SMXoN: The Netherlands on roses for title extension!
Sidecar team Netherlands is firmly on course to conquer the country title in sidecar cross in 2022. Hermans, riding with Robbe de Veene in the box, took a head-to-head victory and Van Werven/Van den Boogaart took fourth place. This puts the Netherlands firmly in the lead. Estonia and Great Britain also performed well. Team Belgium no longer has a podium spot entirely in its own hands after a 9th (Vandaele) and 13th (Sanders) place in the second heat.
Hermans/De Veene were on the inside like a bullet at the start, while at the back of the field Peter/Debruyne crashed hard on behalf of Germany together with the Italian team of the Lasagna brothers. Hermans rode at a tight pace from the front and gave Robbe De Veene his very first victory in a sidecar cross at the absolute highest level. The Estonian Varik was able to pass Vandaele, who started second, after a number of laps. While Vandaele fell further and further back, Varik came more firmly into second place. Winner Hermans could no longer be identified, but second place was brought home to Estonia. The teammates of Varik/Kunnas also did well as Gordejev/Stupelis took fifth place, taking Estonia up to third place in the overall standings. Among the Estonian teams it was Brown/Chamberlain on behalf of GB in third place and Van Werven/Van den Boogaart on behalf of NL in four. The Netherlands scored very well, while the British also did well, because just behind Van Werven, Wilkinson/Millard finished sixth and with this team GB consolidated second place in the overall standings, albeit behind the sovereign leading Netherlands. For Belgium, Vandaele ultimately finished ninth and Sanders/Rostingt were in the top ten for a long time, but ultimately only finished thirteenth. With this, Belgium must hope for a small miracle to still have a chance of a podium spot at the end of the day.
SMX of Nations standings with one heat to go: 1.Netherlands 13pts. 2.Great Britain 23pts. 3.Estonia 29pts. 5.Belgium 53pts.
text Emil Bilars / photo WSC
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