Preview Dutch Sidecar Masters; again in 2020 the national championship with world allure!
This Sunday, March 1, the ONK Sidecar Cross 2020 will start in a new meteorological season when the starting gate will drop for the first time in St.Isidorushoeve. The 'Dutch Sidecar Masters', as the championship is now called, can rightly bear this title. All 'Masters' at global sidecar cross level will be active in the Open Dutch Sidecar Cross Championship this season.
This also makes the Dutch Sidecar Masters by far the most prestigious national sidecar championship in the world in the coming spring!
The seven-round championship kicks off on March 1 in the legendary St.Isidorushoeve, which fortunately returns to the calendar after six years.
After this, the championship will visit Lochem on March 15, Lierop on March 22, Halle on April 5 and the cross fans will probably stumble over hidden eggs in Valkenswaard on Easter Monday, this year April 1, for the fifth round of the championship.
The following week the first GP Sidecars will follow in Oss, the Netherlands, and from then on the international sidecar circus will focus on the 2020 Sidecarcross World Championship.
However, on Ascension Day, a large part of this circus will return to Dutch soil for the sixth round of the Dutch Sidecar Masters when they visit Rhenen on May 21.
The best 20 teams from the points standings after Rhenen will then decide on Saturday, July 18 during the final at the Zwarte Cross festival, who can call themselves Dutch Sidecar Masters after all 14 heats of 2020!
Strong and ambitious Dutch teams in 2020
In 2019, the title went to Koen Hermans for the first time in his sidecar cross career, who became Dutch champion with his French driver Nicolas Musset by winning the Dutch Sidecar Masters 2019.
Both gentlemen would love to win that title again in 2020, but that will be difficult!
Hermans saw baking player Musset leave for team Bax and found an ideal replacement in the Belgian Glenn Janssens.
In addition to a new truck driver, Hermans is also starting with a new power source in his WSP sidecar.
In 2020, Hermans/Janssens will be in action on the circuits with a 4-stroke tuned by AMS.
A training camp in Spain has already gone well for Hermans/Janssens and the team seems ready to defend the Dutch Sidecar Masters title in 2020.
However, driver Nicolas Musset will want to retain that same Dutch Sidecar Masters title and with his switch to Etienne Bax he will certainly find an excellent driver at his side to achieve this goal. Team Bax is the reigning World Champion and for good reason. In addition to his superior capabilities as a driver, Bax always has things very well organized and the preparations for 2020 leave nothing to be desired. In addition, Bax is keen to bring the Dutch title back to Bergeijk on his WSP-Zabel and with Musset in the box, the 'team Bax' package is rock solid again. Bax/Musset will certainly put the heat on the competition.
After last season at team Bax, Kaspars Stupelis had to give up his place to Musset and therefore had to look for something else.
It remained quiet around the sympathetic Latvian baker for a long time until white smoke appeared, coming from the direction of Lochem!
At the end of 2019 it was announced that Kaspars Stupelis will start in 2020 together with Daniel Willemsen!
The duo already rode brilliantly together in 2003 and 2004 and won the World title together in those years.
Now, more than 15 years later, the gentlemen are determined for a revival and the signs seem good.
In Eersel during the season opener for the sidecars it already looked like something from the 'Back to the future' film series as the experienced crossers took a double heat victory in their temporary black cross outfits.
The race was not for hard points, but Bax/Musset still had the lead and reminded the audience of the time when Willemsen/Stupelis were lord and master on the planet 'sidecar cross' just after the turn of the millennium.
It remains unclear where the two veterans will actually stand in the standings after the last heat of 2020.
However, the obvious favorites for the Dutch title in 2020, team Hermans and team Bax, have in any case been warned about the drive of the old teachers who have clearly not forgotten their tricks!
Team Hermans/Janssens is ready to defend the title (photo team Hermans)
The new spring begins on March 1, and spring is precisely the time of the flowers and the bees, or in this case, better said, the Frog and the Bee!
Julian Veldman, nicknamed 'the Frogg', has managed to attract Czech baking artist Ondrej Cermak, aka the bee, for 2020. After a year of heavy rehabilitation, the experienced Czech was eager to ride a season with a real Dutch sand maestro and with the departure of Janssens to team Hermans, the way was clear for Cermak to join Veldman.
On a CPD frame, a new brand from former WHT builder Wim Hones, Veldman/Cermak will compete with the now familiar Mega block and can certainly give the competition some serious blows here and there!
There are of course more men who do not want to eat Dutch cheese off their bread. Team Van Werven/Beunk, for example, which finished third in the championship last year.
At the invitation of the American TM dealer, they went on a training course in the US and put their sidecar through its paces. The Americans there really got their eyes bulging with sidecar cross at the top global level! Van Werven/Beunk will do everything they can to show that third place in the final standings of 2019 was certainly no fluke.
No American adventures for Justin Keuben, but a new chapter in 2020 with another baking artist. The Lithuanian Kostas Beleckas, who was in the sidecar with the Belgian Santermans last year, will accompany Keuben during the competitions. Every year the level of this passionate baking artist goes up another step and this also applies to rider Justin Keuben himself. The team is super motivated to definitely conquer the top of the sidecar cross this year!
Cousin Mike Keuben has set his sights on experience next to him in the left sidecar for 2020. His new baking player for the coming season is none other than the Swiss Meinrad Schelbert, who previously caused a sensation with Andy Burgler and the German Marko Happich, among others.
Experience or not, Schelbert now had to get used to it. For the first time he is riding with a Dutchman and the sand training was of such a high level that even a former GP podium customer had to get used to the Dutch approach to sidecar racing in the sand. Conversely, Schelbert's experience on the harder slopes provides all kinds of small tips and tricks that Keuben can use again.
Both gentlemen can only grow together and with the potential of the seriously big 4-stroke Ppower bomb that they have in the VMC, one should not be surprised if 'Iron' Mike Keuben can cause many surprises in the Dutch Sidecar Masters.
Anyone who fits the shoe puts it on and this also applies to Iljen Kops, who has also found baking services abroad for this season. Englishman Paul Horton will assist Kops in the left sidecar in 2020 and the all-orange combination looked fast on previous training sessions completed in Spain this winter.
An absolute outsider from our country that could surprise in 2020 is the young team of Tim Leferink/Sam Veldman. The team won the National Sidecar Cross Championships by force majeure in 2019 and will move to the Dutch Sidecar Masters this year.
The new VMC sidecar with an engine block tuned by AMS has already made a good impression in Eersel and the blue flash of light with #75 could raise many eyebrows this year!
Participation of the Belgian World Summit
Once again, one can expect the most resistance from outside the Dutch borders, especially from teams from Belgium and England.
From Belgium, the 2019 vice-World Champions, Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart, enter the battle for the Dutch Sidecar Masters title.
The West Flemish team remains the same in terms of driver/player line-up, but the frame is changing. After riding a VMC for years, this year they are switching to the WSP frame.
The rest of the driving package remains the same and full of good courage and confidence, the ever friendly Belgian team is preparing for the first major showdown with the competition on March 1 in St.Isidorushoeve.
Another Belgian top team that will join the battle at the front is the Dierckens/Bax team. That this team will show itself at the front is almost a certainty for the absolute holeshot king of global sidecar cross. One can almost set a clock to see if Arne Dierckens is the fastest away from behind the starting gate!
In 2019, Dierckens slowly returned in the preseason after a long rehabilitation, but nevertheless he was able to finish 4th in the final standings in the Dutch Sidecar Masters. Arne Dierckens and Robbie Bax also eventually took a GP victory in 2019. Dierckens/Bax will certainly continue this upward trend in 2020 and that makes this combination a dangerous customer to steal many points from the Dutch competition.
A third team from Belgium that we will often see in action in the Netherlands is that of the fast schoolteacher Kelly Debruyne who will once again compete with the other teams together with baking player Jens Mans in 2020. Debruyne is coming back from a serious injury she sustained at the end of 2019, but full of courage and drive, Debruyne/Mans are eager to get back into the fight. The first race will be skipped, but from the second race in Lochem they will be there to give the team its spurs!
Normally we also expect nestor Kristof Santermans to be present in the Netherlands. For this year, however, according to both gentlemen, he will ride with Elvijs Mucenieks purely for 'fun'. Elvijs Mucenieks is returning from a serious injury and wants to take it easy, so to speak. However, when asked about a possible participation in the Dutch Sidecar Masters cycle in 2020, Mucenieks did not answer. That is to say, the sympathetic Latvian who lives in Belgium said 'we'll see'...
The story of two experienced sidecar crossers with blood that flows where it goes and the answer 'we'll see'.
That answer has been heard before in the sidecar cross world, so who knows, we might see Santermans/Mucenieks at the Dutch bar somewhere this season.
The Belgian top combination Sanders/Badaire currently has no aspirations for Dutch competitions, but in addition to the World Cup, they mainly compete in the French championships. This is of course also due to the nationality of baking player Johnny Badaire.
Vanluchene/Van den Boogaart on a WSP sidecar in 2020 (photo Stijn Vanoverbeeke)
The English top teams are ready to dive into the Dutch sand
The English Armada in the Dutch Sidecar Masters will again be led this season by the two sidecars of Brett Wilkinson/Ryan Humphrey and Jake Brown/Joe Millard.
The once again beautiful Deep Blue-Pink color scheme of team Wilkinson guarantees spectacular sidecar cross. Unfortunately, 2019 did not go well for the team and driver Wilkinson's serious back injury in particular quickly threw a spanner in the works. Later, Wilkinson also suffered a complicated wrist injury that even prevented him from participating in the Nations-cross in Schwedt. It is hoped that the ever-sympathetic English team will stay away from bad luck in 2020. Preparations for 2020 have already started early and are participating in almost all competitions of the Dutch Sidecar Masters. Wilkinson/Humphrey only have to miss the race in Valkenswaard due to a clash with the British sidecar cross championship.
The absolute surprise of 2019, Jake Brown/Joe Millard, also has a similar schedule. The British team, which has strong ties with the Netherlands, will compete in 2020 with many new Dutch sponsors and will also exchange the WSP frame for a VMC sidecar. The surprising number eight in the world of 2019 is ready to further penetrate to the absolute top of global sidecar cross together with his experienced racing driver Joe Millard and will certainly play a significant role in the Dutch Sidecar Masters.
Father Stuart Brown, again with Josh Chamberlain as baker, will also be in action in the Dutch Sidecar Masters. However, they have chosen to schedule only one match so far, namely the second match on March 15 in Lochem.
George Kinge's English team, which can count on experienced baking player Steve Kirwin this season, will also be in action in the Netherlands. In any case, they have the match in Lierop in their sights.
The entire top 15 of the 2019 World Cup at the start in the Netherlands
In addition to teams from England and Belgium, some international stars will show their skills at the Dutch Sidecar Masters competitions
The Estonian Kert Varik, the current number five in the world, will in any case appear on stage in Lochem together with his Finnish baking player Lari Kunnas. They are currently still planning which competitions the team will participate in in addition to the World Championships in 2020.
The always cheerful Italian Zeno Compelati, who rose to seventh place in the world last year, will also appear in the Dutch Sidecar Masters, again together with his French baking player Bastien Choppin.
It is not yet 100% clear which engine the Italian/French tandem will use to run the circuits. What team Compelati did let us know is that the matches in Halle and Valkenswaard have been surrounded in red on the calendar for the time being.
In addition to all these absolute international top teams, many foreign teams will attend the matches in the Netherlands to test their strength against the competition before the World Cups start.
A team that certainly wants to do this, but like so many teams could not yet say which competition exactly they wanted to participate in, is the Austrian team Weiss-Schneider. After a very unfortunate and long-lasting wrist injury, it seems that they can start racing again on the circuits in 2020. In any case, the motivation of the still young Austrian team is higher than ever!
Seven competitions, 14 heats and participation of the absolute world top means that as a (sidecar) cross enthusiast you will not want to miss a second of the Dutch Sidecar Masters 2020!
Complete Calendar Dutch Sidecar Masters 2020:
March 1 St.Isidorushoeve
March 15 Lochem
March 22 Lierop
April 5 Halle
April 12 Valkenswaard
May 21 Rhenen (Thursday)
July 18 Lichtenvoorde (Saturday at the Zwarte Cross festival)
Please note: the final list of participants was not yet known at the time this article went to press.
General information: onk-motocross.nl
Text:Emil Bilars
Header photo: Orangehat.nl (Start St.Isidorushoeve)
Other photos: team Hermans and team Vanluchene
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