Stoppelcross Round 1: Handel, NL. Broaaap!

Nov 08, 2010

Written by Bart de Jong

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Every November month when the corn is chopped off, 4 Motocross races are on the program. This attracts many BMX riders. To be honest, when we were little kids, we wanted to ride motocross. But it was too expensive, we had no knowledge about it, no room to put the bikes, and it was kinda dangerous for a few kids that wanted to open up that throttle. But here we are, the love for motocross is still there and at these hobby races we meet, year after year.

It was 7am when we left for Handel. It was dark, it rained hard on the way and it was cold. What in the hell were we thinking? But if you're looking forward to the MX month all year long, you don't care what the weather does or how muddy the track is. All you think about is having fun and bragging rights for the rest of the year.

Because of some reason the 30 years and over MX2 riders had to join the MX1 riders this year. That meant that Jurgen Meyer, Harm van Brussel, Ivo van der Putten and Bas de Bever got company from Paul de Jong, Pieter Does, Rob Karsmakers, Bart de Jong, Wilco Groenendaal, Eric Mulders and some more (ex) BMX riders. The BMX influence in the MX2 class wasn't completely gone because Bart Mol and

Glenn van de Wetering were still repping there. In the Moped/Pit Bike class the Van der Biezen brothers were keeping it up. Some riders did not show for some reason but they might be there next week in Boekel for round #2.

The classes had filled up within a day in the pre registration mid October. That meant 100 riders in the Hobby MX1 class, and 100 riders in the Hobby MX2 class. The 100 riders are split between the even numbers and uneven numbers. From each group of 50 in each moto, 22 riders make it to the A final, and the others meet in the B-final. We'd set

up camp and parked 8 bikes underneath the EZ-UPs. After putting on all the gear (which takes up to 20 minutes) the first couple of practice laps were done. I hadn't been on the bike for at least 5 months so it was getting used to where the clutch was, the front brake and how that thing actually handles. But there was not time waste as the important qualifying round was coming up shortly.

The fresh and clean bikes turned into dirt monsters in only 10 minutes of practice. Ruts were already forming. In practice they were already 30 cm deep which could only get worse during the race. The Van Der Biezen bros on their pit bikes found out soon enough.

Bart Mol was up first in the MX2 class. The Premium/Vans rider bought Paul's KTM (125cc) a year ago and turned into a motocross freak sometimes riding three times a week. He had never entered an MX race until Sunday but did very well keeping that throttle wide open making the A-final close behind the always fast Glenn van de Wetering. Awesome.

All BMX-ers in the MX1 class were split up but most of them were put into the even-number class. Both Eric Mulders and I didn't get very far when the gate dropped. I was on my ass in the first corner and Eric went sky diving even before that. Pieter Does crashed a few turns later and returned to the pits with a hurting hand. Paul, Wilco, Harm, Tom and Rob and made it through the first chaos lap and tried making it to the top 22, or at least they wanted to finish in front of the guy with the biggest mouth before the race started. I put my head down and started passing people to finish 16th, stoked on that. I even passed Tom Kuiper in the last turn where he had stalled his bike and finished right behind Rob Karsmakers. Ivo van der Putten (2nd), Jorg Meyer (7th) and Harm van Brussel (13th) had made it in as well. In the other heat of the MX1 class Bas de Bever made the A final as well. The others had to race the B-final.

By this time I had reached my goals of making the A-final on my moped (125cc) in the MX1 class and beating a few of the guys from our crew. I had given it a lot and am paying the price now as I can hardly move because I'm that sore. The first race is in the bag with a few to go. Let's hope the sore muscles disappear quickly. The bike has already received a shower and only needs a new filter and some extra gas for the next race. We will meet again. Boekel, 14 November, at dawn!

BdJ

A-final results of the BMX dudes.

MX2 Hobby class:
12th Glenn van de Wetering
13th Bart Mol