We left at 7am for this local race that was taking place 30 minutes from home. 7am on the Sunday to go play in the mud. Crazy? Indeed, but if you talk about something for 11 months, you better back it up and be present. We set up camp and signed up. 
Our crew in the paddock consisted of ex GP racer Boyd Karsmakers, Rob Karsmakers, Pieter Does, Paul de Jong, Bjorn Neuber, Tom "broken wrist" Kuiper, Rob van den Wildenberg and my direct competitor Eric Mulders. Actually we all rode in the same MX2 hobby class but this is how it worked:
100 riders could sign up online for the MX2 hobby class. This MX2 hobby class was full within 24 hours which shows the popularity of these year-end races in Holland. You got allocated a start number. Uneven numbers ride in one group of 50, even numbers ride in one group of 50. 22 riders per heat make it to the A-final, the rest makes it to the B-final.
It kicked off with Bjorn, Pieter, Boyd, Paul, Eric and Rob in the even number class. Pieter, Boyd and Rob made it through. Boyd had no competition at all and won easily. Being off the bike for a year didn't seem to matter. He actually rode Tom Kuiper's bike but that didn't seem to hold him back either. Pieter qualified in 7th (I believe) and Rob in 17th.
Rob van den Wildenberg and I represented the even numbers. I had a horrible start but could sneak past a bunch of riders in the first turn to land in a safe spot for the A-final. Finished in 17th. Rob stalled his bike at the start and got back to place 23, missing the transfer to the A-final by one spot. Joost Wichman didn't make the cut either so B-final was stacked with BMX-ers.
Other BMX riders in the MX1 class were Ivo "666" van der Putten, Harm van Brussel, Nikolai van Zeeland, Jurgen Meyer, Danny Vonk, Wilco Groenendaal and some others. Support on the sidelines came from Bas de Bever (I'll be there next week"), Raymon van der Biezen, Sander Bisseling, Gerrit Does, Jill Vakkers, and many others. Seems like every BMX-er has some MX blood in him somewhere.
I made a deal with Boyd Karsmakers. Since he won this class "with two fingers in his nose" he was going to let everyone go at the start and start fom the back to see if he could catch everyone. 
As an ex-Grand Prix rider he actually had no competition from these washed up ex-BMX riders anyway and I told him he should do that. At the same time I could take his spot at the gate since he would have first gate pick, and I would have # 34. While lining up he pulled back on this deal we made and wanted to win this thing. Fair enough. With 44 hungry guys lined up I had another horrible start but again passed a bunch of riders on the inside at turn one to land in around spot 18? A few laps in the race a guy on a Kawa wanted to pass m
e and take my line but I wasn't moving anywhere so we both crashed. I had no rear brake for two turns and missed the second one completely. Luckily the brake came back and I could continue the race. After looking forward to this for so long it would have sucked to go out that way. Towards the last half of the race it started to drizzle which
made the vision very bad, but I managed to finish the race and the bike was still running too. Mission accomplished. And yes, Boyd won.There are actually three more races coming up. Next one is Boekel. To make it even more of a BMX gathering, show up and do some bench racing.
BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.