Northern Irish win Vets MXdN, Belgians just miss podium
Anyone who expected a victory for the Northern Irish (Bradshaw, Crockard, Merton, Cubitt) in the Vets MXdN can say so now! Yet Gordon Crockard's team ended up at the top after two days of competition in Farleigh Castle. They beat Wales and the US. The Belgians won in 2019 but now had to settle for fourth place.
Mike Brown was once again the big winner individually in southern England. Apart from ex-GP winner Crockard, the Northern Irish did not immediately have the most “star power” in their ranks. Although, Neville Bradshaw had been making waves as an EVO star for a while and finished second individually. In combination with an excellent Thomas Merton, the Northern Ireland team was rock solid.
To their own surprise, the Belgians were still in the lead on Saturday evening, but on Sunday they were presented with the bill for inferior starting positions, bad luck and of course a less strong quartet than the original foursome. Due to the absence of Sven Breugelmans and Ken De Dycker, team manager Danny Scheers had found two suitable replacements with Wim Couwberghs (photo below) and Christian Burnham (bottom photo). It was therefore crucial for both Christian and Wim to finish as high as possible. Together they decided that someone would take turns starting from the second row so that Burnham had a chance of a top-15 finish.
Couwberghs completed a regular match day with 21 – 24 – 23 scores. A great achievement, especially considering his starting positions! Burnham finished 19th in the opener on Sunday and seemed on his way to a stunt in the final sprint. After a good start he was 12th until the gearbox suddenly gave up the ghost. This also meant that the Belgians' podium chances were gone for good. However, we saw Steve Ramon (intro photo) running at the front again in race 3 - in which he finished fifth - and the first series of the day was certainly positive across the board for Team Belgium.
Unfortunately, Filip Van Dijck (photo below) was also not spared from bad luck. A fall at the start of the third moto hurt us. The Kawasaki rider did not get further than 27th place. Very unfortunate because on both days Filip had shown that he had top-10 speed. In the first two races, Van Dijck finished 11th.
Race 1 Vets MXdN EVO
1. Bryan Mackenzie, 2. Ryan Voase, 3. Mike Brown, 4. Neville Bradshaw, 5. Mark Jones, 6. Steve Ramon 7. Kurt Nicoll, 8. Gary Davies, 9. Steve Bixby, 10. Brett Fisher, 11. Filip Van Dyck, 12. Gordon Crockard, 13. Billy Mackenzie, 14. Wim Couwberghs, 15. Jason Morland, 16. Keith Johnson. 17. Mervyn Anstie, 18. Sean Hamblin, 19. Kevin Murray, 20. Phil Lewis, 21. Danny Blakeley, 22. Christian Burnham, 23. Thomas Merton, 24. Chris Bell, 25. Thomas Cotter, 26. Doug Dubach, 27. Trevor Cubitt, 28. Kim Dubraing, 29. Jon Barefoot, 30. Brian Wheeler, 31. Laurence Spence, 32. Paul Coward, 33. Matin Cuddy, 34. Peter Skov Larsen, 35. Ben Masters, 36. Fredrik Blyckert, 37. Ian Wilson, 38. Mark Dudley, 39. Jurgen Aker, 40. David Tutty, 41. Krostoffer Rexvik, 42. Mogens Neilsens , 43. John Egholm, 44. Darryl Stuart, 45. Hans Ronald Hohlweg, 46. Torben Nodskov, 47. Morten Flahagen, 48. Jon Halvorsen, 49. Robert Fosseid, 50. Gavin Robertson, 51. Gareth Clements Disqualified: Jamie Lewis
Vets MXdN Race 2
1. Mike Brown, 2. Ryan Voase, 3. Shane Carless, 4. Neville Bradshaw, 5. Thomas Merton, 6. Brian Wheeler, 7. Keih Johnson, 8. Mark Jones, 9. Steve Ramon 10. Kurt Nicoll, 11. Filip Van Dyck, 12. Bryan Mackenzie, 13. Brett Fisher, 14. Gordon Crockard, 15. Sean Hamblin, 16. Gary Davies, 17. Billy Mackenzie, 18. Kevin Murray, 19. Christian Burnham, 20. Jason Morland, 21. Wim Couwberghs, 22. Doug Dubach, 23. Chris Bell, 24. Trevor Cubitt, 25. Jon Barfoot, 26. Phil Lewis, 27. Paul Coward, 28. Stever Bixby, 29. Simon Cotter, 30. Laurence Spnce, 31. Kim Dubriang, 32. Peter Skov Larsen, 33. Mark Dudley, 34. Jurgen Aker, 35. Ben Masters, 36. Fredrik Blyckert, 37. David Tutty, 38. Ian Wilson, 39. Mervyn Anstie, 40. Kristoffer Rexvik, 41. Morgen Nielsen , 42. Darryl Sturt, 43. Hans Ronald Hohlweg, 44. Gareth Clements, 45. Torben Nodskov, 46. Morten Flahagen, 47. Jon Halvorsen, 48. Robert Fossiel, 49. Gavin Robertson DNF Matin Cuddy, DNF John Egholm, DNF Danny Blakeley
Vets MXdN Race 3
1. Mike Brown, 2. Ryan Voase, 3. Neville Bradshaw, 4. Shane Carless, 5. Steve Ramon 6. Gordon Crockard, 7. Thomas Merton, 8. Mark Jones, 9. Brett Fisher, 10. Gary Davies, 11. Brian Brian Wheeler, 12. Ketih Johnson, 13. Kurt Nicoll, 14. Sean Hamblin, 15. Bryan Mackenzie , 16. Jason Morland, 17. Doug Dubach, 18. Steve Bixby, 19. Danny Blakeley, 20. Kevin Murray, 21. Christian Burnham, 22.Phil Lewis, 23.Jon Barfoot, 24. Wim Couwberghs, 25. Paul Coward, 26. Laurence Spence, 27. Filip Van Dyck, 28. Gavin Robertson, 29. Matin Cudby, 30; Trevor Cubitt, 31. Mervyn Anstie, 32. Peter Skov Larsen, 33. Simon Cotter, 34. Ben Masters, 35. Mark Dudley, 36. Darryl Sturt, 37. Ian Wilson, 38. Kristoffer Rexvik, 39. Jurgen Aker, 40 David Tutty, 41. Chris Bell, 42. John Egholm, 43. Hans Ronald Hohlweg, 44. Fredrik Blyckert, 45. Torben Nodskow, 46. Morten Flahagen, 47. Gareth Clements, 48. Jon Halvorsen, 49 Ronert Fosseid, DNF Billy Mackenzie, DNF Kim Durbaing, DNF Mogens Neilsen
1. Mike Brown, 2. Bryan Mackenzie, 3. Billy Mackenzie, 4. Neville Bradshaw, 5. Shane Carless, 6. Thomas Merton, 7. Mark Jones, 8. Keith Johnason, 9. Ryan Voase, 10. Gary Davies, 11.Gordon Crockard, 12. Steve Ramon 13. Brett Fisher 14. Filip Van Dyck, 15. Sean Hamblin, 16. Doug Dubach, 17. Gavin Robertson, 18. Kevin Murray, 19. Steve Bixby, 20. Jason Morland, 21. Brian Wheeler, 22. Jon Barfoot, 23. Wim Couwberghs, 24. Phil Lewis, 25. Trevor Cubitt, 26. Mervyn Anstie, 27. Danny Blakeley, 28. Chris Bell, 29. Simon Cotter, 30. Matin Cuddy, 31. Laurence Spence, 32. Peter Skov Larsen, 33. Paul Coward , 34. Kristoffer Rexvik, 35. Mark Dudley, 36. Ian Wilson, 37. Fredrik Blyckert, 38. Darryl Sturt, 39. Ben Masters, 40. Jugen Aker, 41. David Tutty, 42. John Egholm, 43. Torben Nordskow , 44. Hans Ronald Hohlweg, 45. Gareth Clements, 46. Morten Flahagen, 47. Jon Halvorsen, 48. Robert Fosseid, DNF Christian Burnham, DNF Kurt Nicoll, DNF Kim Dubriang, DNF Morgens Neilsen
Vets MXdN EVO country classification 2021
1.Northern Ireland 99 pts
2. Wales 104 pts
3. USA 111 pts
4. Belgium 169 pts
5. Great Britain 209 pts
6. South Eastern 218 pts
7. Scotland 225 pts
8. UK EVO 232 pts
9. Ireland 349 pts
10. South West 374 pts
11. Sweden 436 pts
12. Denmark 473 pts
13. Norway 550 pts
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