Giraud wins the home GP in Plomion, Bax strengthens his World Championship lead!
Valentin Giraud and Andres Haller have won the Grand Prix sidecarcross in Plomion, France. In front of a frenzied crowd, Frenchman Giraud won the first heat and was classified third in the second heat, ultimately giving them enough points in the final ranking to be crowned the overall winner. The Belgian/Dutch combination of Dierckens/Bax would happily climb onto the podium in third place at the end of the day. Etienne Bax and Kaspars Stupelis finished second at the end of both GP heats and stood satisfied on the podium knowing that closest competitors for the World Championship battle, Hermans/Musset and Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart, had both retired in one of the heats . Hermans dropped out in the leading position in the first heat due to a broken gearbox and Vanluchene crashed hard into the gates at the end of the second heat and was unable to continue.
About thirty-eight sidecars had registered to participate in the French Grand Prix. The big one missing was Daniël Willemsen. The ten-time World Champion did not have a complete team and was therefore unable to participate. It is hoped that Willemsen will soon have his GP affairs in order, otherwise an inglorious end threatens for the living sidecar cross legend from Lochem.
After Saturday, eight teams had to drop out as only thirty were allowed to stand at the bar on Sunday. Unfortunately, the curtain fell for a number of lowlanders. Kops/Lambrechts went really hard in the qualifying heat and were unable to make any progress in the last change qualifying. The latter also applied to Junior Verhelst, who could not compete in the top six in the last change and was therefore forced to follow the World Cup battle as a spectator the next day as a spectator.
Heat 1
The first heat started under sweltering conditions just before half past one. The large crowd saw Dierckens/Bax take the holeshot, followed by Sanders, Van Werven, Compelati and just behind them the cracks Giraud, Vanluchene and Hermans. Bax/Stupelis didn't do themselves any favors again and only set off in 16th.
Already in the second round, Hermans was already in second place, with Vanluchene just behind him and Sanders, who had Giraud in his neck and could do little against the Frenchman's urge to act. Giraud quickly grabbed Sanders and then quickly chased Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart, cheered on by the thousands of French spectators. After ten minutes of racing, Hermans/Musset had finished following and in the second corner after the start, Hermans/Musset moved in to claim first place. Subsequently, a victory for the Dutch/French couple seemed almost inevitable. They rode steadily away from the pursuers and made no mistakes. Yet unfortunately things turned out differently for Hermans/Musset! After 20 minutes of the race, the gearbox in the machine broke down and they had to retire from the leading position, with heavy disappointment. This was grist to the mill for Dierckens, who regained the top spot. But that place was anything but safe. Behind Dierckens, Giraud had passed Vanluchene and the Frenchman was visibly closing in on the leading duo. Once again in the second corner, an attack was launched on Dierckens for first place. Giraud, with the knife between his teeth, actually braked just a little too late and hit Dierckens in the middle of the bend, but there was no question of intentional foul play. This touch ensured that Giraud was able to take over the first place and in front of a frenzied home crowd, Giraud/Haller eventually won the round. Dierckens/Bax were eventually able to convert their holeshot into a second place at the finish, with Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart in third place at a distance.
Bax/Stupelis were clearly one of the fastest sidecars and managed to finish fourth after their dramatic start from sixteenth place. Sanders/Kunnas finished fifth after a solid race and Gert van Werven and Peter Beunk were also able to maintain a strong pace and finished just under five seconds behind Sanders in sixth. In seventh place we saw the Varik/Daiders who gradually moved further up the race and could be satisfied with this result. This also applied to Santermans/Beleckas, who finished a great match in eighth place. The fast-starting Italian Compelati really becomes a regular in the top ten of the World Championship, because they now finished ninth in the heat after even standing still for a moment when the dead man's switch was pulled out of the machine.
There were also satisfied faces at the Swiss team Heinzer/Betschaert, who were able to pull away from the pursuers after a spectacular battle in the middle phase of the race. Following closely behind were Keuben/Rietman who finished eleventh at the finish. The Belgian Dylan Boussy took just two World Cup points in ninth place and Van der Lagemaat/Van Hal also scored just 1 point with their twentieth place. Behind this Kelly Debruyne came in and the fast schoolteacher did not score any points for the World Cup standings.
Heat 2
In the second heat we saw the holeshot for Giraud/Haller, with Vanluchene, Bax, Dierckens and Hermans close behind. Giraud immediately received a lot of pressure from Vanluchene for his first place. Then on the third lap, Giraud seemed to stall in the sharp bend before the big dismount and Vanluchene hit Giraud's rear wheel with his front wheel and the sidecar shot dangerously into the air. Miraculously, they landed straight again and were even able to continue with more speed towards the exit and thus took over the first place from Giraud while flying down. In the initial phase it seemed as if Giraud's machine often suddenly stopped for a while and the Frenchman soon had to see that he had ended up in fifth place halfway through the race after Bax, Hermans and Dierckens had also passed the Frenchman. At that moment Bax/Stupelis were already in first place. Vanluchene was able to enjoy his first place for two laps until the oncoming Bax came alongside at the start of the fifth lap and visibly pulled ahead of his pursuer. After twenty minutes of competition, Vanluchene was hit by a fighting Hermans/Musset in the neck and within five minutes Hermans was able to refer the current World Champion back to third place. Giraud had also gotten into the rhythm again and had taken back fourth place from Dierckens. Hermans in second place ran away from Vanluchene but could never get back to Bax/Stupelis who showed an unforgiving pace on the spectacular track in Plomion. With three laps to go, the sting seemed to be out of the question for the places in the top five.
However, the battle for the sidecars was only over at the finish and that showed once again! On the back straight in the last lap, Ben van den Boogaart had fallen out of the box and at full speed and suddenly out of balance, driver Vanluchene shot off the track at right angles and crashed hard into the fences. It was a very serious crash and it was fortunate that the spinning sidecar did not fly over the fences into the audience. Unfortunately, the crashing equipment did take away a flagman who was stationed there and who ultimately had to be transported to hospital with injuries. Vanluchene himself also went to the hospital in Reims for a check-up with a painful jaw and ribs.
However, due to Vanluchene's crash, Giraud/Haller now moved up to third place and that was just enough to claim the Grand Prix victory for the winner of the second heat Etienne Bax/Kaspars Stupelis who finished fourth in the first round and Since Giraud now finished third after winning the first heat, the Frenchman picked up just a few more points. Dierckens/Bax moved up to fourth at the finish due to Vanluchene's crash and with the second place from the first heat this meant that they could join the day's podium in third place.
Van Werven/Beunk rode another great race and had to defend their fifth place against the advancing Sanders/Kunnas in the final phase. However, the positions remained unchanged and Van Werven finished fifth and Sanders sixth. In seventh place we saw the Estonian/Latvian team of Varik/Daiders. After a bad start at the back, they managed to work their way forward spectacularly and deservedly won many World Cup points. Compelati/Chopin finished at eight and Jake Brown/Joe Millard finished at nine. Just behind this, Keuben/Rietman came in at ten after another tight race. Santermans finished eleventh in this heat and Van der Lagemaat/Van Hal finished fifteenth, taking a handful of World Cup points to Brabant.
Bijenhof, as Foden's driver, scored just shy of points in this heat and the same applied to the chasing Wisselink/Sloot, who finished 22nd. Team Boussy dropped out and Kelly Debruyne and Jens Mans also literally dropped out of the race after a crash during a fight with another sidecar.
The French public thus received a home rider as the victor of the Grand Prix, with Bax/Stupelis in second place and Dierckens/Bax in third place on the day's podium.
Because Hermans and Vanluchene both scored poorly in one heat, Bax/Stupelis have now finished in the World Championship standings with a lead of 26 points over number two Vanluchene. Hermans is third with a gap of 23 points to second place.
The next GP is already this weekend in Kivioli, Estonian.
Daily results GP Sidecarcross Plomion-France
Standings 2019 World Championship Sidecar Cross after six GPs
Text: Emil Bilars
Photo: Orangehat.nl
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