Santer came early for Holland
By TMX Archives on 16th Oct 08
THE European Sidecar-cross des Nations was held at Genk, Belgium, this year, organised by Belgian driver Kristof Santermans. His efforts paid off with a great event comprising 14 world class teams. The track was typically Belgian, although not as flat as usual, but with man-made jumps and dirt so soft it might as well have been sand!
The British team was put together by manager Martin Guilford and was made up of Stuart Brown/ Luke Peters, Scott Wilkinson/ Gary Burt and brothers Daniel and Joe Millard.
There was also a good line-up of British Teams in the mini GP support races. Unfortunately, the weather was cold, wet and windy which was not ideal for the riders, but added a further dimension to the races.
Race one consisted of outfits from Groups A and B and saw Steegmans of the Belgium2 team take the early lead, followed by Hendrickx of Belgium1. The battle for third was headed up by Rupeiks of Latvian, who was fighting to stay ahead of Hendrickx also of Belgian1. Team GB started well with Wilkinson and Burt in seventh with the Millards in 11th.
The racing was fast and furious with all crews cheered on loudly by a large enthusiastic crowd all either waving or wearing the flags from their country.
With the home country doing so well, the Belgians were cheering loudest, but British supporters were also hanging over the fences and shouting at the tops of their voices.
At the halfway point, there was a big crash out of sight of the main spectator area, with the racing line through a deep rut really blocked, making getting past very difficult. Yellow flags were waved, but it was not easy to see who was involved until the leaders re-appeared, followed by Wilkinson, and the GB crowd went wild.
Latvia's Rupeiks held third ahead of the Dutch team of Marcel Willemsen. Behind Santermans also of Belgium2 fought well so stay ahead of Latvian Daiders. Millard had a safe race, taking tenth at the flag. So one race down and Team GB were in the top three overall brilliant!
Race two consisted of crews from Groups B and C and saw an early lead for Joris Hendrickx of Belgium1. But in Group C were the top two drivers in the world Daniel Willemsen and Kristers Sergis and they were both fighting for the lead. Lavian Sergis held second ahead of the Dutch world champion, Willemsen. The British were not faring so well this time with Brown and Peters getting caught in a first bend crash and the Millards were left on the line, starting a lap down. However, it's the points that count, and both teams fought hard to make sure they picked up as many as possible.
At the front, Willemsen blasted into the lead, Joris Hendrickx held second until he went missing, leaving Sergis second ahead of Swedenn's Soderqvist.
Marcel Willemsen (Holland) was also having a second good race, holding fourth. Brown was on a charge, fighting forward with the crowd cheering him on. He managed to get through to ninth which just managed to keep Team GB in the top five after two motos.
The final race was made up of crews from Groups A and C.
This time Sergis took the lead from the start and held it throughout. As this was his last event before retiring from competition, it was great to see.
Jan Hendrickx initially held second, but from behind Daniel Willemsen fought though to take second, but that was enough to give the Dutch team the overall win. Jan Hendrickx held third with Rozenhal brothers of Czech Republic close behind.
Brown and Peters gated in 12th and fought through to seventh, but could not find a way past Steegmans who were still on good form.
Wilkinson and Burt had electrical problems on the line, and did get going, only to suffer further problems on the track. This was not surprising as the weather had deteriorated through the day, and this final race was in a heavy driving rain.
Of the six race positions for each country only the five best results counted in determining the final result, so it was difficult to predict the final overall result until the points were added up.
Holland took the win just one point advantage over Latvia, the two Belgian teams followed, with Great Britain holding onto fifth with good consistent finishes. Well done to all involved a brilliant day's racing.
In between the Sidecar des Nations races were two mini GP races.
In the first, Jarvis and Chamberlain started eighth but quickly fought their way forward, moving into fifth by the half way point.
Jarvis eventually forced through to take a brilliant third place. Balsillie and Bann held eighth, but picked up a sidecar puncture which slowed them, letting Jenkins and Chamberlain through after recovering well from problems on the start.
Rutherford and Hedges were the only other Brfitish finishers, with a steady race to take 12th. Blithe and Eastman were going well until the hand grip came loose it the rain!
By the time of the final race of the day, the rain was really heavy which made racing difficult.
Jarvis again started well but got caught in a crash which dropped them back from fifth to outside the top ten.
Jenkins managed to stay out of trouble and claimed fourth spot. Though he closed the gap, he could not make it through to third. Balsillie had a safe ride, just behind in fifth, while Jarvis fought back to finish sixth. With a final battle over the finish-line Rutherford and Hedges also finished well in seventh.
The final British finisher was Blithe in his first international event who took a well deserved tenth place.
EUROPEAN SIDECAR-CROSS des NATIONS
Genk, BELGIUM
OVERALL: 1 Holland 16 points, 2 Latvia 17, 3 Belgium2 29, 4 Belgium1 42, 5 GREAT BRITAIN 45, 6 Czech Republic 53, 7 Sweden 54, 8 France 78, 9 Estonia 86, 10 Lithuania 92, 11 Denmark 107, 12 Ukraine 112, 13 Suisse 59 (+ 1 no-score), 14 Germany 33 (+ 2 no-scores).
RACE ONE: 1 Steegmans/ Sabbe (B2), 2 WILKINSON/ BURT (GB), 3 Rupeiks/ Kaelin (LAT), 4 Marcel Willemsen/ Godau (NL), 5 Santermans/ Van den Boogaert (B2), 6 Daiders/ Daiders (LAT), 7 Joris Hendrickx/ Liepins (B1), 8 Bax/ Van Deutekom (NL), 9 Rozehnal/ Rozehnal (CZ), 10 MILLARD/ MILLARD (GB), 11 Cerny/ Huml (CZ), 12 Folkesson/ Andersson (S), 13 Bigand/ Bigand (F), 14 Jan Hendrickx/ Smeuninx (B1), 15 Brustmann/ Urich (D), 16 Vareika/ Davidonis (LIT), 17 Fagerberg/ Fagerberg (S), 18 Kristo/ Sormus (EW), 19 Moller/ Zinkernagel (DK), 20 Ivanov/ Jalas (EW), 21 Luscher/ Keuben (CH), 22 Glushchenko/ Slobodianuk (UKR), 23 Kuklin/ Nesterenko (UKR), 24 Madsen/ Jorgensen (DK), 25 Variakojis/ Linters (LIT), 26 Bernard/ Pillier (F), 27 Happich/ Schelbert (D), 28 Burgler/ Betschart (CH).
RACE TWO: 1 Daniel Willemsen/ Grutter (NL), 2 Sergis/ Stupelis (LAT), 3 Soderqvist/ Sylwan (S), 4 Marcel Willemsen/ Godau (NL), 5 Daiders (LAT), 6 Walter/ Wienmann (D), 7 Santermans (B2), 8 Pulinx/ Van de Wiel (B1), 9 BROWN/ PETERS (GB), 10 Clohse/ Bax (B2), 11 Luscher (CH), 12 Poldsaar/ Indrek (EW), 13 Pflugshaupt/ Michel (CH), 14 Kriz/ Gazik (CZ), 15 Daniel/ Auvray (F), 16 Vareika (LIT), 17 MILLARD (GB), 18 Bernard (F), 19 Moller (DK), 20 Zuikas/ Davidonis (LIT), 21 Gorbatenko/ Vasyliaka (UKR), 22 Joris Hendrickx (B1), 23 Kuklin (UKR), 24 Kristo (EW), 25 Fagerberg (S), 26 Cerny (CZ), 27 Hansen/ Hansen (DK), 28 Brustmann (D).
RACE THREE: 1 Sergis (LAT), 2 Daniel Willemsen (NL), 3 Jan Hendrickx (B1), 4 Rozehnal (CZ), 5 Bax (NL), 6 Steegmans (B2), 7 BROWN (GB), 8 Rupeiks (LAT), 9 Soderqvist (S), 10 Pulinx (B1), 11 Bigand (F), 12 Walter (D), 13 Folkesson (S), 14 Pflugshaupt (CH), 15 Kriz (CZ), 16 Clohse (B2), 17 Poldsaar (EW), 18 Zuikas/ Davidonis (LIT), 19 Ivanov (EW), 20 Hansen (DK), 21 Daniel (F), 22 Variakojis (LIT), 23 Gorbatenko (UKR), 24 Glushchenko (UKR), 25 Madsen (DK), 26 WILKINSON (GB), 27 Happich (D), 28 Burgle (CH).
MINI GP RESULTS: 1 Visser/ Van Duynhoven (NL) 25+20=45, 2 Schrijver/ Eggink (NL) 22+22=44, 3 JARVIS/ CHAMBERLAIN (GB) 20+15=35, 4 Van Werven/ Sellis (NL) 7+25=32, 5 Derks/ Derks (NL) 18+12=30, 6 Reipen/ Liebens (B) 15+13=28, 7 BALSILLIE/ BANN (GB) 12+16=28, 8 JENKINS/ CHAMBERLAIN (GB) 9+18=27,... 10 RUTHERFORD/ HEDGES (GB) 10+14=24,... 14 BLYTHE/ EASTMAN (GB) 4+11=15,...