Just a few days after a dramatic fifth round in Poland, we find ourselves in the extreme north-east corner of the Baltic countries as the competition moves to Estonia, homeland of Kert Varik, the very popular hard man who ran Etienne Bax so close for the title in the 2022 season, finishing runner-up by just four points.
This is a strong sidecar motocross region, with a rich history of success across the Baltics, so there will be a strong contingent of local teams testing their skills against the best in the world.
Gdansk last weekend was notable for high-profile absentees, resulting in the standings changing shape considerably. Dan Foden’s absence through injury resulted in him dropping to fifth, with the big winners in that section of the table being Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider, Brett Wilkinson/Joe Millard and Davy Sanders/Jens Vincent. There is also a bigger gap at the very top, with the Prunier brothers extending their grip on the red plate to twenty-eight points over Marvin Vanluchene/Ben van den Bogaart. Marvin experienced a rare crash on the first turn of race two, followed by an even rarer DNF when at half-distance, the exhaust system came adrift. Koen Hermans/Dion Rietman find themselves dropping to seventh place after the rear suspension failed in the closing stages of race two.
Hot off the press is the news that Daniels Lielbardis will have ace ex-passenger of Kert Varik Lari Kunnas alongside, as brother Bruno is recovering from his recent appendix operation. Lari is another likeable, articulate and extremely capable passenger, tough as nails and more than qualified to do the job. Grand Prix race fitness is another subject, but he will certainly give it his best shot as always.
Both Hermans and Sanders will benefit still further from Dan Foden’s absence, and will certainly leap-frog over him, whilst Brett Wikinson and Tim Prummer are split by just eight points in the hunt for third place.
At the half-way stage in the series, there is also news that the cancelled Heerde round is on the verge of being replaced by another Dutch track.
We hope to be able to confirm that imminently.
Once again, the FIM Quadcross World Championship is with us, and was very strongly supported in Poland. We expect nothing less here, so that is even more incentive to join us one way or another.
Check out that series on www.fimquadcross.com for the latest info.
We are here and ready to go with another super weekend of Saturday Qualifying and Sunday races as they happen with full commentary both days.
You can catch the action on FIM-MOTO.TV live stream as usual with the features, stories and background tit-bits live to your home or device.
Stay abreast of other news as it becomes available on www.fimsidecarcross.com along with all our social media outlets.
By Barry Nutley
