2007 Sidecarcross World Championship
Season
Grands Prix8
Duration9 April–23 September
Drivers
ChampionsNetherlands Daniël Willemsen Switzerland Reto Grütter
Sidecarcross des NationsLatvia Latvia

The 2007 FIM Sidecarcross world championship, the 28th edition of the competition, started on 9 April and finished after eight race weekends on 16 September 2007 with Daniël Willemsen taking out the title once more.

Overview

The 2007 season was the 28th edition of the sidecarcross world championship. It resulted in a record sixth world championship for Daniël Willemsen, his fifth in a row, but the first with his new passenger Reto Grütter from Switzerland. The team absolutely dominated the season, winning fifteen out of the sixteen races, of those, the first twelve in a row. Despite this, their winning margin of 89 points was not a new record, this is still held by Kristers Sergis / Artis Rasmanis with 168, set in 2002, however, in a 28 race season. The only race the world champion didn't win, number 13, they team finished outside the points on 24th rank. Second placed Jan Hendrickx / Tim Smeuninx did not win a race all season but nine podium finishes and the fact that the team saw the final flag in all races put them well ahead of place three. Kristers Sergis, five times world champion, came third in the 2007 season, with eight second places and a win to his name, in their home GP. Apart from this performances, his results were not strong enough for a sixth title.

The eight races of the season were held in six countries, France, Belgium, Germany, Croatia, Latvia and the Netherlands.

Format

Every Grand Prix weekend is split into two races, both held on the same day. This means the 2007 season with its eight Grand Prix had sixteen races. Each race is currently 30 minutes plus 2 rounds long. The 2007 season had 60 teams registered but not all of them raced in every event. Teams go through a qualifying, usually on Saturday. Typically, around 50 teams compete for 30 spots on the starting grid, meaning around 20 teams miss out on the race altogether. Some teams did not actually get a race start all season, failing in qualifying each time. All up, 48 of those teams gained competition points. Only three teams qualified but never scored any points. About fifteen teams never achieved to get above the cut.

The first twenty teams of each race scored competition points, allocated accordingly to the following system:

Place Points
1 25
2 22
3 20
4 18
5 16
6 15
7 14
8 13
9 12
10 11
Place Points
11 10
12 9
13 8
14 7
15 6
16 5
17 4
18 3
19 2
20 1

Calendar

The 2007 season had the same number of races as in the previous year, however, only half the races were held in the same locations as in 2006. The countries hosting GP's however had not changed:[1]

Date Place Race winners GP winner
9 April Netherlands Oldebroek Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
29 April France Plomion Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
6 May Croatia Zabok Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
13 May France Baugé Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
17 June Germany Jauer Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
22 June Belgium Neeroeteren Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
12 August Latvia Kegums Latvia Kristers Sergis / Kaspars Stupelis Latvia Kristers Sergis / Kaspars Stupelis
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
16 September Germany Rudersberg Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grutter
23 September Denmark Slagelse Latvia Latvia
  • The Sidecarcross des Nations in Slagelse on 23 September 2007 is a non-championship event but part of the calendar and is denoted by a light blue background in the table above.
  • Passengers in italics.

Classification

Riders

The top ten of the 2007 season:[2]

Position Driver / Passenger Equipment Points Wins Second Third
1 Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grütter Zabel-VMC 375 15 — —
2 Belgium Jan Hendrickx / Tim Smeuninx Zabel-VMC 286 — 2 7
3 Latvia Kristers Sergis / Kaspars Stupelis KTM-Mefo 242 1 8 1
4 Switzerland Andy Burgler / Martin Betschart KTM-VMC 196 — — 2
5 Czech Republic Vaclav Rozehnal / Marek Rozehnal Zabel-VMC 191 — — —
6 Latvia Maris Rupeiks / Haralds Kurpnieks KTM-AYR 184 — 4 1
7 Germany Marco Happich / Switzerland Meinrad Schelbert Zabel-VMC 180 — 1 1
8 Belgium Joris Hendrickx / Eli Piccart KTM-AYR 177 — — 1
9 Czech Republic Tomas Cermak / Ondrej Cermak JAWA-Mefo 153 — — —
10 Latvia Janis Daiders / Lauris Daiders KTM-AYR 148 — — —
  • Equipment listed is motor and frame.

Race by race statistics

The numbers for every team are allocated according to their 2006 season finish, meaning the world champion received number one and so on. The numbers for drivers not participating this season were not re-allocated, for example number 16 was not used as Uli Müller who finished 16th in 2006 had retired. New entries received a random number. In the last season, 50 teams finished with points in the overall table, every number above this is therefore a new entry or has not scored points the previous year, the exception being the numbers 68 and 116 who should have been numbers 13 and 21. This system makes it possible to see a driver's improvement or decline from last year by comparing number with position.

The sixteen race events finished as follows and resulted in this final table:[2]

P Driver / Passenger Equipment No. Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 Netherlands Daniël Willemsen / Switzerland Reto Grütter Zabel-VMC 1 375 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 x 1 1 1
2 Belgium Jan Hendrickx / Tim Smeuninx Zabel-VMC 5 286 2 4 3 3 3 9 3 3 2 7 4 3 3 4 11 9
3 Latvia Kristers Serģis / Kaspars Stupelis KTM-MEFO 19 242 10 2 2 2 x 3 2 2 11 x 2 2 1 2 x x
4 Switzerland Andy Burglar / Martin Betschart KTM-VMC 6 196 3 3 10 5 4 13 20 10 x x 8 5 4 8 4 8
5 Czech Republic Vaclav Rozehnal / Marek Rozehnal Zabel-VMC 9 191 x 12 7 14 8 15 14 7 4 6 6 4 5 5 x 5
6 Latvia Māris Rupeiks / Haralds Kurpnieks KTM-AYR 4 184 6 10 x x 2 2 4 x 12 x 7 x 2 3 5 2
7 Germany Marko Happich / Switzerland Meinrad Schelbert Zabel-VMC 3 180 5 x 5 4 11 10 6 x 6 3 14 6 x 6 2 x
8 Belgium Joris Hendrickx / Eli Piccart KTM-AYR 7 177 x 14 12 7 14 14 11 5 3 12 5 8 12 10 6 7
9 Czech Republic Tomas Cermak / Ondrej Cermak JAWA-MEFO 18 153 x x 4 6 10 5 13 x 10 4 10 13 11 14 10 12
10 Latvia Jānis Daiders / Lauris Daiders KTM-AYR 12 148 11 x 11 9 15 6 12 19 8 8 9 7 x 7 x 4
11 Sweden Henrik Söderqvist / Tobias Sylwan Husaberg-AYR 23 139 4 5 6 x 5 x 9 4 x 2 19 3
12 Netherlands Carlo van Duijnhoven / Christian Verhagen Zabel-VMC 15 124 19 16 x 16 7 16 7 16 16 10 11 x 8 9 9 11
13 United Kingdom John Watson / Mark Watson Zabel-VMC 20 116 x 6 x x 13 11 5 x 5 5 x x 3 6
14 Belgium Nicky Pulinx / Ludo Somers KTM-AYR 116 95 9 7 8 10 9 4 x 6 x x x x
15 Germany Martin Walter / Andre Saam Zabel-VMC 22 95 15 20 12 12 18 14 13 11 17 19 7 11 x 10
16 Netherlands Jarno van den Boomen / Henry van de Wiel Zabel-VMC 14 91 7 13 x x 6 7 15 8 19 13
17 Netherlands Marcel Willemsen / Germany Marco Godau Zabel-BSU 10 82 14 11 x x 19 x x x 9 x x 9 6 13 12 14
18 Russia Evgeny Scherbinin / Sergei Sosnovskikh MTH-MEFO 2 62 8 15 x x x x 3 10 9 x
19 United Kingdom Scott Wilkinson / Gary Burt Zabel-VMC 24 62 x x 14 8 x 9 x 9 x 11 x 13
20 Austria Bertram Martin / Switzerland Bruna Kaelin Zabel-VMC 68 53 18 x 9 13 x 8 x 18 7 x x x x x
21 Netherlands Etienne Bax / Marc van Deutekom Zabel-VMC 51 52 x x 16 12 17 20 16 13 15 15 x x 14 x
22 Netherlands Marcel Grondman / Belgium Alfons Eggers Zabel-VMC 33 46 12 8 8 x 14 20 19 x
23 Germany Thomas Morch / Marius Strauss Zabel-BSU 75 38 18 19 14 15 8 15
24 United Kingdom Stuart Brown / Luke Peters Zabel-VMC 8 35 13 9 15 15 x 18 x x
25 Belgium Geert Devoldere / France Edouard Chereau Husaberg 30 35 17 x 17 x x x x x x 14 18 17 x 16 17 17
26 United Kingdom John Lyne / Pete Girling Zabel-VMC 26 30 x x 20 19 x x x x 10 12 16 19
27 Netherlands Thijs Derks / Roy Derks Husaberg-BSU 28 27 x 19 19 16 x x x 15 x 16 15 20 20 x x x
28 Belgium Andreas Clohse / Germany Phillipe Schmidt Zabel-VMC 32 26 x 14 13 x 15 16
29 Germany Steffan Metz / Billy Hilpert KTM-AYR 83 23 17 12 12
30 Germany Josef Brustmann / Philip Schmidt JF-NMP 11 23 16 17 7 x
31 Czech Republic Lukas Cerny / Miroslav Vosmik JAWA-VMC 98 20 17 18 20 15 17 x 20 x
32 Germany Werner Wittmann / France Guennady Auvray KTM-NMP 31 18 x x 18 x 19 11 18 x
33 Belgium Kristof Santermans / Netherlands Patrick Nieuwenhuizen Yamaha-SST 25 17 20 x 10 x 16 x x x
34 Latvia Kārlis Leimanis / Kaspars Liepiņš KTM-AYR 66 17 x 18 20 x 16 x 17 17
35 France Baptiste Bigand / Julien Bigand MTH-BSU 43 14 13 x x 17 x x 20 x x x
36 United Kingdom Andy Eastman / Steve Kirwin MTH-VMC 198 13 x 16 13 x
37 France Jean Marie Ains / Bernard Jayet KTM-MEFO 42 10 18 18 x x x 18 x 20
38 Estonia Kert Varik / Erkki Koiv KTM-AYR 131 9 15 18
39 Netherlands Jan Visscher / Jeroen Visscher Zabel-VMC 135 9 x 12 x x
40 Belgium Peter Steegmans / Dagwin Sabbe MTH-EML 200 8 13 x
41 Estonia Gert Gordejev / Keit Kivaste KTM-AYR 124 5 18 19
42 Russia Igor Rodionov / Dmitry Rodionov KTM-AYR 62 5 15 x
43 Netherlands Peter Brussen / Bjorn Roes Zabel-VMC 52 4 x 17
44 Germany Jürgen Blank / Rainer Semet Zabel-VMC 84 3 x 18
45 France Michael Poirier / Bertrand Poirier KTM-VMC 29 2 x 20 x 20
46 Latvia Oskars Liepiņš / Ilvars Ameļkins KTM-AYR 141 2 19 x
47 France Guillaume Martin / Francis Blanco Zabel-VMC 110 2 x 19
48 Estonia Argo Poldsaar / Tonu Hansar MTH-AYR 177 1 x 20
— France David Barat / Guennady Auvray 101 — x x
— Netherlands Wim Janssen / Henk Roenhorst 36 — x x
— United Kingdom David Keane / Andy Heighes 46 — x x
  • Where there is only one flag shown, it indicates driver and passenger are from the same country.
  • Placings below the first twenty not shown.
  • Drivers who never qualified for any GP not shown.
  • x denotes qualified for race but finished outside of points.
  • Passengers in italics.

Manufacturers

The manufacturers of side car frames are very specialized companies, catering for a small market, but within this they are very well known. Engines can be large half litre off-the-line machines. However, specialized sidecar engines are available to, like the 2-stroke engines from MTH (630cc) and Zabel (685cc). In the 2007 season, four out of the top-five used a VMC frame, including the world champion. Zabel provided the engines to the world champion and the runner-up. The only other engines found in the top ten were KTM and JAWA.

References

  1. ↑ FIM Sidecarcross World Championship – 2007 Calendar Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine FIM website, accessed: 5 August 2011
  2. 1 2 FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Classification 2007 Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine FIM website, accessed: 14 August 2011
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