insurance pass for the 2014 season and rented a transponder which is needed if you want to know what place you got during the race. I had not touched my 10 year old 125cc since May, and that's the only time I rode this year. I couldn't say I was well prepared. I wanted to ride, but the conditions were not great. The track was muddy and it rained. 
The MX2 Hobby class had 150 sign ups and was split in three groups. We choose the last group of practice. The track had dried up a bit from all the other practice groups and it had stopped raining. I started to remember where the clutch was, how to shift and tested the rear brake which Paul had fixed for me by taking the airbubbles out. No crashes in practice and it actually felt good.
A bit of chilling followed practice. I poured some gas in the tank, put some grease on the chain and cleaned the goggles. When it was time to line up for the qualifying heat I got the bike off the stand, hit my front brake, and snapped the lever. Great. With no time to fix it before the race I made my way to staging. I drew gate pick number 44 which wasn't the best. Then I realized, I had forgot my goggles in the van. Riding without them would be asking for trouble so I quickly rode back to the car to pick them up. 
As the gate dropped I hit the gas of my moped. Riding against the 4-strokes on a long first straight isn't very fair but I managed to arrive in the first 180 degree left hander in 20th (ish) position. Remember, I had no front brake so slowing down took a bit longer. With riders crashing left and right it's a mess making it through the first lap. Riding felt good and I stayed on. The top 15 of each qualifying heat made it to the A-final, 15-30 to the B-final and the rest would settle for the C-final. Martijn, Pieter and Rob finished in front of me to make it to the A-final. I squeezed in with 15th place. 
Again many (ex-)BMX riders showed up at the Stoppelcross. Govert Schonewille, Jay Schippers, Ivo van der Putten, Wilco Groenendaal, Sander Bisseling, Glenn van de Wetering, Ryan Verhagen, Stijn Nouwen, Lars van Berkel and a whole bunch more. These races are for fun, but you know what happens when that gate drops.
I really had nothing for the MX2 Hobby A-final. I now had gate pick 43 which meant second row with 44 other fast guys on the gate. The track was getting rough and the sun came out but shone right in your face at several sections of the track. It was good fun though and I survived. It would have been easy to stay in bed but Im glad I didn't. Next round: Volkel.BdJ
Standings: Maiscross championships MX 2 Hobby Season: 2013
03-11-2013 10-11-2013
Pos Nr. Naam Totaal Verschil Gat R1 Totaal R1 Totaal
1 150 Rik Rijkers 120 0 0 60 60 60 60
2 145 Mike Visser 100 20 20 50 50 50 50
3 35 Carlo Cornelisse 95 25 5 54 54 41 41
4 79 Geert Louwers 76 44 19 29 29 47 47
5 88 Juul van den Heuvel 65 55 11 26 26 39 39
6 5 Dennis Schoenaker 62 58 3 17 17 45 45
7 108 Erik de Bruijn 62 58 0 35 35 27 27
8 71 Jay Schippers 57 63 5 14 14 43 43
9 70 Jan van Deursen 56 64 1 37 37 19 19
10 167 Sjors Franssen 54 66 2 x x 54 54
11 44 John Roestenburg 54 66 0 19 19 35 35
12 59 Daan Schel 50 70 4 33 33 17 17
13 86 Bart Cissen 49 71 1 16 16 33 33
14 113 Jan Vervoort 49 71 0 18 18 31 31
15 2 Bowdy van de Heuvel 47 73 2 47 47 x x
16 1 Toon Vermeulen 45 75 2 45 45 x x
17 85 Rick van Hout 44 76 1 24 24 20 20
18 123 Mark van de Ven 43 77 1 43 43 x x
19 9 Pieter Does 42 78 1 21 21 21 21
20 36 Louis de Martines 41 79 1 41 41 0 0
21 136 Chris Jacobs 39 81 2 39 39 x x
22 107 Giovanni Limberger 37 83 2 x x 37 37
23 38 Bas van Kaathoven 37 83 0 15 15 22 22
24 15 Martijn van Bakel 34 86 3 22 22 12 12
25 105 Damon van Grinsven 31 89 3 31 31 x x
26 128 Martijn ter Veer 30 90 1 7 7 23 23
27 65 Bodhi Bakermans 29 91 1 x x 29 29
28 112 Wilco Schel 27 93 2 27 27 x x
29 16 Gijs Schoenmakers 26 94 1 0 0 26 26
30 78 Glenn van de Wetering 26 94 0 10 10 16 16
31 103 Frans van Adrichem 25 95 1 x x 25 25
32 137 Dave van Grunsven 25 95 0 25 25 x x
33 50 Ruud van der Velden 24 96 1 x x 24 24
34 96 Jermaine Konings 23 97 1 23 23 x x
35 133 Mike van den Akker 22 98 1 12 12 10 10
36 130 Niels van Roosmalen 20 100 2 20 20 x x
37 110 Kevin Fioole 18 102 2 x x 18 18
38 87 Dennis Oerlemans 18 102 0 5 5 13 13
39 69 Cas Vervoort 18 102 0 11 11 7 7
40 33 Robbert Klomp 15 105 3 x x 15 15
41 76 Bertus Stijgerpijp 15 105 0 6 6 9 9
42 115 Nick Reijnen 14 106 1 0 0 14 14
43 26 Tom Hoenselaar 13 107 1 13 13 x x
44 157 Perry Voss 11 109 2 x x 11 11
45 7 Rob Karsmakers 9 111 2 9 9 0 0
46 18 Jaimy Hendriks 8 112 1 x x 8 8
47 4 Roland Kemps 8 112 0 8 8 x x
48 155 Merijn Bloemen 6 114 2 x x 6 6
49 56 Thimo Vogelsangs 5 115 1 x x 5 5
50 73 Martin Peters 5 115 0 2 2 3 3
51 119 Jaap Ackermans 4 116 1 x x 4 4
52 82 Fransje Raijmakers 4 116 0 4 4 x x
53 101 Leon Oerlemans 3 117 1 3 3 x x
54 6 Bart de Jong 2 118 1 x x 2 2
55 37 Andries Banken 1 119 1 x x 1 1
56 10 Patrick Claessens 1 119 0 1 1 x x
57 39 Tijn Swiers 0 120 1 x x 0 0
58 40 Noud Bosmans 0 120 0 0 0 x x
59 91 Robin Thoonen 0 120 0 x x 0 0
60 52 Ward van Hout 0 120 0 x x 0 0
61 125 Paul van Boekel 0 120 0 0 0 x x
62 29 Sven van der Velden 0 120 0 0 0 x x
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.