After the dark showers of yesterday, normal service was resumed on the main raceday atthe second round of the 2023 FIM World Sidecarcross Championship in Portugal with the sun. the track was in pristine condition, with a universal “thumbs-up” from the teams.
Race Report by Barry Nutley – Images courtesy of WSC
In the commentary point, working with our Portuguese broadcasting hosts proved to be interesting, but without their excellent input, our Live Stream would have been impossible.
The rider’s presentation was well attended and the crowd loved the interaction under a cloudless sky. A real buzz was running around the venue, with morning warm-up very slick and impressive. Two hours of final checks before the riders were presented to the crowd, and we were good to go with the opening GP race.
Race One
A storming sprint to turn one saw a pile-up halfway down the field involving Justin Keuben/Dion Rietman, but equally a terrific start by the series leader.
Marvin Vanluchene and Nicolas Musset tore into a lead they were never to relinquish. Etienne Bax/Ondrej Cermak also had a flyer along with Jason van Daele/Kostas Beleckas.
Gert van Werven was in the mix with Koen Hermans getting shoved wide and down to sixth place. He and Ben van den Bogaart were going to have to fight all race long to make up the ground.
Once established in second, Bax tried his utmost to close down the race leader, but Vanluchene was lapping around two seconds faster than the champions, and gradually stretched the elastic.
Dan Foden/Ryan Humphrey were in a strong seventh place with Brett Wilkinson having to work for a living playing catch-up. They had been pushed into the fence at the start and got going again in fourteenth. He was eventually to catch and pass Jason van Daele for fourth in the closing stages as the Belgian began to feel the pace.
Marco Heinzer/Reudi Betschart sat fifth for a while, but they too dropped a couple of places as Justin Keuben continued his amazing ride through the field to an eventual sixth position.
Koen Hermans muscled past Bax three laps before the end and into second place. He later said he was happy with that. Bax however was not. But, with a long season ahead, there is much that can happen.
Wilkinson’s fourth place maintains his strong start to the season, and Vanluchene earns another maximum. Bax’s third place moves him out of the clutches of Keuben and van Daele in the standings, with race two to come.
Result
Race Two
All eyes were on Marvin Vanluchene this time to see if he could repeat his start. Last time out, Tim Prummer had actually nosed ahead up the straight, but his engine died before the first turn. It turned out to be a trapped fuel line.
What could he do this time? The answer was simple – much better.
Vanluchene headed Hermans into turn one with Tim Prummer making his presence felt along with Justin Keuben/Dion Rietman. The number seven crew grabbed third and stayed there from Jason van Daele. Etienne Bax was once again embroiled in this battle as were the Lielbardis boys, but there was no stopping Vanluchene/Musset. They simply went hard from the word go, pulling Koen Hermans with them. These two crews stretched out a lead from Keuben/Rietman, with van Daele, Bax , Lielbardis and Prummer fighting it out. There were times when the young Latvians looked like passing Bax as he tried to find a way past van Daele. The Belgian resisted throughout, only succumbing in the closing stages of the race.
Wilkinson/Millard were now making progress again, getting second wind and lapping fast. Bit by bit they reeled the three teams in front in, passing them one by one to eventually make fourth place and third in the overall rankings. This was another fine performance from the British team, consolidating their second place championship standing.
Vanluchene was in a class of his own, pulling a fifteen second lead at one point, but backing off at the close to make sure he brought it home.
Koen Hermans/Ben van den Bogaart were strong but second best today.
Result
Overall and podium
