Round three of the 2023World Sidecarcross Championship in the Czech Republic added nothing to the points tally for very good reasons. Apart from a great qualifying day on Saturday, the teams did not get further than Sunday warm-up. Tragic circumstances involving the Veteran Sidecar support class brought about the cancellation of the GP races on Sunday. It was the unanimous decision of the paddock that everyone stood down out of respect.
Words by Barry Nutley – Image courtesy of WSC
In effect, we now head one thousand kilometres north-east for the third GP in the calendar one week later than scheduled.
Heerde in The Netherlands is the venue for round four and could not be more different from the hard-pack and rapid going in Kramolin. In typically deep sand, and set in a forest, the track was last used for World Championship purposes fifteen years ago, so will certainly be a new venue for everyone. Much work has been done with strong support from the Van Werven Company to extend and modify the track for modern FIM needs in terms of space, speed and spectacle.
Changes in elevation and a big new jump have been added, as well as new areas for fans to witness the action close-up.
This is a fitting stage for the battle at the top to be played out, home ground for the defending Champion and familiar terrain for the main challengers.
Etienne Bax arrived in Kramolin with a brand-new WSP chassis sporting conventional sidecar front forks, still retaining the right to use the tele-fork version if circumstances dictated.
He went well in qualifying but was keenly aware of the speed shown by Koen Hermans and Ben Van Den Bogaart. They were superb, as indeed were Justin Keuben and Dion Rietman. Red plate holders Marvin Vanluchene and Nicolas Musset have not been much in action in recent weeks, but showed a good turn of speed in Kramolin before events were curtailed.
The British crews with their left-hand sidecars will be relieved Kramolin is behind them and will be looking forward to flexing their muscles in the sand.
So, all that pent-up action is on hold for a few more days and it all starts this weekend on a track which many, indeed most of the teams, will not have seen before.
The WSC team is already on the road and will be installed early in Heerde to capture the atmosphere as we build towards the weekend.
Stay with us for updates and all the news as it happens here on www.fimsidecarcross.com
