Drama in the deep sand of Lommel
By Words: Chris Helm Photos: Bert van der Sluis on 30th Jun 25
The fifth round of the 2025 FIM Sidecarcross World Championship was held at the deep sand track of Lommel in Belgium and attracted an entry of 36 teams including five from Great Britain.
Before the event, several rumours were circulating - some of which were true others not so. One rumour that sadly was true was that defending champion Marvin Vanluchene would be missing his home GP because of the continuing weakness caused by COVID-19. He gave it everything he had in the first moto in Poland but that effort completely exhausted him and he wasn’t able to participate in the second moto and reluctantly had to pull out of the Lommel GP too.
More positive rumours highlighted two additional teams who had entered. The first was ex-world champion Etienne Bax and his brother Robbie who after making a wildcard appearance at Lommel in 2024 decided that they wanted another shot at glory. Another team returning was Julian Veldman/ Glenn Janssens. Julian had been riding quads recently but said he immediately felt at home when he jumped on a three-wheeled machine again. Glenn won the championship last year with Marvin but was having a year off.
In the quali races, it was the Benelux riders who showed the way in the Group A race. Bax/Bax led from the gate to the flag and looked completely comfortable as if they hadn’t been away. Tim and Sem Leferink finished in second with Veldman/ Janssens third. Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard were the highest-placed Brits in sixth place while Stuart Brown/ Scott Grahame finished in a qualifying place but was dropped five places for failing the post-race sound control and would be relegated to the last chance. Mike Hodges/ Ryan Henderson and Jack Rogers/ Ryan Beavis also failed to make the cut.
In the Group B race, Justin Keuben/ Dion Rietman led for the whole race and were never troubled. The Lielbardis brothers were comfortable in second place while Jake Brown/ Chris Booth came home in fifth place picking up one quali point.
In the last chance, Brown/ Grahame topped the list with Hodges/ Henderson fifth. Missing from this session were the Weinmann brothers – Joshua and Noah - having crashed in their quali race and were unable to continue. It is believed that Joshua has damaged his back and will probably miss the rest of the season.
With the temperature hovering around 30 degrees on race day, the riders came to the line for the first moto. The holeshot was taken by Daniel Willemsen/ Michael Gabor who had started from the ‘wrong’ end of the start line. Close behind were the Bax brothers and before the end of lap one he was in the lead with series leaders Koen Hermans/ Ben van den Bogaart third, Tim and Sem Leferink fourth. Wilkinson/ Millard were the top Brits in eighth.
Ten minutes in and the Bax brothers still led but were under pressure from the Leferink boys who took the lead shortly afterwards. Wilkinson/ Millard were now up to fourth while Hermans/ Van den Bogaart seemed to be struggling and were in sixth place having been overtaken by Veldman/ Janssens as well.
With two minutes left, the Leferink boys made a mistake and were overtaken by Bax/ Bax which is where they finished. Keuben/ Rietman were third and Wilkinson/ Millard fourth. Brown/ Grahame placed 11th with Hodges/ Henderson 16th and Brown/ Booth also scoring points in 18th position.
The second moto was held in even hotter conditions and an even rougher track saw drama throughout. The holeshot was claimed by Keuben/ Rietman from Wilkinson/ Millard with the Bax brothers third - Wilkinson/ Millard’s start was even more remarkable because they were starting from the unfavourable right-hand side of the line.
Halfway around lap one and the Bax pair closed up and passed Wilkinson/ Millard and shortly before the end of the lap, the Leferinks had also moved by. It wasn’t long into lap two before Hermans/ Van den Bogaart were also past the Englishmen whose race was now looking a bit shaky.
At half-distance, Hermans/ Van den Bogaart were pushing the Leferinks and five minutes later they passed them and also Bax/ Bax. This was short-lived as on the next lap Leferink tipped up and the Bax brothers moved by Hermans/ Van den Bogaart.
With just three minutes to go Keuben/ Rietman stopped with engine problems and were unable to continue. This left the Bax brothers now leading from the Leferinks who were coming under serious pressure from Hermans/ Van den Bogaart. This continued until the very last lap when Hermans/ Van den Bogaart stopped gifting second place to the Leferinks and third place to Wilkinson/ Millard.
The overall result on the day saw the Bax brothers the winners from the Leferinks with Wilkinson/ Millard third which is how the riders were presented at the prize giving. Unfortunately, the Bax pair had been docked two places in race two for overtaking on a waved yellow flag and so in reality the Leferinks won their first-ever GP but were robbed of the podium celebrations.
Hodges/ Henderson. Brown/ Booth and Brown/ Grahame all had issues in the second moto and failed to score points.
Despite the second-race technical issues, Hermans/ Van den Bogaart still head the championship table ahead of Killian and Evan Prunier by 26 points. Wilkinson/ Millard are now third – just four points behind the Pruniers. Brown/ Grahame are 11th in the series standings with Hodges/ Henderson 14th while Brown/ Booth moved up to 26th.
Strassbessenbach, Germany is next on the calendar on the weekend of July 19/20.
