The 7 rider crew from Aarle-Rixtel had shrunk to 3 for the Boekel race. Paul, Edward and myself made the trip on the early Sunday morning. Sign up was a lot better handled than the weekend before and once back at the vehicles we set up camp and got ready for practice. Another fast track but the soil was kind of muddy so not too many uncontrolled wheelies out of the turns this time. When practice was over we were chilling at the pits. Edward noticed that I was missing the rear wheel bolt on my SX. The wheel was already sideways but nothing was damaged. Lucky me. With the moped class already lining up for their first heat I was in desperate need for a bolt to keep my wheel in place. Hmm, who brings a spare bolt to a stoppelcross? I was getting closer to a bolt when I ran into Hans Laurense, owner of the local MX shop. He did not have any spares in his pocket but he told me to get the tools, get to the shop, find a KTM and unwind a bolt.
We were totally parked in but the solution came from Gert-Jan Vereijken who brought an Off The Road bike and gave me a lift to Laurense where Hans' girl opened the shop and I found the part I needed. It was now task to head back to the race, fix the bike and head for the gate. From roughly 50 starters I ended up in roughly 7th place in the first heat. Not bad for a hobby rider like me.
Place 7 would give me a good gate pick for the second moto but when it was time to line up for round two, they did not have the lists ready. The rider who showed up first got first gate pick. I showed up rather late and ended up with place 25 but still managed to sneak a spot on the gate. Another decent start got me out of there in 6th and that's where I managed to stay (roughly, it's hard to keep track when you start doubling riders).
Two top 7 finishes would get me a trophy so I was pretty stoked. Not that I haven't won any trophies in my life before but an MX cup is pretty unique in my book. I skipped the prize ceremony in the bar later that night but when the official results came around the next day they had me with no score at all in moto one and a 4th in moto 2 for 10th place overall.
Excuse me!!!?? For God's sake! I was in the top 10 for sure in moto one and stoked on it. Having no score at all is plain ridiculous. When the gate drops it's fullgas. I take unnecessary risks to pass people or to avoid getting passed. It's who I am and what I do. When I finish a race my fingers are frozen in the grip position and I'm out of breath. I give everything I have and then you find out that they fucked up my score with 0 points. I might start to sound like one of those fanatic dads or something but if the scores are not correct, I might as well sleep in and ride at an open track in the afternoon for the hell of it. The MON messed up and it needs to be said.
Paul (#2) rode well making top 10 in the 250cc hobby class B-final. Expect A-final results next year. Fast starter Edward Schippers (#30) has the speed but needs to work on his endurance. He was seen relaxing his arms during the race because he couldn't hold on. Marco's RM (#26) sure is fast but Paul managed to finish in front of him in both the qualifying round and B-final. It was a good race among the three of them.
Again, all kind of bikes made it to the start of the stoppelcross. Mopeds, quads, side-hacks, mini's, it doesn't matter, there's a class for you. It's an event organized for fun which is hard to take when you're competitive minded and they fuck up your scores. See you next year for some revenge.
BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.