This day could easily be a defining factor in the championship, with Marvin and Ben poised to strengthen their hold on the red plate. This series is never over until it’s over, but their recent dominance carries an air of superiority which is possible to ignore. Each one of the other challengers must have spent the night wondering where they could find that extra something to draw them that bit closer to the red plate holders. Despite this, there was anticipation and excitement as the spectator areas began to fill up, as the good weather was booked to continue. Warm was bright and early, with the teams hitting the track at 9.30 am. The teams with nothing to lose and everything to gain, hit the ground running, as Davy Sanders/Jens Vincent headed the times at half-way with Julian Veldman and Rodolphe Lebreton, the Leferinks, Foden/Weinmann and Grondman/Vincent all showing well. There was little sign of Vanluchene, until he and Lielbardis jumped top, with Marvin and Ben the only team in the 1.51 bracket. It seemed his podium pledge of yesterday to work overnight and find a better setting might have been fulfilled.
Into the dying seconds, and the Prunier brothers continued the learning curve, going fourth fastest ahead of both Veldman and Leferink. Just maybe the light of hope was reignited. Koen Hermans completed just one lap but was still carrying injury, very aware that two long races lay ahead.
Race One –
Hermans turned out to be a non-starter as did Daniel Willemsen, so a slightly reduced grid tore off when the gate dropped. It was Vanluchene and Prummer side by side into turn one with the Lielbardis twins third, rapidly grabbing second place. Killian and Evan Prunier were stranded at the gate, getting away last. A big start line crash for a couple of the teams, plus several incidents on the opening two laps brought out the red flag. Wilkinson/Millard, Sanders/Vincent and Foden/Weinmann were all involved. Brett Wilkinson seemed unable to get to his feet and was transferred to hospital for checks. A forty-five-minute delay was called by the FIM officials.
At the restart, it was the same leaders with Veldman/Lebreton in third place. The Leferink brothers had good speed and stayed with Marvin in the early stages. Sadly, for the Lielbardis twins, they were upside down at the first turn after a coming together with Wijers/van Hal and Raymond/Vareikaite and had to fight though. They eventually made it to seventh, but that was as far as they could manage. Foden/Weinmann were in fourth at the first turn, but as the early laps unfolded, they appeared not to be happy and struggled a bit.
Meanwhile, the Prunier brothers were around seventh place on the opening lap but found themselves in what was almost a race-long battle with Tim Prummer sitting in fourth place, fifth placed Dan Foden who had already been passed by the German, and Sanders/Vincent. This was the story of the race as the see-saw battle took Prunier to fourth, back to sixth, and eventually to fourth again. The same was true of Prummer, with Dan Foden gaining second wind and pressing hard. Behind them, Grondman/Vincent were never far away, but as the front three galloped off, this fourth-place scrap was sensational. Prummer lost points to Prunier, so the table was affected in the Frenchmen’s favour.
Result –
1/Vanluchene/van den Bogaart, 2/Leferink/Leferink, 3/Veldman/Lebreton, 4/Prunier/Prunier, 5/Foden/Weinmann, 6/Prummer/Schneider, 7/Lielbardis/Lielbardis, 8/Sanders/Vincent, 9/Grondman/Vincent, 10/Wijers/van Hal.
Race Two –
This was another very dramatic start with Vanluchene getting the verdict once again from Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider. Mid-pack a huge crash between three very fast teams took out Foden/Weinmann, the Prunier brothers and the Lielbardis twins at the first turn.
Foden’s bike cartwheeled end over end, with both team members lying prone on the track. Noah Weinmann was taken to hospital for checks and observation. Two of the teams got away at the back with Lielbardis and Prunier starting the fight through. This they did to good effect with Lielbardis making it to fifth place and Prunier eighth.
Prummer’s time in second place was short-lived, as the Leferinks flew past him in the air to grab second spot. He did not seem happy and fell to Veldman/Lebreton next as the little 500cc bike flew over the bumps.
These three were set to stay in control for the duration, with Stephan Wijers and Davy Sanders both riding like men inspired. The front six were all fast, with Lielbardis and Prunier battling through to join them.
The front three did not clear off, and it was a fast convoy for at least half the race with Sanders getting the better of everyone up to fourth, which is where he finished. In the closing stages, Leferink made a mistake which Veldman pounced on, giving him second overall.
At the front, Vanluchene/van den Bogaart were immaculate, judging the race perfectly and bringing it home to increase the points gap significantly over the brave Prunier brothers. They must now look towards improving their sand technique, which begins in the next and penultimate round in the Netherlands.
Result –
1/Vanluchene/van den Bogaart, 2/Veldman/Lebreton, 3/Leferink/Leferink, 4/Sanders/Vincent, 5/Lielbardis/Lielbardis, 6/Prummer/Schneider, 7/Wijers/van Hal, 8/Prunier/Prunier, 9/Grondman/Vincent, 10/de Cock/Van De Wiel.
Overall Result GP – 1/Vanluchene, 2/Veldman, 3/Leferink
Round eleven comes from Varsseveld in the Netherlands over the weekend of 12/13 September, followed by the Grand Finale in Germany the following week. The highlights show from Lithuania, 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.
From Barry Nutley
