The big news on the opening day of round two was the re-uniting of 2018 title winners Marvin Vanluchene and Ben van den Bogaart. Eight years down the road, and the intrepid duo, now with eight titles between them, are back together, despite Ben having hung up his boots “for good” at the end of last season.
This came about with the unfortunate leg injury to Robbe de Veene, Marvin’s passenger choice for 2026, to whom we all send sincere best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery.
Other exciting developments include returns by the colourful Julian Veldman on a KTM 450 fourstroke along with French “super-sub” passenger Rodolph Lebreton and the hard-charging Marco Heinzer with Remo Heinzer alongside using the trusty KTM/VMC. Let’s hope both these star teams are with us for the foreseeable future.
Free practice gave an early picture of how things might pan out, with the Prunier brothers picking where they left off in France some two seconds quicker than the chasers in Group “A”, and Marvin Vanluchene clearly enjoying Ben’s company, half a second ahead of Tim Prummer in Group “B”.
Pre-Qualifying – This thirty-minute quest for one fast lap never shows its true colours until late in the session, and this weekend was no exception.
Group “A” - Team Prunier were really on form, setting a fast pace from the word go, ahead of the nineteen-year-old Latvian Lielbardis twins.
Another team in good form was the Veldman/Lebreton set-up, new together and looking very sharp as they moved into the top three late in the session. With five minutes remaining, Koen Hermans/Dion Rietman went second fastest, but still two seconds off the Frenchmen.
The timing screen looked like an Ebay auction listing as the numbers moved fast into the countdown. Up to second went the Leferinks with Dan Foden/Noah Weinmann jumping in at fifth. Both Hermans and Leferink had shown their speed, but the Pruniers looked to be the men to beat.
Group “B” – Seven minutes in took Marvin Vanluchene to the top of the times after a strong start by Wilkinson/Millard to lead initially. Ten minutes later and Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider must have felt like a marriage made in heaven, once again showing what they could do. They had a one-second edge over Marvin, with Brett and Joe sitting third.
Come-back kid Marco Heinzer with Remo alongside, were a strong fourth fastest with twelve minutes left. Into the final few minutes and Marvin went top, just half a second off Prunier’s pace.
Qualifying Race “A” – Weather and track conditions were perfect for the opening qualifier, albeit with a stiff wind blowing. Kramolin is a track steeped in history and tradition, always serving up a racing spectacle.
The first World Championship Quadcross qualifying race had broken the track in nicely, but the ruts used by four-wheelers do not always suit three.
Down went the gate and away they went with the Prunier brothers hitting the front. Dan Foden did not get the best start, so he would have to work hard.
The Leferinks were right there too, as were the Lielbardis brothers with Davy Sanders/Jens Vincent beating them all to it for second place.
Getting past Sanders is not an easy task, but the Lielbardis boys fought with Foden and the Leferinks to eventually make the pass. A new challenge was also emerging in the shape of Julian Veldman/Rodolph Lebreton lapping faster than most. Out front, Prunier opened a gap and was clear in the lead having found a good rhythm
Koen Hermans had a poor start but tried hard to improve on seventh place.
He did manage to claim one more spot, but that was it, so the defending champion will need to improve his starts for tomorrow.
Then suddenly the Lielbardis outfit was missing at the front, having fought through to second place. This gave the chance for Foden to make hay, and he did just that. It looked like Veldman might catch him towards the end, but that challenge faded with the British/German duo grabbing third.
Result – 1/ Prunier/Prunier, 2/ Leferink/Leferink, 3/ Foden/Weinmann,
4/ Sanders/Vincent, 5/ Veldman/Lebreton, 6/ Hermans/Rietman,
7/ Lielbardis/Lielbardis, 8/ Uhlig/Oettel, 9/ Willemsen/Gabor,
10/ Chanteloup/Chanteloup.
Qualifying Race “B”- This one turned out to be less fiery but equally impressive with Marvin Vanluchene and Ben van den Bogaart assuming control from the off. A calm, measured ride saw the vastly experienced duo leading Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider and Marco/Remo Heinzer with Thom van de Lagemaat and Koen Grondman scrapping for track space.
Thom got the better of that, but in turn came under pressure from a very fast Stephan Wijers/Joel Hoffmann.
Brett Wilkinson had a poor start, with passing on this track very difficult. He made the best of a bad job, fight through the teams in front until he nailed first Wijers, then Heinzer, moving into third place.
The four at the front pulled a gap, with Wijers never very far behind, just as Thom Van de Lagemaat got stuck in a turn and stalled the bike. This dropped him to tenth place.
At the front, Vanluchene was supreme, picking his own lines and riding his own race. It was good to see him back on form with Ben saying post-race “It’s good to be back”!
Result – 1/Vanluchene/Van Den Bogaart, 2/ Prummer/Schneider,
3/ Wilkinson/Millard, 4/ Heinzer/Heinzer, 5/ Wijers/Hoffmann,
6/ Grondman/Vincent, 7/ Peter/Zimmermann, 8/ Verhees/Schlinnertz,
9/ Hofman/Freygang, 10/ Van de Lagemaat/Van Hal.
Last Chance qualifiers – 1/ Close/Vanhamel, 2/ Gouin/Gouin,
3/ Van Den Heuij/Ven Den Heuij 4/ Barink/Barink,
5/ Kralicek/Hrahovec, 6/ Van Grembergen/Hoste
Two Grand Prix races take place tomorrow, and Live stream is available for both races and the awards ceremony,
The highlights show, with interviews, features and all the excitement will also be available shortly on FIM-MOTO.TV
All final standings and latest news items are available on www.fimsidecarcross.com along with all our social media outlets.
From Barry Nutley
