The Beursfoon KTM team secured two podium finishes at the Open Dutch Championship Youth Event at Eersel. Raff de Wolf was third in the 85cc small wheel class, the same as older brother Kay in the 85cc big wheel class. Kay had won the first heat, but a a crash in the second race kept him down to seventh. Scott Smulders was always fighting with the leaders but with heat results of four and three he just missed the podium. Sem Beijer was 8th overall for the day.
A big field of 36 riders had entered for the 85cc big wheel class. Kay de Wolf dominated qualifying, setting pole with a 1.1 second gap. A good start in race one left him within sight of the leaders. He soon made his way up to second, and when the race leader fell, he was ready to pounce. Form there he was never challenged for the win. A holeshot in race two made it appear as if Kay would claim an easy overall victory. A crash spoiled all his plans, and by the time he had restarted his bike, he had lost a lot of positions. He had to recover form outside the top 20, and finally finished seventh, for third overall on the day. Kay continues to lead the championship with a healthy margin.
Scott Smulders ended a strong qualifying session in fourth place. In the first race, he held an initial second spot, but some mistakes in getting by lapped riders cost him a spot. In his haste to regain second, he made another mistake, and finished fourth. Scott again found himself in the top five at the start of race two. He worked his way up to second, but lost one spot later in the race to finish third. He narrowly missed the podium, but collected a handy amount of points with fourth overall. Sem Beijer qualified 11th, and was true to form with a good start in the first outing. He dropped to 15th after some mistakes, but recovered to 12th. In the second race, ironically, a worse start yielded a better result. He started as tenth, and rode steadily, claiming two spots to cross the line in 8th position.
In the 85cc small wheel class, Raff de Wolf qualified third. After a strong start in the top ten in race one, he gained some positions to finish third. His second race was a carbon copy of the first, and though he challenged for second, he had to content with third again, which yielded him third overall for the day.
Kay de Wolf and Scott Smulders will represent the team next weekend at the second round of the European Championship elimination series at Vantaa in Finland. The other team members will be in preparation for the next round of the Open Dutch Championship series at Harfsen.