Saturday morning dawned with a distinct feel of autumn in the air and leaves already beginning to fall. The Varsseveld track was in perfect shape, promising to give good racing throughout the weekend. As expected, the campsite was busy and cars were queuing to park as we arrived.
A rider’s meeting the prior evening had already looked ahead to 2027, with promoter Martin Bena outlining plans and ideas for the new season. But that is the future, and we were here in the Netherlands for the penultimate race weekend ahead of the Rudersberg finale.
With a full programme including the final round for the world championship quads and a large sidecar support class, there was a lot to get through. This would inevitably punish the track, with free practice for all classes getting things underway. Next up came the all-important timed practice, where one fast lap would determine gate positions for the two Qualifying groups.
Pre-Qualifying Group “A” – The sand specialists showed well from the very start of the first session, with Tim and Sem Leferink vying for control over Marvin and Ben. That did not happen, as the series leaders went a clear three seconds faster on their second lap. Davy Sanders/Jens Vincent were also faster than the Leferinks who sat third with six minutes left.
Tim Prummer held a strong fifth fastest but was nursing injury to his back from a practice crash last weekend. His passenger Patrick also had a knock to his shoulder, so they would have to work hard through discomfort in tough conditions. Sixteen teams in each group meant there would be Last Chance at the end of the day.
Vanluchene/van den Bogaart were clear winners of this session, with pole position for the qualifying races as the prize.
Pre-Qualifying Group “B” – Group “B” saw a surprise early leader in the shape of the 500cc machine ridden by Julian Veldman and Rodolphe Lebreton. Veldman’s theory on smaller horsepower meaning longer throttle time obviously works, and he is a very competent sand man anyway. Wilkinson/Millard closed the gap as they settled in their groove, with Grondman/Vincent narrowly ahead of the Prunier brothers. At the half-way stage, Veldman was holding firm, with the track developing deeper ruts.
His time, however, was four seconds shy of the Vanluchene lap in group “A”.
Foden/Weinmann jumped to fifth after a sluggish start, looking like there was more to come. That proved to be the case as they moved ahead of team Prunier by half-a-second with five minutes left.
That proved to be the case, with Veldman topping the group times from Wilkinson/Millard.
Qualifying Race “A” – Away they went up the very short straight with three or four bunched together into the turn. Stephan Wijers/Han van Hal emerged after a bit of jostling, as leaders from the Leferink brothers and Vanluchene/van den Bogaart, along with Sanders/Vincent fighting for third. Wijers looked to be getting away, and I’m sure that was his plan, but Leferink had other ideas, overtaking on lap two with Vanluchene also moving up. The red plate holders looked determined and were soon challenging for the lead, passing both Leferink and Wijers within a very short space of time.
In fifth place were Tim Prummer/Patrick Schneider, ahead of Sam Veldman/Kaj van den Berg. These positions were to remain the same throughout, as indeed did the top places.
At the front, Vanluchene stretched the gap, putting in consistent lap times with Leferink keeping him in sight. This was the pattern all the race with five points heading the way of the series leader. Davy Sanders made his way past Wijers into third as Prummer consolidated his fifth pace and single point.
Apart from a couple of hesitant moments whilst exploring new lines, Vanluchene made a flawless run to the finish, showing a clean pair of heels to all.
Result – 1/Vanluchene/van den Bogaart, 2/Leferink/Leferink, 3/Sanders/Vincent, 4/Wijers/van Hal, 5/Prummer/Schneider, 6/Veldman/van den Berg, 7/Hendrickx/Kaethoven, 8/van den Heuij/van den Heuij,
9/Milliar/Hunt, 10/Grahame/Watson, 11/Kops/Konst, 12/de Cock/van de Wiel
Qualifying Race “B” – This was another tight start with Wilkinson/Millard grabbing the lead from Veldman/Lebreton on the 500. The P-Power big engine just out-dragged the smaller engine but paid the price on the exit. Veldman kept it nailed and was past Wilkinson after a few turns.
Koen Grondman/Ross Vincent were in the hunt and battled with Dan Foden/Noah Weinmann for fourth.
However, as the leaders streaked off, several teams were stuck at the gate including the Prunier brothers. They appeared to have stalled the engine and were delayed for what seemed a lifetime before they eventually got away. They did not make rapid progress due to the conditions, but eventually made it to eighth place, thereby giving themselves a reasonable gate chance. Having said that, they would probably be on row two.
Hodges/Henderson fought race-long with Daniel Willemsen who had started well as always and was occupying fifth place. This became a target for Hodges who did make the place his own after defeating Frank Mulders.
The field was really strung out, with Jack Rogers and Ryan Beavis claiming the final automatic spot in twelfth.
Veldman had five seconds over Wilkinson at the finish, with Brett very happy to be there.
Result – 1/Veldman/Lebreton, 2/Wilkinson/Millard, 3/Grondman/Vincent,
4/Foden/Weinmann, 5/Hodges/Henderson, 6/Willemsen/Hoffmann,
7/Mulders/van Deuteom, 8/Prunier/Prunier, 9/Hotze/Debruyne,
10/Jensen/Petersen, 11/Kaser/Kaser, 12/Rogers/Beavis
Last Chance (Six join the grid)
Result – 1/Brown/Booth, 2/Hofmann/Freygang, 3/Peter/Zimmermann,
4/Kinge/Mackay, 5/Langens/vanSchindel, 6/ Debruyne/Schlinnertz,
7/Banks/Pannell
The two main Grand Prix races take place tomorrow, along with both final EMX Quadcross W/C races. The live stream is available for all races plus 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
