Willemsen's on a charge
By TMX Archives on 22nd Apr 11
Two weeks after their first outing in the 2011 Sidecarcross World Championship at Oss, Holland, 35 sidecars assembled at Castelnau in France for the second round.
The venues could not be more different. Oss is deep sand and Castelnau is a hard, very steep track, which is not for the faint-hearted.
Pictures: CHRIS HELM
Saturday's Qualifying races took place in warm sunshine and the Group A race, barring a crash which sidelined Millard (see MX Diary), was exciting. Jan Hendrickx got left at the start and Daniel Willemsen tipped over soon afterwards, leaving both at the rear of the field.
Veteran Frenchman Ains, led Happich for the first lap – "Incroyable!” screamed the commentator.
As Happich pulled away in front, Brown briefly took second before being caught by Jan H, then Willemsen, both of whom had scythed their way though the pack. Etheridge, Jarvis, Breacher and Jenkins were all in with a chance.
Willemsen was flying, but Happich looked to have the race in the bag until his engine stopped momentarily on the final lap. Willemsen seized his chance and took the win. Brown came in fourth, Etheridge (in his first GP) ninth, Jarvis 11th and Jenkins 12th.
Amazingly, the Group B race was not an anti-climax. Adriaenssen took the early lead from Joris H and Scherbinin. By the end of lap one, the Belgian was at the back of the field and Scherbinin under pressure from France's new hero, Giraud.
As Giraud held on to Hendrickx, the commentator's larynx took another battering! Daiders moved into third, never challenging the Frenchman, and Scherbinin – under pressure from Cermak – held on to fourth. Hyde, Britain's only representative, qualified 12th.
Breacher claimed third in the ‘Last Chance'.
Sunday's races also took place under a sunny sky with Scherbinin and Bax leading Willemsen into the first corner. Giraud gated well but was involved in a second-corner pile-up and restarted last.
Willemsen was now in the lead and away as the rest queued up behind Scherbinin. Joris Hendrickx got his chance early on, but Daiders, Jan Hendrickx and Bax were bottled up for another lap while the leaders escaped.
Brown, 12th on lap one, moved smoothly through the field for the first ten-minutes, by which time he had Happich and sixth place firmly in his sights. Taking the outside line, he drove past the German on a tight corner, and all Happich could do was watch him disappear.
As Willemsen sailed on untroubled, Joris H came under pressure from Jan H. Daiders, mediocre compared to his Oss performance, troubled neither of them, nor was troubled by Bax. Jan H got very close to Joris several times and did briefly get his nose in front, but Joris fought back and clung on.
To the delight of the crowd, Giraud had made an excellent recovery and was disputing 13th place with Rupeiks.
So Willemsen took his second win of the season with Brown finishing an excellent sixth. Giraud came in 11th, but the heat and pace had taken their toll on a lot of the field.
Hyde, 20th, was Britain's only other points scorer and Etheridge persevered to finish 23rd.
WORLD SIDECAR-CROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Castelnau de Levis, FRANCE
1 D Willemsen/ Verbrugge (NL/B - Zabel WSP) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Daiders/ Daiders (LV - Zabel VMC ) 18 + 22 = 40
3 Ja Hendrickx/ Smeuninx (B - Zabel VMC) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Jo Hendrickx/ Liepins (B/LV - KTM VMC) 22 + 18 = 40
5 Bax/ Van Den Bogaart (NL - Zabel VMC) 16 + 16 = 32
6 Happich/ Schelbert (D/CH - Zabel VMC) 14 + 15 = 29
7 Scherbinin/ Kurpnieks (RUS/LV - KTM WSP) 12 + 12 = 24
8 Giraud/ Musset (F - Beta VMC) 10 + 13 = 23
9 Derks/ Bax (NL - Husaberg EML) 13 + 10 = 23
10 Adriaenssen/ Auvray (B/F - KTM VMC) 8 + 14 = 22
11 Rozehnal/ Rozehnal (CZ - Zabel VMC) 11+11=22, 12 BROWN/ J CHAMBERLAIN (GB - Husaberg Mefo) 15+0=15, 13 Visscher/ Visscher (NL - Zabel VMC) 7+6=13, 14 Burgler/ Markert (CH - KTM VMC) 4+8=12, 15 Cermak/ Cermak (CZ - Jawa Mefo) 0+9=9, 16 Gustavsson/ Apelgren (S - Husaberg VMC) 2+7=9, 17 Rupeiks/ Mucenieks (LAT - Zabel WSP) 9+0=9, 18 Rodionov/ Rodionov (RUS - KTM VMC) 6+2=8, 19 Daniel/ Pillier (F - Husaberg WSP) 3+4=7, 20 HYDE/ KIRWIN (GB - KTM VMC) 1+5=6, 21 Ains/ Jayet (F - KTM Mefo) 5+0=5, 22 Mulders/ Van de Venne (NL - MTR VMC) 0+3=3, 23 Faustmann/ Riekert (D - Zabel VMC) 0+1=1.
RACE ONE: 1 Willemsen, 2 Hendrickx, 3 Hendrickx, 4 Daiders, 5 Bax, 6 BROWN, 7 Happich, 8 Derks, 9 Scherbinin, 10 Rozehnal, 11 Giraud, 12 Rupeiks, 13 Adriaenssen, 14 Visscher, 15 Rodionov, 16 Ains, 17 Burgler, 18 Daniel, 19 Gustavsson, 20 HYDE.
RACE TWO: 1 Willemsen, 2 Daiders, 3 Hendrickx, 4 Hendrickx, 5 Bax, 6 Happich, 7 Adriaenssen, 8 Giraud, 9 Scherbinin, 10 Rozehnal, 11 Derks, 12 Cermak, 13 Burgler, 14 Gustavsson, 15 Visscher, 16 HYDE, 17 Daniel, 18 Mulders, 19 Rodionov, 20 Faustmann.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 13) rounds: 1 Ja Hendrickx 85 points, 2 Daiders 83, 3 Jo Hendrickx 74, 4 D Willemsen 72, 5 Happich 54, 6 Bax 52, 7 Visscher 51, 8 Scherbinin 49, 9 Derks 44, 10 Adriaenssen 37, 11 Giraud 34, 12 Rupeiks 33, 13 Rozehnal 27, 14 Burgler 26, 15 BROWN 25, 16 MILLARD 25, 17 Cermak 16, 18 Mulders 14, 19 Rodionov 14, 20 JENKINS 11,... 22 FRANCE 9,... 25 HYDE 7,... 28 JARVIS 4,...
NEXT ROUND: April 25 – Frauenfeld, SWITZERLAND.
