stuff and a VIP area. Also the track was pretty smooth, but I didn’t like turn 1 and 2… That wasn’t a big success!
On Thursday practice started at 12am. Unfortunately I had a cold, which is very annoying when you have to perform at your best. Training went okay, but I just felt a little slow… Friday I also did a little practice on the track, but I still felt a little weak. This really had something to do with my cold and not being 100% fit since my crash 5 weeks ago.
Some medicines I took didn’t help for long, so I had to deal with it all weekend. Luckily riding went okay on Saturday. Before our warm-up I had to do an autograph session, which was really cool. Many kids showed up, so I was able to hand out my promo cards and stickers.
Racing on Saturday started of pretty good. I won all my races till the semi-final. In this semi-final I didn’t had a great start, so I was back in 4th position till somebody did a kamikazi move in turn 2. Unfortunately I couldn’t jump the pro-section, so I lost too much time to pass anybody. Getting out in this semi-final was a bummer for me, because there were a lot of fans in Haaksbergen and I felt I could do much better.
On Sunday some teammates and I did another autograph session. Many kids showed up again, so that’s a great feeling as a rider. After this I went back to our team area to do my warm-up ritual. During practice I felt a little better, but having a cold was still bothering me. Racing went okay. I won my motos and quarterfinal. During the semi final I wasn’t fast enough at the first straight, but I was able to ride some fast lines and still got 2nd. In the main event it was Joris again with the hole shot. Unfortunately I didn’t get the start I needed but during this final lap I rode some faster lines and managed to get a nice 3rd place behind the French guys.
Normally I shouldn’t be satisfied with this result, but under my circumstances (coming back from injury and having a cold) I am. We all had a great racing weekend in Haaksbergen. Big shoutout to the organization and the BMX fans in Holland!
In less than 3 weeks we have the World Championships in Copenhagen. The Dutch and me will stay in Holland these next weeks to train at our London replica track at Papendal. Hopefully my cold will be gone soon, so I can be fit on time for the Worlds.
Raymon van der Biezen
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The organization in Haaksbergen did a great job last weekend during the final rounds of the European Championship. Due to injuries and missing many european rounds I was not able to defend my European title this year, but I'm having bigger goals than this championship... I wish there were more races like Papendal and Haaksbergen, because it looks way more professional when there is a big set up with stands, promo 
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.