Winter arrived with a vengeance overnight ahead of Saturday qualifying at the 2024 Sidecarcross of Nations in the Czech Rebublic at Loket, with cold, wet conditions greeting the teams for free practice. They scrubbed most of the surface mud away from the track, closely followed by the quads doing even more clearing of the surface. Despite the adverse conditions, speeds were high, and everyone made it round in style.
Words by Barry Nutley – Images courtesy of WSC
Three qualifying races for groups “A”, “B”, and “C” were scheduled for the afternoon, the starting positions for which were drawn by ballot in an open witnessed session Friday afternoon.
The crowd was undeterred, just as they had been for the scheduled team presentation on Friday evening. All the organisers, FIM officials and all competing team members were introduced to a large raucous crowd, fuelled by enthusiasm and the inevitable liquid refreshment.
Qualifying Race “A” – This was a fine start for Belgium in the competition as newly-crowned world champion Marvin Vanluchene with Robbe de Veene alongside, had a “gate to flag” win, although they were pressed in the early stages by Team GB’s Dan Foden/Josh Chamberlain and then by triple French champions Killian and Evan Prunier. These three teams made the running with Koen Hermans and Ben van den Bogaart playing catch-up for Team Netherlands. They made their way past the British crew into third, but that was as far as they got. The Latvian pairing of Janis and Lauris Daiders showed their class early on along with Ular Karing and Oliver Lamp of Estonia, and both teams hung on for at least half of the race. Tim Prummer/Jens Vincent also had a poor start, making it through to fifth at the flag, passing the Baltic country teams in the process.
Result
Qualifying Race “B” – Thomas Hamard/Matis Hupon did their typical flying start to lead for France. It was not long before Davy Sanders/Jarno Steegmans took control, never to look back. They built a twenty-second lead over the French team, who in turn had their hands full with the Estonians Normak and Kasesalu. The Czechs Tomas and Jakub Vejchoda were also featuring well, but eventually succumbed to the chasing pack.
Tim Leferink, with Dion Rietman standing in for his brother, did not have the best start, but soon began to make progress. They soon closed on the Estonian pair, but passing was a different matter. With Sanders/Steegmans opening an ever-increasing lead, the battle behind was where the interest lay. There were four outfits in line astern and coming fast were also Stuart Brown and Lewis Gray. They were eventually to bring it home in fifth place ahead of the Weinmann brothers.
Into the closing stages, Leferink went third, only for the Estonian Normak to re-claim the place one lap later. Sanders backed off but kept enough in hand to win comfortably for Belgium. With Vanluchene’s group “A” win, things were looking good for Belgium.
Result
Qualifying Race “C” – Gert Gordejev took Estonia into the lead from the gate, as he and Niki Debruyne claimed the holeshot. They set a cracking pace, chased by the British Champions Brett Wilkinson/Joe Millard. For France, Guennady Auvray and Rodolphe Lebreton were also in this leading trio, with the Lielbardis brothers from Latvia recovering from a none too special start. Gert van Werven was another who had to work hard to get into the mix and this he did, following the Lielbardis boys through as they claimed place after place until they were on Wilkinson’s tail. Gordejev ended up in fifth after giving everyone a run for their money, as indeed did Auvray/Lebreton. In sixth sat Italy with the Lasagna brothers, and that was where they finished.
Meanwhile, at the front, Daniel and Bruno Lielbardis showed terrific pace, but Wilkinson was not for surrendering. He rode a great final few laps to keep Latvia behind, and enhance the work done in group “A” by Dan Foden/Josh Chamberlain.
Result
Overall Team Qualification Standings
