fim sidecar motocross world championship

Qualifying success for Vanluchene and Hermans in Strassbessenbach

20/07/2024

This was going to be a hot one here in Germany, with temperatures set to be at a record level. There was a strong entry, with over fifty teams competing for the thirty-two GP spots, two of which would be reserves. There were also more than thirty support class sidecars, and they took to the track for free practice ahead of the international entry.

Two thirty-minute free practice sessions got the day underway, with a very full grid of twenty-three outfits in each group. The steep climb from the start called for close attention to gearing to gain the optimum power and pull up the hill. The four-strokes bellowed up like tractors, with the Zabels and Megas sounding very clean and happy to be on the pipe.

The track had been watered well, but there were no wet areas, so everyone was able to explore the track in good conditions. Times were close, with Vanluchene topping “A” with 1.56.9 and Hermans bring “B” home with 1.57.5.

Pre-Qualifying practice – This was where it counted, in the search for just one fast lap in the thirty-minute session. Group “A” got underway with Marvin Vanluchene and Glenn Janssens going straight in with a sub-two-minute lap. The Prunier brothers were on his tail, but with eight minutes gone, banged in a 1.57.5 time to put them in contention for pole position.

With ten minutes remaining, little had changed, with most of the fast teams resting in pit lane. All would become clearer towards the end.

Brett Wilkinson/Joe Millard had a good stab at it to jump second fastest, only to be pipped by the Leferink brothers. Meanwhile, Prunier went even quicker into the 1.56’s. Then, once again, Vanluchene found a bit more to resume his place on top.

Group “B” was much the same, in that most teams did an early lap and then delivered their best shot towards the end. Koen Hermans had needed work on the front end of his bike after free practice, with the steering head spindle removed and replaced, but all seemed well as he set off.

Eight minutes in and Hermans was on top, with a 1.57.9. We knew there was more to come, and so did he. Next up were the Lielbardis brothers, but a full second off. Daniel Willemsen showed he had lost nothing of his style, and probably knowing this track better than anyone, he went third fastest.

At half-distance, it was Austria leading with Weiss and Schneider on a 1.57 dead, with Tim Prummer/Rodolphe Lebreton three tenths behind.

Into the closing stages, and the last-minute shuffle was on with Hermans delivering a 1.56.492 which was enough to topple Weiss and push Prummer back to third fastest ahead of Lielbardis and Willemsen.

Group “A” qualifying race – The sun was beating down as the gate dropped for the first of two twenty-minute races. From a line-up of twenty-three, the top twelve would make it automatically, after that, Last Chance would find the other six to complete the gate for the GP races.

The hole shot was a close affair with Marvin Vanluchene almost squeezed out by the Swiss team of David Bolliger/William Leutwyler, who in turn grabbed second ahead of the Prunier brothers. Next up were Tim and Sem Leferink, Davy Sanders/Jens Vincent and Kim de Cock/Stijn de Wylder. The pace at the front was fierce with many big names fighting to get in touch. The chasing bunch included Wilkinson and Millard, van Werven/van de Wiel, and Gert Gordejev/Sten Niitsoo.

This battle for fifth was an entertaining scrap lasting throughout the race, with Sanders/Vincent holding fourth once the early fast starters had dropped back.

Out front, Marvin and Glenn stretched the gap, and by Evan Prunier’s own honest admission, he had a few small mistakes which he felt slowed their progress. They did finish in a strong second place however. The Leferinks, whilst confessing to not liking the track, were a solid third.

The winning margin was around ten seconds, with Marvin adding five points to his total.

Result – 1/ Vanluchene/Janssens, 2/Prunier/Prunier, 3/ Leferink/Leferink,

4/ Sanders/Vincent, 5/ Wilkinson/Millard, 6/ van Werven/van de Wiel,

7/ Gordejev/Niitsoo, 8/ Bolliger/Leutwyler, 9/ Mulders/van Deutekom,

10/ De Cock/De Wylder, 11/ Wisselink/Debruyne, 12/ Jensen/Rietman

Group “B” qualifying race – A typical Prummer hole shot took him immediately into the lead, but it was a close-fought affair with Daniel Willemsen chasing hard. The veteran ten-times champion always gates well and this was no exception. He hung on for a short while but was very soon under pressure from Koen Hermans and Ben van den Bogaart, who in turn were pulling Benny Weiss/Patrick Schneider with them. The fight at the front became epic, with Prummer being hassled lap after lap by the other two, whilst opening a big gap back to the chasers. Willemsen gradually dropped back into a great battle between Stephan Wijers and Adrian Peter, who in turn had the Weinmann brothers for company. Jason van Daele/Loet van der Putten started strongly and were in the early mix, but ended up battling with the Weinmanns and Stuart Brown, eventually claiming ninth place.

Also fighting through were Daniel and Bruno Lielbardis after what they later described as “their worst start this year”. Lap by lap they worked through to eventually get to fourth behind Weiss/Schneider.

Into the final couple of laps and Hermans now led the race, with Weiss following him through on Prummer/Lebreton. The final nail came in the form of the Lielbardis twins as they claimed third on the final lap from a Tim Prummer looking uncomfortable.

Result – 1/ Hermans/van den Bogaart, 2/ Weiss/Schneider,

3/ Lielbardis/Lielbardis, 4/ Prummer/Lebreton, 5/ Wijers/Van Hal,

6/ Peter/Hoffmann, 7/ Weinmann/Weimann, 8/ Brown/Gray,

9/ Van Daele/Van der Putten. 10/ Brown/de Laat, 11/ Devoldere/Tourbier,

12/ Buob/Buob.

Last Chance – There was a full house of around eighteen crews for this elimination exercise, and they were all aiming for a top six lap-time.

As with time training, we never really know until the closing stages, whilst one or two of the obvious candidates get a quick time in which guarantees them a place. This was a close contest, and the results were fair, if harsh. To leave without a Grand Prix race is always tough.

Ten times champion Daniel Willemsen came out top of the pile, but his passenger is still recovering from injury – not a bad showing.

Result – 1/ Willemsen/Gabor, 2/ Hoorman/Schlinnerz, 3/ Kops/Kaethoven,

4/ van de Lagemaat/Bothur, 5/ Hodges/Henderson, 6/ Vos/Susebeek.

 

All updated standings are here on the website, and the TV Highlights show will feature the qualifying races, so be sure to catch that and all the other news and events as they happen will be here on www.fimsidecarcross.com and all our social media platforms.

 

From Barry Nutley

 

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