After a fantastic day of qualifying, expectations were high for the main event. The crowd had grown overnight, and the weather prognosis was more of the same with some cloud cover and possible slight showers later in the day.
Morning warm-up gave the teams the chance to re-acquaint themselves with a track which had held up remarkably well under a full day of Grand Prix and support action. Both top teams (Vanluchene/van den Bogaart and the Prunier brothers) did their waiting game before putting in sensational times towards the end. Both were in the 1.54’s, split by just two tenths, with Marvin getting the edge. We were set for a battle royal, but could the French Champions find that little bit extra to un-nerve the ice-cold Vanluchene. The Leferink brothers and Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider also had a fast warm-up, but almost two seconds off the pace of the leaders.
This was rapidly becoming a titanic fight between two teams at the top of their game. With Vanluchene having taken eight victories against the three wins for the Frenchmen, the stakes for them could not be higher. Strassbessenbach needed to be the turning point in their fortunes. Was that going to happen?
We were about to find out, but first there was the traditional officials and team presentations to deliver.
Race One – A rocket start technique by Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider took them to an incredible hole shot, chased by Tim and Sem Leferink and Killian/Evan Prunier. In fourth place came Guennady Auvray and Jarno Steegmans with Davy Sanders/Jens Vincent and the Lielbardis twins in close company. It was not the best start by Vanluchene/van den Bogaart, finding themselves around eighth place on the opening lap.
Similarly affected were the British teams, with Brett Wilkinson/Joe Millard getting a shocker. They were destined to fight through to an eleventh place, just one place ahead of Dan Foden, and two places behind reigning champion Koen Hermans.
Around half distance, and after several attempts, Prunier made good his challenge on Leferink and moved into second place. His eyes were then firmly on Prummer/Schneider who were heading for their second GP race win, and not about to let that go.
At the front, this battle between the top three meant they pulled a gap, circulating never more than five seconds apart for the entire race, with Vanluchene making up ground behind. Once past the Lielbardis twins and Davy Sanders, he was on the point of attacking Auvray/Steegmans when it appeared he had a technical problem on one of the downhill drops. This slowed him and lost him about four positions, thereby giving him the job to do all over again. In true champion style he stuck to the task, by which time the top three had moved twenty seconds clear of fourth place, which Marvin eventually claimed in the closing stages. He was unable to move any closer, and conceded defeat in that regard. Likewise, Prunier could find no more, with his attack on race leader Prummer stagnant towards the end of the race.
Victory was sweet for the German, who vowed to try for the double in his post-race interview. Prunier took a handful of points out of Marvin’s lead in the standings, with his eyes also firmly on victory in race two.
Result
1/Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider
2/Killian/Evan Prunier
3/Tim/Sem Leferink
4/Marvin Vanluchene/Ben van den Bogaart
5/Guennady Auvray/Jarno Steegmans
6/Julian Veldman/Rodolphe Lebreton
7/Daniels/Bruno Lielbardis
8/Remo/Luca Kaser
9/Koen Hermans/Dion Rietman
10/Davy Sanders/Jens Vincent
Race Two – it was Vanluchene at his best out of the gate this time. He shot up the hill and into the turn ahead of Prummer and Leferink. This “formation flying” stayed the same throughout the race, showing the way to glory to everyone chasing.
The Lielbardis twins were also hot on the case at the front, but some notable names were missing. The most prominent of those were the Prunier brothers, who came round on lap one down in tenth place. Clearly, there had been some bunching further back down the order, because one or two others were in the same trouble. Another such team was the Wilkinson/Millard outfit, who made hard work of the start, but managed to fight through eventually to sensible points in sixth position. Dan Foden was the best of the left-handed sidecars in the early stages and throughout, scrapping for fifth. That is where he and Noah Weinmann finished. He headed Wilkinson home after Brett’s epic climb through the field.
Koen Hermans was also tangled up at the gate, and virtually last away. Given the speed of the race and the standard of the field, he did very well to get a valuable result in ninth place.
Meanwhile, Prunier was gaining ground hand over fist, eventually chasing Lielbardis for fifth spot. He then locked the rear wheel and stalled on a downhill, losing two or three places. Once going again, he finally nailed the Lielbardis twins, only for them to have a problem and drop out of touch altogether. Dan Foden was the next to feel the Prunier heat, but fourth place is as far as the French champions could get, having worked so hard to get there.
Vanluchene/van den Bogaart were again in a class of their own as they swept to victory number nine and an extended series lead.
Overall victory on the day though, went to Tim Prummer and Patrick Schneider on home soil with a sparkling race one win followed up by a runner-up spot in race two.
Result
1/Vanluchene/van den Bogaart
2/Prummer/Schneider
3/Leferink/Leferink
4/Prunier/Prunier
5/Foden/Weinmann
6/Wilkinson/Millard
7/Kaser/Kaser
8/Heinzer/Betschart
9/Hermans/Rietman
10/Carcreff/Hupon
Overall Result GP
1/Prummer
2/Vanluchene
3/Leferink
The Strassbessenbach highlights show, with interviews, features and all the other excitement will be available shortly on FIM-MOTO.TV
Full standings, results, features and latest news items are available on www.fimsidecarcross.com along with all our social media outlets.
Round nine comes from Madona in Latvia just days away, over the weekend of 25-26 July on a track which saw great action last year. Join us there in person, or courtesy of Live Stream on FIM-MOTO.TV
From Barry Nutley
