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joined us in his Ford van and we had a gang of 5 riders and four vehicles on the way to round 2.

The track looked rough when we walked a lap. We were wondering if we could even make it through. Wearing white trainers wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done. They were black after the lap. We signed up anyway, set up camp and drank some hot tea. After getting rid of some cow shit we got dressed for the 10 minute practice session. In the meantime a loader and tractor had gone to work on the track. They flattened it and all of a sudden the track looked 20 times better. Practice was so fun. Flat track, loamy sand and being the second guy on the track. It stayed like that for 10 minutes and with Pieter behind me, it was more of a race than a simple warm up session getting used to the track. 3 jumps this time with the one near the finish line being the biggest. It was actually pretty fun until ruts showed up on the take-off and it become more of an obstacle than a cool thing to jump.

Anyway, like always a bunch of BMX riders showed up to ride. This time also Raymon van der Biezen was allowed to ride his Pit Bike and Bas de Bever had recovered enough from his kidney stone operation to dust off his CRF450. Other (ex-)BMX-ers who had brought their bikes were Ivo van der Putten, Wilco Groenendaal, Harm van Brussel, Glenn van de Wetering, Nikolai van Zeeland, Lars van Berkel and the posse mentioned above.

Not as many riders showed up as the 100 per class from previous week. But still 22 made it to the A-final and the others would race for the B-final. The class with the even numbers in the MX2 Hobby group only had 27 riders in it this time but if you stall your bike (especially a 4-stroke) and you can't manage to fire it back up in time, making it to the A-final is still a task. Eric Mulders failed in doing that, and yes he was pissed. Paul made it into the A-final in 21st position which made it even more unbearable for Eric, especially when he had to deal with all the shit talking he received. Pieter Does rode well in this group to finish 3rd. Rob van den Wildenberg and myself had to ride in the uneven number MX2 Hobby class. We had about 40 in our group. Knowing that Paul made it into the A-final I set myself a goal of at least making that. After crashing twice and now knowing what position I was in, I had to put my head down and pass as many riders as I could quickly. The track started to form long ruts but it was still okay. Not used to riding MX bikes makes it hard to go full throttle all the time. After the 12 minutes + one lap I ended up in 11th, just one place behind Rob van den Wildenberg. Big relief for sure. A final for both of us.

It's hard to follow all classes when you have to ride yourself. The results are nowhere to be found online which doesn't make it any easier. From what I remember of the MX1 Hobby class' first moto was that Ivo van der Putten and Harm van Brussel were up there in the top 7. Bas de Bever was in 11th and Nikolai van Zeeland in 14th. Wilco Groenendaal needs some more track time. He finished 29th. This class actually had 2 motos. The results of moto 2, I don't know.

A-final MX2 Hobby class. I managed to grab one of the last places on the gate. It wasn't a great position but at least I had a chance to get out there and did not have to start on the second row like 14 other riders had to do. The unprofessionalism of the organization is just funny. The 15 second sign and 5 second sign were only there for reference. The started dropped the gate whenever he felt like it. The gate seemed to drop in slow motion and I had a decent snap. Being on the inside I managed to get out of the first turn in the top 10. I was stoked on that and even turn two was okay. Turn three was a different story. The kid in front of me hit someone else's back wheel and crashed. My front wheel got stuck in between his titanium pipe and his fender. I had to get off the bike to pull my bike backwards and people were flying by left and right. I was steaming and had no option than continue the race somewhere from the back of the pack. 2 turns later Paul was on the ground with another rider. I pet him on the back to see if he was okay. Thumbs up and it was back to the track to pass some riders. By this time the track was rougher and the vision horrible. I had been eating too much dirt and in the first lap I had thrown away all of my tear-offs already. In the end it looked like this and it's a bit tricky so I will understand if you do not get it.

Rob van den Wildenberg was the last rider to do the last lap. Meaning Dennis Stallen, who won the race, was behind him. Behind Dennis Stallen was Paul, who got lapped by the leader twice. Behind Paul de Jong was Pieter Does who was still in the same lap as the leader and finished in second place after leading the race for a couple of laps. Congrats to Pieter on the MX trophy! I was right behind Pieter, meaning he did lap me, and I was about to lap Paul but that didn't happen.

Anyway, results are not that important , but when you enter a race, you want to do well. At least I do, and I'm sure if you've ever raced BMX, that spirit is still there. Eric Mulders was the lonely ranger in the B-final but he did really well there. He grabbed the holeshot and lead all laps, except for the last one. He got passed and finished 2nd.

Next race will be in Odiliapeel which I won't be able to make it to. The last one in Volkel sounds promising though. If anyone is up for making a little report of next week's race, feel free to send it in.

Braapp de Jong