The Beursfoon KTM team added two more podium finishes to their growing collection at the Open Dutch Championship event in Veendam. Ivano van Erp finished second in the 85cc small wheel class and Kay De Wolf won the 85cc big wheel class. Scott Smulder and Sem Beijer also did all they could to keep the team in the spotlight, with fifth and 21st respectively.
A well-prepared track and favourable weather made for a good recipe for racing. Ivano van Erp promptly claimed the pole spot in the 85cc small wheels class on his Hannamax KTM. This allowed him to select the best possible start gate, and in the first heat, he piloted his Eurol-lubricated bike to the holeshot. He looked set for victory, but a clash with a lapper on the very last corner caused him to crash. His bike was upside down, and in recovering it, Ivano lost a lot of time and finished fifth.
During the break, the complete HGS exhaust of the stricken bike was replaced, Ivano also had a painful shoulder, but he gritted his teeth and lined up for the second race. The bike tuned by 2 Fast again did well for him, and he slotted into an early second spot. With two laps to go, he pounced on leader Cas Valk and took the win, which gave him second overall for the day.
41 Riders reported for duty in the 85cc big wheel class, and Kay de Wolf was looking to defend his championship lead. He started off well with the pole position, two seconds faster than the next quickest rider.
Kay had a lesser start in race one and had to recover from seventh position. After two laps, he had clambered up to fourth, and it was not long before he was challenging for the lead. With three laps to go, a fierce duel erupted with the second placed rider. The crowd was treated to one of the best duels of the season between Kay and namesake Kay Karssemakers. The Beursfoon rider took the win with a do-or-die effort at the very last corner.
Kay had a better start in race two. He was already in second by the end of lap one, and it was not long before he claimed the lead again. Again the two protagonists of the first race were involved in a brief battle, but again Kay de Wolf claimed the win, This bumped his championship lead to 27 points.
Scott Smulders was not entirely happy with his qualifying, although he posted the fifth fastest time. Scott had a good start in race one, making his backers from Prox happy. He moved up to third, but unfortunately crashed near the end of the race with a backmarker. This dropped him to ninth, which of course disappointed him. “I am not happy with the 9th position, of course, but the riding went well,” he said.
In the second race, Scott had a better start and slotted into second position early on. He was passed by one rider, and lost another spot after another tangle with a backmarker. “I am happy with the riding, but we had a lot of problems with backmarkers, so we will have to work on a strategy for passing them safely,” he said.
Sem Beijer qualified 19th in a full field. Sem started in 12th spot in race one, and worked his way forward to tenth initially. A small mistake cost him some positions, but he finished in a pleasing 12th spot.
Another good start launched Sem into fifth spot at the start of race two. Unfortunately, a rider crashed in front of him, and by the time he had extricated his bike, he was in 38th spot. He rode like a man possessed, and made his way forward has high as 20th. A flat front tyre forced him to back off, though, and he bravely rode out the race to finish 27th.
The team will be training and testing for the next round of the Open Dutch Championships at Rosmalen next weekend.
Overall 85cc small wheels Veendam:
1 Cas Valk 95 Pnt
2 Ivano van Erp 86 Pnt
3 Kyle van Zutphen 86 Pnt
4 Danny vd Bosse 79 Pnt
5 Lucas Coenen 73 Pnt
Overall 85cc big wheels Veendam:
1 Kay de Wolf 100 Pnt
2 Kay Karssemakers 90 Pnt
3 Dave Kooiker 77 Pnt
4 Sem de Lange 77 Pnt
5 Scott Smulders 70 Pnt
21 Sem Beijer 44 Pnt