It was a cool start to the day, but the forecast was turning very warm later, giving ideal conditions on this well-designed track. It is a typical hillside track, quite technical, but littered with stones, some quite large. Thirty-eight teams made the final start list, so a Last Chance Qualification would be needed to sort out the final six places at the end of the day. The group ballot placed the Lielbardis twins in Group “A” along with Prunier, whilst Hermans found himself up against Prummer and Wilkinson in Group “B”.
Free practice saw the Prunier brothers and Lielbardis twins both looking good in Group “A” as we might have expected. They were eclipsed by a good showing from Vanluchene/Van Den Bogaart, who ended up a clear one second faster than Prunier, with a surprise showing from Carcreff/Hupon clearly revelling in the track. In Group “B”, Tim Prummer was very fast on his local track - also no surprise, with Julian Veldman wringing the neck of the little 450 KTM to make his presence felt. Anything sub-two minutes was an acceptable lap time, and that is where they would ideally need to be. Brett Wilkinson/Joe Millard found a turn of speed towards the end of the session, to put themselves third fastest, whilst Hermans/Rietman jumped to second at the close, just half a second off Prummer.
Pre-Qualifying Group “A” – The thirty-minute session told little in the early stages with Killian and Evan Prunier looking worthy of the red plate. The Lielbardis twins and Dan Foden/Noah Weinmann also ran strongly, with Marvin Vanluchene seemingly keeping his powder dry. As if to emphasise my words, with five minutes left, Marvin and Ben banged in a 1.50.867, a clear margin faster than Prunier. Could the French Champions find well over one second? The answer was an emphatic “no”, with Vanluchene easing off safe and sound at the top.
Pre-Qualifying Group “B” – Vanluchene’s performance would have sent a strong signal to the other aspiring teams, particularly Tim Prummer and Koen Hermans, who were both next up. It was Prummer who set the standard and kept the lead throughout the session. Koen Hermans and Dion Rietman put in their customary late challenge to go second fastest, but as with Brett Wilkinson, who was third fastest, would need to find a little more in the races. Starts here are very important, and a lot can change in a race proper. So, the two qualifying races were eagerly awaited by the fans trooping in.
Qualifying Race “A” – The sun was out, shorts and tee shirt were the order of the day and the fans were ready. Nineteen teams lined up for this twenty-minute qualifier, so there were two rows. Down went the gate and the charge to turn one was on.
From the middle of the pack, the Prunier brothers did what they do best and grabbed an impressive holeshot. Marvin Vanluchene started well but got it a bit sideways down the straight and ended up almost mid-pack. Into second place went the amazing Gwendal Carcreff/Mathis Hupon, renowned for their rapid starts. Dan Foden/Noah Weinmann were next with the Lielbardis twins and Stephan Wijers scrapping behind.
Carcreff/Hupon held their nerve and proved difficult to pass, eventually slipping back to sixth place.
There was a Foden/Lielbardis fight, with Foden cementing third place after he had shaken off the Latvians and then pulled a gap. Vanluchene had battled up the order to get on the back of the young Anglo/German team and initially struggled to overtaken Foden, but once past, could not close down Prunier, who had opened another big lead.
Lielbardis had briefly been ahead of Foden in the very early stages after the start, but once Foden got him back, they ran out of steam.
Prunier was magnificent again, with Marvin rueful about his start. We heard it from many teams as to how important the start was, and it showed time and time again.
Result – 1/ Prunier/Prunier, 2/ Vanluchene/Van Den Bogaart,
3/ Foden/Weinmann, 4/ Lielbardis/Lielbardis, 5/ Wijers/Hoffmann,
6/ Carcreff/Hupon, 7/ Van de Lagemaat/Van Hall,
8/ Hengster/Blume, 9/ Buob/Buob, 10/ Grondman/Vincent,
Qualifying Race “B”- Away they went with Mike Hodges/Ryan Henderson doing their thing at the front. Behind them and vying for the lead came Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider with Wilkinson/Millard on the case in third. Hermans/Rietman had a much better start, as did Tim Leferink with Andy Schlinnertz aboard. There were no dramas, simply a case of who might or might not make a passing move. Prummer/Schneider were out in front and extending the lead as they pushed from the start.
Hodges gradually slipped back, but still held onto seventh, as he succumbed to a great ride by Sanders/Vincent and Veldman/Lebreton.
Meanwhile, Hermans closed right on Wilkinson, but after pressing for several laps, lost out to a determined Wilkinson.
Prummer had a fifteen second lead at the front, with Brett eventually gapping Hermans by a further six. The race lacked sparkle, but it was nonetheless a good performance by those fighting through where possible.
Result – 1/ Prummer/Schneider, 2/ Wilkinson/Millard, 3/ Hermans/Rietman,
4/ Sanders/Vincent, 5/ Veldman/Lebreton, 6/ Leferink/Schlinnertz,
7/ Hodges/Henderson, 8/ Peter/Zimmermann, 9/ Kinge/Hodges,
10/ Chanteloup/Chanteloup.
Last Chance qualifiers – Now a fifteen-minute session, there was little time for mistakes if you were to get to the gate in tomorrow’s two GP races. The conditions were good and the young guns showed well with no surprises.
Two British crews made it in, to the delight of the travelling fans.
Result - 1/ Hendrickx/Kaethoven, 2/ de Cock/van de Wiel, 3/ Banks/Pannell,
4/ Kops/Konst, 5/ Clohse/Vanhamel, 6/ Rogers/Beavis,
Two Grand Prix races take place tomorrow, with the Live stream 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
