Report: Sidecarcross GP 12 Gooik – Belgium
By Tracy Thacker on 5th Sep 19
Last weekend the sidecar GP season moved to GP 12 in Belgium at the Gooik track.
At the end of GP 11 in Roggenburg, Etienne Bax and Kaspars Stupelis retained the red plate.
Current world champions Vanluchene /Van Den Bogaart hold second and are fighting to regain that championship lead, and this weekend took the overall win, but are still 65 points behind.
Qualifying races were great again this week, with six British teams and a British passenger with Mike Keuben, all qualified for the GP races on Sunday.
The weather was a welcome 10 deg cooler than for qualifying which was much better for the teams.
In race one, Vanluchene /Van Den Bogaart took the holeshot at their home GP, they pulled out a safe advantage and went on to win the race comfortably.
Behind the leading teams there was chaos on bend two, Brown /Chamberlain were at the front and 25 teams all piled up behind them, there were bikes everywhere, luckily nobody was left behind but many had lots of work to do to get back in the points.
Bax /Stupelis missed the chaos and were in the top five but determined to make a challenge for the lead, they fought through to second but didnt catch the leaders.
Compalati /Chopin had a safe race passing Dierckens /Bax to take a brilliant third.
Van Wernen and stand in passenger Van Gaalen fought through to take fourth with J Brown /Millard just behind in fifth.
Moulds /Anthony werent held up too badly at the start and were just outside the top ten with Varik /Daiders and Wilkinson /Humphrey passing them in the final few laps leaving them in eleventh, despite being almost the last away Wilkinson /Humphrey took tenth, with Brown / Chamberlain close behind Moulds.
Kinge /Gray were a few places behind with Foden /Bijenhof just missing out on the points.
In race two, the holeshot kings Dierckens /Bax blasted ahead, still not 100 per cent fit after a crash last weekend in Switzerland, and they were soon under pressure from their rivals. Vanluchene /Van Den Bogaart closed the gap and fought past going on to take a double win at their home GP, much to the delight of the large crowd.
J Brown /Millard had another great start and tucked into third but Bax /Stupelis were closing on them they both battled past Dierckens /Bax with Bax /Stupelis holding second and J Brown /Millard a few bends behind, but with enough points to take third overall on the day, and their first GP podium together.
Wilkinson /Humphrey were just inside the top ten at the start but fought hard to blast through to fifth. They had a three-way battle in the final few laps with Hermans /Musset chasing them and Brown /Chamberlain closing on them both.
Moulds /Anthony made the best of their back-row start to take a midfield finish and fourteen overall.
Bax /Stupelis continued to hold the championship lead with their rivals Vanluchene /Van Den Bogaart in second. They now hold a 65-point advantage.
Hermans /Musset holds third overall despite mechanical problems in race one, Dierckens /Bax are fourth just 31 points behind.
There are two British teams in the top ten with Stuart Brown /Josh Chamberlain hold fifth, and Jake Brown /Joe Millard are now ninth.
There are two more holding top 20 places with George Kinge /Lewis Gray in 17th and Brett Wilkinson /Ryan Humphrey now 18th.
Next week the championship moves to the Dardon Gueugnon track in France, with the final two events on consecutive weekends, the end of the season has been very busy.
We will keep you updated on all the action.
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