SidecarCross World Championship Karksi Nuia: Double victory for Vanluchene, Prümmer third

As expected, the starting field at the Estonian Grand Prix was also significantly reduced. A total of fifteen of the permanent World Championship starters had made the long journey to the north-east. The remaining ten teams came from the Baltic states. Daniels Lielbardis, who had found an adequate replacement for his brother Bruno, who had undergone appendicitis surgery, in the Finn Lari Kunnas after his forced break at the Polish GP, was also in the line-up.

Rain the night before the weekend made driving on the already deep sandy track even more difficult. As a result, even the top teams got stuck in one of the treacherous holes. In Group A of Saturday's qualifying round, Tim and Sem Leferink dominated ahead of Tim Prümmer/Patrick Schneider. However, things could have gone even better for the German-Austrian duo, who are also fast in the sand. However, Prümmer slowed down the engine in the turmoil at the start and then had to roll up the field from behind. "Beginner's mistake," was his self-critical comment. Killian and Evan Prunier made it through the laps with engine problems.

First place in Group B went to Lielbardis/Kunnas ahead of Vanluchene/van den Bogaart and Brett Wilkinson/Joe Millard. Stephan Wijers/Joel Hoffmann finished fourth. World champions Koen Hermans and Dion Rietman were able to move up to seventh place after an involuntary stop.

Although the track had dried out somewhat on Sunday, the risk of accidents remained high. Lielbardis/Kunnas won the start ahead of Vanluchene/van den Bogaart. But it was only a matter of time before the former world champions pulled away. Later, the Leferinks benefited from the retirement of the Latvian-Finnish emergency team due to a striking engine. Prümmer/Schneider made things exciting again after they were involved in a crash at the start. All the more remarkable was their race to catch up to third place.

The Pruniers had a harder time in the sand and only managed to move up from fifteenth to sixth place. Wilkinson/Millard also faltered at times, Hermans/Rieman had to retire with a broken footrest and Wijers/Hoffmann made it through the final laps with a broken clutch.

It was the same game again after the second start: Lielbardis/Kunnas took the lead ahead of Vanluchene/van den Bogaart. But as early as the third lap, the runners-up in the world championship pulled past for another victory. This time, Prümmer/Schneider entered the starting bend in fifth place, closely followed by Wilkinson/Millard. Then Leferinks, who were running in third place, had to retire because co-driver Sem had badly bruised his ribcage. Prümmer passed Hermans to take third place, but had to hand it over to Wilkinson, who was also able to overtake Lielbardis. In the end, Prümmer also managed to overtake Lielbardis and thus save the podium place. Wijers/Hoffmann got off to a poor start, but were then able to move up into the top 10. Behind them, multi-champion Daniel Willemsen saw the chequered flag with local hero Markus Lina in the boat.

Next weekend, Prümmer/Schneider and Wijers/Hoffmann will have a break from racing, while the other German World Championship participants will be battling for points towards the German Championship on Saturday in Dolle near Magdeburg. The next Grand Prix will then take place on 27/28 June in Lommel, Belgium. As deep sand is again the order of the day here, there could be a change in the lead. After all, Vanluchene/van den Bogaart are now three points behind the Pruniers and within striking distance. And in the sand, the Belgian-Dutch duo, who have already won one world championship title and a total of eight gold medals together, are clearly superior.

Results Motocross World Championship Karksi Nuia/EST:

1st heat: 1st Vanluchene/van den Bogaart (B/NL), VMC-Zabel. 2. T.Leferink/S.Leferink (NL), VMC-KTM. 3. Prümmer/Schneider (D/A), VMC-AMS. 4th Wilkinson/J.Millard, (GB), WSP-Husqvarna. 5th Sanders/J.Vincent (B/NL), WSP-Mega. 6th K.Prunier/E.Prunier (F), WSP-KTM. 7. Normak/Daniels (EST/LV), WSP-Gasgas. 8. Wijers/Hoffmann (NL/D), VMC-Zabel. 9th Lihtsa/Lamp (EST), WSP-Husqvarna. 10. K.Grondman/R.Vincent (NL), VMC-Zabel. 11. T.van der Lagemaat/van Hal (NL), VMC-Zabel. 12. D.Willemsen/Lina(NL/EST), WSP-KTM. 13th G.Carcreff/Hupon (F), VMC-Zabel. 14th Karing/Nitsoo(EST), WSP-Husqvarna. 15. R.Chanteloup/J.Chanteloup (F), WSP-KTM. 16th R.Rupeiks/Tucis (LV), VMC-Zabel. 17th De Cock/de Vylder (B), VMC-AMS. 18th J.Pirtinas/Aleksejevs (LT/LV), WSP-Mega. 19th Poldsaar/Ruutli (EST), VMC-KTM. 20th Z.Pirtanas/Zaliauskas (LT), WSP-Mega.

2nd heat: 1. Vanluchene. 2. Wilkinson. 3rd Prümmer. 4. D.Lielbardis/Kunnas (LV/FIN), WSP-Mega. 5th Sanders. 6th Hermans/Rietman (NL), WSP-Mega. 7th Prunier. 8th Grondman. 9th Normak. 10th Wijers. 11th Willemsen. 12th Lihtsa. 13th Chanteloup. 14th Van de Lagemaat. 15. Carcreff. 16. J.Pirtinas. 17th Reesna/Mäki (EST/FIN), WSP-Husqvarna. 18th Rupeiks. 19th Poldsaar. 20th De Cock.

World Championship standings after 12 of 22 races:

1. Prunier 276 points. 2. Vanluchene 273. 3. Prümmer 229. 4. Wilkinson 220. 5. Sanders 178. 6. Leferink 157. 7. Hermans 155. 8. Foden 147. 9. Grondman 118. 10. Lielbardis 116. 11. Wijers 114 14. Peter 85. 17. Hengster 52. 24. Heinzer 20. 27. Uhlig 17. 31. Hofmann 10. 37. Buob 6.