Team holland take Sidecar Nations with team GB in fifth
October 06, 2008
Team Belgium1, who had been one of the favourites before the event, couldn’t live up to the expectations. Team politics and crashes held them from fighting for the victory. The strong performances of Peter Steegmans and event organizer Kristof Santermans were the backbone for Team Belgium 2’s third place on the rostrum.
Heat 1: Steegmans wins, Drama for Belgium 1
Peter Steegmans took the holeshot and lead the pack into the first lap. The local rider seemed unstoppable on his home track. For a while Jan Hendrickx posed a threat to Steegmans’s lead. Hendrickx ended up in a “traffic jam” and lost the contact with the frontrunners. Steegman took the heat win in front of Wilkinson-Burt and Rupeiks-Kälin. Organizer Kristof Santermans was a strong 5th. Joris Hendrickx ended up 7th after a long Chase. Jan Hendrickx finished 14th.
Heat 2: Dutch Team effort
Joris Hendrickx was the first leader. After just a few hundred meters things went wrong for Pulin-Van De Wiel. The Antwerp based rider was dead last but would fight his way all the way back to 8th. Meanwhile Daniel Willemsen was closing in on Hendrickx. The Belgian couldn’t hold off the reigning World champion. Soon after he would crash and DNF. Willemsen took the victory in front of Sergis and Söderqvist. Marcel Willemsen held off Daiders for 4th. Once again Santermans rode a strong racing, taking 7th. Andreas Clohse finished in 10th place.
Heat 3: Sergis’s farewell victory, Holland takes the gold
Kristers Sergis, took the holeshot and would never look back. Behind him: Hendrickx in second, followed by Willemsen. Willemsen would soon take over. However he was never able to close in on Sergis. Young Dutchman Etienne Bax held off Steegmans for 5th. Pulinx ended up in 10th after another long Chase. This time Clohse finished 16th.
Post race quotes:
Daniel Willemsen (First with team Holland): “Today we really rode as a team. This is where it’s all about in the Sidecarcross of Nations. In my second heat I took no chances and rode in function of the team. In theory Latvia had probably the strongest team with Belgium a close second before us (Holland). But today the results were a bit different.”
Peter Steegmans (Third with Belgium 2): “We are really pleased with third. Before the event I had hoped to be in the top 5. So I was pretty pleased with my win in heat 1. It makes up for my bad GP season. I don’t think we will be celebrating it though. Tomorrow will be just another day at the office.”
Jan Hendrickx (fourth with Belgium 1): “I’m well miffed. If Steegmans would have let us past things would have looked quite different. I thought we were riding in the interest of the country. We could have been fighting for the victory with Holland and Latvia. But after losing loads of time with that traffic jam our hope for the final victory was already gone.”
Results:
Heat 1:
1) Steegmans-Sabbe BEL2, 2) Wilkinson-Burt GBR, 3) Rupeiks-Kälin LAT, 4) Willemsen-Godau NED, 5) Santermans-Van Den Boogaert BEL2, 6) Daiders-Daiders LAT, 7)Joris Hendrickx-Liepins BEL1, 8) Bax-Van Deutekom NED, 9) Rozehnal-Rozehnal CZR, 10) Millard-Millard GBR, 14) Hendrickx-Smeuninx BEL1
Heat 2:
1) Willemsen-Grüter NED, 2) Sergis-Stupelis LAT, 3) Söderqvist Sylwan SWE, 4) Willemsen-Godau NED, 5) Daiders-Daiders LAT, 6) Walter-Weinmann GER, 7) Santermans-Van Den Boogaert BEL2, 8) Pulincx-Van De Wiel BEL1, 9) Brown-Peters GBR, 10) Clohse-Bax BEL2, 22) Joris Hendrickx-Liepins BEL1
Heat 3:
1) Sergis-Stupelis LAT, 2) Willemsen-Grüter NED, 3)Hendrickx-Smeuninx BEL, 4) Rozehnal-Rozehnal CZR, 5) Bax-Van Deutekom NED, 6) Steegmans-Sabbe BEL2, 7) Brown-Peters GBR, 8) Rupeiks-Kälin LAT, 9) Söderqvist-Sylwan SWE, 10) Pulinx-Van De Wiel BEL
Overall results per team: 1) Holland, 2) Latvia, 3) Belgium 2, 4) Belgium 1, 5) Great-Britain 6) Czech Republic, 7) Sweden, 8) France, 9) Estonia, 10) Lithuania
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