GP win in Lommel!
Etienne Bax and Kaspars Stupelis took revenge in the 2nd heat in Lommel and managed to win it with flying colors. Vanluchene finished second and took the GP win. Willemsen/Rostingt took third place and the same number of points as Vanluchene, but the latter was better than Willemsen in the 2nd heat, and so the reigning World Champion took the GP win just ahead of Willemsen. Thanks to his strong performance in the 2nd heat, Bax finished third on the day's podium.
Team Willemsen quickly took the lead again with the start where, miraculously, all 30 GP sidecars were well on their way.
Many eyes were focused on Veldman/Janssens who of course wanted to repeat their feat from the first heat. Now, however, things did not go well after three laps and with a gigantic crash on the starting field, the fairy tale was over. With both of them missing the front flap on their cross helmets, they continued for a while, but a few laps later Veldman, somewhat groggily, stopped his sidecar in the pits.
Bax had already passed Willemsen at the front and then Bax did what he came for. Take the heat win with a big 20 second lead. Vanluchene also quickly took a place away from Willemsen and finished second. Willemsen/Rostingt came third, who were now equal with Vanluchene in terms of World Cup points, but Vanluchene was now able to take the GP win by catching Willemsen in the 2nd heat, it was said, a street length behind Bax/Stupelis who was just big in the 2nd heat. were the boss. Willemsen, gesturing wildly to his driver, managed to finish third and save the day from Varik/Daiders, who came quite close in the final phase.
Team Kops achieved a truly sensational fifth place in the 2nd GP heat. Kops/Lambrechts passed vice-champion Hermans in the heavy sand of Lommel, rolled up a number of sidecars and in the final phase even passed the English crackers Brown/Chamberlain with apparent ease. A big compliment to the team from Schaijk that became champion at the nationals in the Netherlands last year and has now left many GP riders behind!
At six it was Hermans/Musset who took Dierckens, who finished seventh, in tow in the last lap when both Hermans and Dierckens flew past Brown's English combination. Brown/Chamberlain had to settle for eighth place in the 2nd heat.
Thus the verdict was given in Lommel and the public became the clear winner after a very exciting first GP Sidecar Cross 2019! This coming weekend the first GP will take place on hard surfaces in Spain, after which the sidecar cross circus will be a guest in Oldebroek the following week for the GP Sidecar Cross of the Netherlands!
Final result GP Sidecars Lommel and also interim standings World Championship Sidecar Cross 2019;
PL. NO. NAME NAT. ENGINE POINTS
01. 01. Marvin Vanluchene-Ben van den Bogaart BE-NL VMC-Zabel 42
02. 111. Daniel Willemsen-Luc Rostingt NL-FR WSP-Zabel 42
03. 82. Etienne Bax-Kaspars Stupelis NL-LV WSP-Zabel 40
04. 07. Kert Varik-Lauris Daiders EE-LV WSP-Husqvarna 30
05. 02. Koen Hermans-Nicolas Musset NL-FR WSP-Zabel 29
06. 10. Arne Dierckens-Robbie Bax BE-NL WSP-Zabel 27
07. 04. Valentin Giraud-Andres Haller FR-DE WHT-MEGA 26
08. 05. Julian Veldman-Glenn Janssens NL-BE WHT-MEGA 25
09. 09. Davy Sanders-Lari Kunnas BE-FI WSP-Zabel 23
10. 888. Stuart Brown-Josh Chamberlain GB-GB WHT-Husqvarna 22
11. 23. George Kinge-Lewis Gray GB-GB VMC-Zabel 20
12. 98. Ijen Kops-Pim Lambrechts NL-NL WSP-Husqvarna 16
13. 17. Justin Keuben-Dion Rietman NL-NL VMC-Zabel 16
14. 19. Marco Heinzer-Ruedi Betschart CH-CH VMC-KTM 11
16. 176. Eddie Janecke-Gordon Bothur DE-DE WSP-MEGA 11
15. 16. Kristof Santermans-Konstantins Beleckas BE-LT WSP-Zabel 11
17. 14. Gert van Werven-Peter Beunk NL-NL WSP-TM 10
18. 24. Joachim Reimann-Philipp Reimann DE-DE VMC-Zabel 9
19. 18. Zeno Compalati-Bastien Chopin IT-FR VMC-Zabel 7
20. 72. Frank Mulders-Aivar van de Wiel NL-NL WSP-Zabel 6
21. 99. Thom van de Lagemaat-Han van Hal NL-NL VMC-MEGA 4
22. 49. Tanel Reesna-Alexandre Tourbier EE-FR VMC-Zabel 4
23. 22. Christophe Cuche-Maxime Cuche CH-CH VMC-KTM 3
24. 419. Junior Verhelst-Nicky Debruyne BE-BE WSP-Zabel 3
25. 21. Pavel Hroch-Martin Hroch CZ-CZ WSP-Zabel 3
26. 46. Tobias Blank-Lemuel Ravera DE-IT VMC-Zabel 2
27. 100. Dan Foden-Roy Bijenhof GB-NL WSP-Zabel 0
28. 28. Jake Brown/Joe Billion GB-GB WSP-Zabel 0
29. 94. Kelly Debruyne-Jens Mans BE-BE WSP-Husqvarna 0
30. 110. Sven Wisselink-Bart Sloot NL-NL WSP-Zabel 0
31. 36. Michael Hodges-Scott Grahame GB-GB WSP-Zabel 0
Text: Emil Bilars
Photo: Orangehat.nl
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