After a long and very cold winter it was finally time for the first race of the Dutch nationals. For the first round we headed to Genk which is in Belgium, close to the Dutch border. We arrived there Friday to practice, unfortunately it was very cold all day.
On Saturday the track was wet untill 3 in the afternoon so not much practice. In the late afternoon i did a few laps after changing the car a little and it felt great so i packed up and went to the hotel to prepare the car.
(click to enlarge)
On Sunday the weather was much better and the sun was finally shining. In the first round of qualifying the track was quite dusty because next to the track there's a dirt bike track but i still got a clean run and got first for round 1. for the second round i changed the car a little and it was a little better, just not as consistent as i wanted. So for the last round i changed to the protoform R18 and the car was great! i just made a few mistakes while getting used to the different handling and also i stopped for fuel while John managed 5 minutes on fuel so i missed out on TQ by little over a second.
During the semifinal everything was ok and i take the nr 1 spot for the final.
In the final we adjusted the Picco engine a little leaner and it was crazy fast! In the first 5 minutes i could take almost a lap advantage and after that i just held on to this and made a safety stop just before the finish and won by 3/4 of a lap.
I'm really happy with the performance of my Xray RX8 and Picco EMX engines. Also first time i use the new Sanwa M12 Radio, much lighter and more comfortable!
(click to enlarge)
Final results:
1. Vrielijnck Rick - XRAY RX8
2. D'hondt Robin
3. Cuypers Steven
4. Lenaers John
5. Baggen Frank
6. Zevenhoven Martin
7. Schouten Marcel
8. Reijnders Niels
9. Haling Daan
Thanks to my sponsors, XRAY, HUDY, Picco, Enneti, Sanwa, Runnertime, LRP, Protoform. And many thanks to my mechanics for this race!
