year that I rode my 125cc. On top of that Eric is a fast started and passing on this track was going to be very difficult. When we drew a gate pick, I had number 11 so for sure I had a position on the gate. Eric drew 49 so he was stuck in second row for the qualifying race. I wouldn't have liked to switch. 
As the gate dropped it was full throttle towards the first turn where everyone got together to make it through the 90 degree left turn. At this point it's always chaos as people swerve from left to right trying to make up a position. I figured I was in about 15th position and did not see Eric in front of me. Then on the third straight he passed me shortly which I didn't even notice but apparently I passed him back in the same lap. As long as he wasn't in front of me I was happy because I was reaching my goal for the season. In front of me was Patrick Claessens, another former BMX racer. I tried to race my race and not crash as I had no clue how far Mulderke was behind me. These qualifying races last forever it seems like when you're racing. On the last lap I passed Patrick but had no idea what place w
e ended up at. But I was in front of Eric, and Patrick, and Lippe so all was good. Racing with transponders attached to the bike makes for fair racing. In the past you had to be lucky to get the spot you got because most of these races are a mudfest and after one lap you can hardly read any numbers on the numberplates. Transponders have solved that problem. Pieter Does got 3rd in our qualifying race
with Rob Karsmakers getting 8th. Patrick Claessens finished 15th which meant I was doomed for the A-final also with 14th position. With the top 15 going to the A-final, 16-31 to the B-final and the rest to the C-final it was going to be a rough end of the day. I really have no business being in the A-final as the fastest riders of the three MX2 Hobby heats get together for the final race. Because of my 14th place in qualifying I had 41st gate pick which automatically meant a 2nd line position. I lined up behind Glenn van de Wetering and Pieter Does as I trusted their BMX reflexion skills as soon as the gate would drop. It was madness once again with all them dudes fighting for positions. I had made it a goal to race Patrick Claessens and forget about everything else. After the first turn I was right behind him. I witnessed someone almost jumping onto Patrick in the air on the first table top but they both stayed upright. In the second turn Patrick took the inside line and I pa
ssed him on the outside. With two people crashing in front of me I had nowhere to go and did some dirt sampling myself. I picked up the machine and continued only to realize that I had no more gear shifter. It had fallen off on the first lap somehow. Instead of pulling in, I decided to race the race. I think it was stuck in third gear the whole time so tight turns required some clutch action and on the first straight the 125CC was screaming. Oh well. 
I got 38th, Patrick finished on spot 36, Pieter crashed twice but still got 22nd just behind Jay Schippers. Rob Karsmakers finished 19th in Volkel. As far as I know Glenn van de Wetering rode his Suzuki to the best place as a BMX-er in the MX2 Hobby class: 15th. Of course many other BMX racers showed up and raced their stoppelcross race. It's always good to see that the MX spirit is inside of us. Let's bring on 2014. I've got a year to talk shit. Hell yeah!
BdJ
Results A-Final Volkel 2013.
1 150 Rik Rijkers 60 60
2 145 Mike Visser 54 54
3 2 Bowdy van de Heuvel 50 50
4 35 Carlo Cornelisse 47 47
5 70 Jan van Deursen 45 45
6 36 Louis de Martines 43 43
7 167 Sjors Franssen 41 41
8 179 Frenk Timmermans 39 39
9 107 Giovanni Limberger 37 37
10 108 Erik de Bruijn 35 35
11 153 Quind Mostert 33 33
12 105 Damon van Grinsven 31 31
13 88 Juul van den Heuvel 29 29
14 137 Dave van Grunsven 27 27
15 78 Glenn van de Wetering 26 26
16 38 Bas van Kaathoven 25 25
17 102 Rens Emonds 24 24
18 113 Jan Vervoort 23 23
19 7 Rob Karsmakers 22 22
20 128 Martijn ter Veer 21 21
21 71 Jay Schippers 20 20
22 9 Pieter Does 19 19
23 103 Frans van Adrichem 18 18
24 16 Gijs Schoenmakers 17 17
25 5 Dennis Schoenaker 16 16
26 168 Erwin van de Burgt 15 15
27 133 Mike van den Akker 14 14
28 119 Jaap Ackermans 13 13
29 79 Geert Louwers 12 12
30 127 Angelo Pennings 11 11
31 101 Leon Oerlemans 10 10
32 116 Jordi van Grinsven 9 9
33 73 Martin Peters 8 8
34 50 Ruud van der Velden 7 7
35 56 Thimo Vogelsangs 6 6
36 10 Patrick Claessens 5 5
37 156 Tom van Heeswijk 4 4
38 6 Bart de Jong 3 3
39 19 Hugo Griffioen 2 2
40 124 Lars de Zeeuw 1 1
41 18 Jaimy Hendriks
42 33 Robbert Klomp
43 40 Noud Bosmans
44 85 Rick van Hout
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.