Lotte van Drunen of the Beursfoon KTM team battled through a difficult European Championship 65cc final event at Loket in the Czech Republic. In the first heat, she crashed twice, which kept her down to 13th position. In the second heat, she managed to fight her way up to third, but lost two places in the final stages of the race to finish fifth.
The track at Loket is known as a very technical one with many elevation changes. Temperatures of up to 34 degrees made matters even more challenging, and Lotte qualified in seventh position, despite numerous attempts to improve on her lap time.
Lotte had a less than optimal start in race one, and joined proceedings in 12th position. She quickly advanced to fifth with some deft passes. Misfortune was to follow. After overjumping a tabletop, she went into the following corner too quickly, which caused her to crash. This dropped her back to 12th and she had to do everything anew. She quickly recovered to ninth, but crashed hard again in her eagerness to get the best possible result. She had to resume her race from 20th position, and worked her way up to 13th.
Disappointed with her first race, but determined to make amends, Lotte lined up for the second heat on Sunday. A much better start launched her into sixth, and she quickly pushed through to fourth position. She pressurised the third placed rider, and with a beautiful pass made the position her own. She kept her spot for a number of laps, but with a few laps to go, she had to drop the pace somewhat, losing two positions as a consequence.
With 13th and 5th in the races respectively, Lotte was credited with sixth overall. This is still a remarkable result, although she was disappointed with the outcome. Lotte will now focus on preparing for the next round of the Open Dutch Championship in four weeks’time. She enjoys a healthy lead in the championship standings.