Dutch dominate at the 'drome
By TMX Archives on 11th Jun 08
FOLLOWING the massive disappointment suffered by everybody after the opening round of the IMBA European MX2 Champion-ship in Italy was cancelled due to wet weather, it was eventually time to kickstart the series into life on Sunday.
In stark contrast to the Italian rain, conditions at Berghem, Holland, were exceedingly hot and, when combined with a track that produced bike swallowing deep sand, the event quickly became a severe battle of attrition and survival.
Unlike any conditions witnessed in England, the meeting naturally developed into almost total Dutch domination with the home nation filling all three podium of the places.
For the Brits on parade, this opening IMBA round was to be a very frustrating day with more than its fair share of misfortune although nobody could question their terrific determination to post as many points on the scoreboard as possible.
Top Brit on the day was debutant Matt Porter (Select Homes Honda) in twelfth, while Lee Payne (Malin Rocket Centre Yamaha) took 13th, Phil Mercer (Delkevic Kawasaki) 17th, James Lane (Sutton Honda) 28th and Simon Lane (Sutton Honda) 34th.
On the superb new Seven Hills Motodrome complex, German Andre Adrian, the form rider during the second half of the 2007 IMBA series, led moto one with Dutch
riders Ronnie van Rooji, Maurice van Kasteren, Ricky Nijs, Menno Verleng and Martijn Romviel in pursuit.
IMBA MX2 EUROPEAN CHAMPS
Rd 1 – Berghem, HOLLAND
MOTO ONE: 1 Martijn Romviel (NL), 2 Menno Verleng (NL), 3 Ronnie van Rooji (NL), 4 Maurice van Kasteren (NL), 5 Andre Adrian (D), 6 Ricky Nijs (NL), 7 Jim Sorensen (DK), 8 Christoph Selent (D), 9 Kenny Beekmans (NL), 10 Patrick van Breugel (NL), 11 Michal Votroubek (CZR), 12 Christian Scholer (DK), 13 Rene Egsgaard (DK), 14 Jeffrey Dewulf (B), 15 Tobias Elmer (CH), 16 Matt Porter (GB), 17 Phil Mercer (GB), 18 Donny Schmidt (B), 19 Mads Knudsen (DK), 20 James Lane (GB),... 21 Lee Payne (GB).
MOTO TWO: 1 Romviel, 2 van Kasteren, 3 van Rooji, 4 Beekmans, 5 Sorensen, 6 Selent, 7 Christian Juul (DK) 8 Adrian, 9 van Breugel, 10 Votroubek, 11 Egsgaard, 12 Porter, 13 Nijs, 14 Elmer, 15 Payne, 16 Schmidt, 17 Dewulf, 18 Mercer, 19 Knudsen, 20 Mathias Kold Jensen (DK),... 25 S Lane,... 33 J Lane.
MOTO THREE: 1 Romviel, 2 van Rooji, 3 van Kasteren, 4 Sorensen, 5 Selent, 6 Adrian, 7 van Bruegel, 8 Egsgaard, 9 Scholer, 10 Beekmans, 11 Payne, 12 Elmer, 13 Juul, 14 Dewulf, 15 Votroubek, 16 Mercer, 17 Porter, 18 Schmidt, 19 Jensen, 20 Dirk Felix Sigmund (D).
LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS: 1 Romviel 180 points, 2 van Rooji 154, 3 van Kasteren 151, 4 Sorensen 133, 5 Selent 127, 6 Adrian 127, 7 Beekmans 119, 8 van Bruegel 113, 9 Egsgaard 101, 10 Votroubek 94, 11 Elmer 84, 12 Porter 80, 13 Payne 79, 14 Dewulf 78, 15 Juul 76, 16 Nijs 75, 17 Mercer 72, 18 Schmidt 71, 19 Scholer 68, 20 Knudsen 62,... 28 J Lane 42,... 34 S Lane 27.
For full report and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, June 13, 2008
Winner of all three motos and the overall, Martijn Romviel (1) leads Maurice van Kasteren.