MON: Foreign victories in interclasses
Last Sunday the MX2/Open Inters also came into action. For the MX Open Inters this was a race that counted towards the championship. For the MX2 Inters, this race did not count towards the championship due to the IMBA race in Germany. In the Open class, the podium consisted of all guest drivers. The Belgian Arno van Mieghem was able to take his place on the highest step of the podium with a first and second place in the heats. With a third and first place, Scott Smulders took second place in the daily rankings. Raf Meuwissen achieved second and fourth place in the heats and was able to take his place on the lowest step of the podium. Roel van Oort finished fourth in the overall standings and Loeka Thonies did well in fifth place in the championship standings. With this result, Thonies is the new leader in the standings.
In the MX2 Inters, the day's victory with Chris Mills also went to a guest rider. Mills won both heats. Jaap Janssen came second twice and therefore also second in the daily rankings. Levi Schrik also reached the podium of honor with a fifth and third place. The top five in this class was completed by Damien Knuiman and Finn Pullen.
First heat
It was Arno van Mieghem who was in the lead at the first pass ahead of Meuwissen, Thonies, Bob Ruijters and Erik de Bruyn. In the next lap, de Bruyn had moved up to fourth place and Ruijters soon had to let Janssen pass. Halfway through the heat, Arno van Mieghem had a twenty second lead and this would only increase. Arno van Mieghem also won the heat. Behind them, Meuwissen, Thonies and Janssen battled for third place. De Bruyn was thirteen seconds behind and came to a standstill. An oncoming Mills took advantage of this, having come back to the front from fifteenth place. Two laps before the checkered flag fell, Mills had to leave fifth place to Smulders, who came from 24th. Smulders continued his advance and also passed Janssen and Thonies to finish in third place behind Meuwissen. Thonies fell to sixth place on the final lap. It was Mills who again fought his way past Janssen to the checkered flag in fourth place.
Second heat
It was again Arno van Mieghem who had the best start ahead of Thonies, Roel van Oort, Jeffrey van Kempen and Ruijters. During the first passage, Van Oort had passed Thonies. Van Kempen had fallen back and Ruijters moved up to fourth place and he was followed by Smulders who now immediately showed his face at the front. Halfway through the heat, Arno van Mieghem had a ten-second lead. Behind him, Smulders had continued his advance and was now second. Van Oort was eight seconds behind. Thonies and Meuwissen followed within ten seconds. Thonies then had to slow down and the same applied to Meuwissen. Both gentlemen saw Mills and Janssen pass them by. Smulders had a lot of momentum at the front and a few laps later he caught up with Arno van Mieghem and then passed him. Smulders quickly took a lead and eventually won the heat with a lead of seventeen seconds. Arno van Mieghem saw Mills approaching quickly in the final phase, but he ultimately had three seconds left to finish second. Janssen and Mills passed van Oort on the penultimate lap and it was Mills who won that battle to finish third. Janssen took fourth place and van Oort was able to calmly drive to fifth place.
First heat:
1. Arno van Mieghem (Bel) 23:56.609, 2. Meuwissen +28.265, 3. Smulders +31.325, 4. Mills (GBR) +33.234, 5. Janssen +38.948, 6. Thonies +46.988, 7. Jordi van Mieghem +52, 896, 8. van Oort +56,896, 9. de Bruyn +58.863, 10 Pullen +1:06.134.
Second heat:
1. Smulders 23:22.986, 2. Arno van Mieghem (Bel) +17.647, 3. Mills (GBR) +21.060, 4. Janssen +28.779, 5. van Oort +37.544, 6. Meuwissen +59.713, 7. Thonies + 1:20.044, 8. Schrik +1:23.918, 9. Lucas +1:26.823, 10. Ruijters +1:31.326.
Daily classification MX 2 Inters:
1. Mills (GBR) 120, 2. Janssen 108, 3. Schril 98, 4. Damien Knuiman 94, 5. Pukken 93, 6. Klijn 88, 7. Sasha Rutten 82, 8. Otten 74, 9. Harris (GBR) ) 70, 10. Pijpers 70.
Daily classification MX Open Inters:
1. Arno van Mieghem (Bel) 114, 2. Smulders 110, 3. Meuwissen 101, 4. van Oort 93, 5. Thonies 92, 6. Lucas 80, 7. de Bruyn 76, 8. Ruijters 74, 9. van Zoggel 72, 10. Witlox 60.
Net standings MX Open Inters:
1. Thonies 566, 2. de Bruyn 552, 3. Lucas 466, 4. Albers 457, 5. Ilja Rutten 443, 6. van Zoggel 436, 7. Voets 399, 8. van Loon 367, 9. Ruijters 368, 10 .Knuiman 360.
Door: Maycel de Bruijn
Photos: mdbmxpics
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