DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 10, 2011 (edited) Holland Well here we go again, not much news last year because the KNMV and some of the clubs has made quite a farce of the whole speedway thing in Holland. This year it looks better. The KNMV and the Lelystad club have sorted their problems. The track in Vledderveen is still unsuitable for speedway (which I understand). The Veenoord club is still going well, shame they can only put 2 meetings a year on the calendar. The KNMV has put 4 Dutch open meetings on the calendar, 3 in Lelystad and 1 in Veenoord. And ofcourse we got the Golden Helmet race in Veenoord this year again. Plus we got 6 club meetings in Lelystad. Belgium I'm very happy to say that Belgium is developing very very well. They still only got 1 track (Heusden-Zolder), but they got an awesome group of people behind it. Their meetings attract a HUGE crowd every meeting too. Shame they can only run 3 weekends per year because of the noise (I think). But instead of running boring club meetings they got 3 big meetings on the calendar. First of all the Belgian Open Championship which features some good riders from 5 countries. The second meetings their doing will be a four team event (SWC format), with a Belgian team, a Dutch Team, a German team and 'Team Viking'. And the last meeting will be the big Golden Helmet meeting. Calendar of all races 24.04.2011 - Lelystad - Club Meeting 1 01.05.2011 - Heusden-Zolder - Belgian Open Championship 15.05.2011 - Lelystad - Dutch Open 1 29.05.2011 - Lelystad - Club Meeting 2 19.06.2011 - Heusden-Zolder - Team Meeting 26.06.2011 - Lelystad - Club Meeting 3 10.07.2011 - Lelystad - Dutch Open 2 16.07.2011 - Veenoord - Dutch Open 3 28.08.2011 - Lelystad - Club Meeting 4 04.09.2011 - Heusden-Zolder - Golden Helmet 11.09.2011 - Lelystad - Club Meeting 5 24.09.2011 - Veenoord - Golden Helmet 02.10.2011 - Lelystad - Dutch Open 4 16.10.2011 - Lelystad - Club Meeting 6 The Lelystad track is open every saturday for practice, starting from this week. The Heusden-Zolder track is open for practice on the day before one of their 3 meetings. Edited September 14, 2011 by DutchGrasstrack Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
britmet 233 Posted April 11, 2011 Holland The KNMV has put 4 Dutch open meetings on the calendar, 3 in Lelystad and 1 in Veenoord. And ofcourse we got the Golden Helmet race in Veenoord this year again. Plus we got 6 club meetings in Lelystad. Is either (or all) of the 4 Dutch Open mtgs a National Championship ? - Open or otherwise? . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 11, 2011 Yes, the rider with the most points after the 4 rounds is the new Dutch champion. And it's also a 'Open' championship, so everyone (from every country) can enter. Last year a Danish rider became Dutch champion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manchesterpaul 447 Posted April 11, 2011 Yes, the rider with the most points after the 4 rounds is the new Dutch champion. And it's also a 'Open' championship, so everyone (from every country) can enter. Last year a Danish rider became Dutch champion. Going to pick your brains if it's ok. Great to hear of good crowds in Belguim. How well or poorly attended are the dutch meetings?. Is grasstrack racing popular in both countries, and considerably more so than speedway? If so, is there not any big crossover of fans to speedway meetings? How aware are the grasstrack fans and the general public of speedway itself and of any meetings that are staged? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 14,017 Posted April 11, 2011 Bad news is that the Blijham club has started a small anti speedway campain (idiots..) Eh..? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 14,017 Posted April 11, 2011 (edited) Is grasstrack racing popular in both countries, and considerably more so than speedway? If so, is there not any big crossover of fans to speedway meetings? How aware are the grasstrack fans and the general public of speedway itself and of any meetings that are staged? Don't know about Belgium, but grasstrack used to be the bigger discipline in the Netherlands with speedway being something of an adjunct to it. Pretty much all taking part in the north-east of the country, and the same set of fans from what I could make out. Edited April 11, 2011 by Humphrey Appleby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 11, 2011 (edited) Going to pick your brains if it's ok. Great to hear of good crowds in Belguim. How well or poorly attended are the dutch meetings?. Is grasstrack racing popular in both countries, and considerably more so than speedway? If so, is there not any big crossover of fans to speedway meetings? How aware are the grasstrack fans and the general public of speedway itself and of any meetings that are staged? I can sadly say that there is almost no crowd at the meetings in Lelystad. Big crowds in Veenoord though. Grasstrack is very very popular in Holland (no grasstrack in Belgium). Most riders in Holland race grastrack and do some speedway meetings. There are only a few riders who only race speedway, the rest prefers grasstrack. Well the Grasstrack fans don't bother about speedway. The meetings in Lelystad are quite boring, no passing, gate and go stuff all the time so they lost the crowd because of this I think. Plus they just don't do any advertisements and stuff in Lelystad and around. The meetings in Veenoord attract a good crowd because it's more north and a quite unique event in Holland. Edited April 11, 2011 by DutchGrasstrack Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 11, 2011 (edited) Eh..? Yes it's true. They club put anti speedway messages on their website. They don't give a crap about speedway, they got some car racing on the track too and that's the way the club makes money, with speedway they only loose money. It's a real shame. (edited a bit because I want confirmation first lol) Edited April 11, 2011 by DutchGrasstrack Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 14,017 Posted April 11, 2011 (edited) Plus they just don't do any advertisements and stuff in Lelystad and around. Something of a missed opportunity I'd have thought. Lelystad and Almere are growing centres of population, and what else is there to do on the Flevopolder...? Edited April 11, 2011 by Humphrey Appleby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 11, 2011 Well they got MX racing, super moto racing, oval racing (I think) and some stupid racing with little remote control cars lol. All on the same area (google maps). Not sure of the crowds of these events though. Anyway we'll see what the new season brings. Hope some foreign riders will enter the Dutch open meetings so we can have a decent amount of riders . First meetings kicks off in 2 weeks with a club meeting in Lelystad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 15, 2011 See below for the Dutch riders for the EC and WC meetings this season: EC Speedway QR1 - 30 April - Stralsund (Germany) (11) Pascal Swart EC Speedway SF1 - 25 June - Pilsen (Czech Republic) (8) Henry van der Steen EC Speedway Juniors (U19) SF1 - 7 May - Gustrow (Germany) (15) Randy Oldenziel WC Speedway QR1 - 7 May - Krsko (Slovenia) (6) Henry van der Steen (15) Lars Zandvliet WC Speedway Juniors (U21) QR1 - 17 April - Herxheim (Germany) no interest WC Speedway 250cc - 10 July - Norrkoping (Sweden) Roberto Slot Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 25, 2011 Well I've got some suprising news . The Blijham club is now 'friends' with the KNMV again and they are going to stage the first round of the Dutch speedway championship on the 15th of May . Yesterday was the kickoff from the Dutch season with a clubmeeting in Lelystad. Haven't got any results yet because I was racing in Germany. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 25, 2011 Next week will be the first meeting in Belgium, lineup: 1) Michell Hoffmann (D) 2) Robert-Jan Bangma (NL) 3) Kevin Teager (GB) 4) Nick Lourens (NL) 5) Mateusz Borowicz (PL) 6) Lars Zandvliet (NL) 7) Wim Kennis (BEL) 8) Jesper Veldhuizen (NL) 9) Jez Pestell (GB) 10) Benoit Lorenzon (F) 11) Andy Braithwaite (GB) 12) Sascha Stumpe (D) 13) Steve Jones (GB) 14) Thomas Sörensen (DK) 15) Randy Oldenziel (NL) 16) Bernd Dinklage (D) National class: 17) Bert Berckmans (BEL) 18) Roberto Slot (NL) 19) Matthias Flick (D) 20) Jack Drenthe (NL) 21) Maik Hoffmann (D) Rookies-classic class: 22) Kristof Ceusters (BEL) 23) Rob Eding (NL) 24) Mike van der Maas (NL) 25) Henk de Jonge (NL) 26) Jarig Bangma (NL) 27) Willy Kennis (BEL) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Romualds 2 Posted April 25, 2011 Next week will be the first meeting in Belgium, lineup: 1) Michell Hoffmann (D) 2) Robert-Jan Bangma (NL) 3) Kevin Teager (GB) 4) Nick Lourens (NL) 5) Mateusz Borowicz (PL) 6) Lars Zandvliet (NL) 7) Wim Kennis (BEL) 8) Jesper Veldhuizen (NL) 9) Jez Pestell (GB) 10) Benoit Lorenzon (F) 11) Andy Braithwaite (GB) 12) Sascha Stumpe (D) 13) Steve Jones (GB) 14) Thomas Sörensen (DK) 15) Randy Oldenziel (NL) 16) Bernd Dinklage (D) National class: 17) Bert Berckmans (BEL) 18) Roberto Slot (NL) 19) Matthias Flick (D) 20) Jack Drenthe (NL) 21) Maik Hoffmann (D) Rookies-classic class: 22) Kristof Ceusters (BEL) 23) Rob Eding (NL) 24) Mike van der Maas (NL) 25) Henk de Jonge (NL) 26) Jarig Bangma (NL) 27) Willy Kennis (BEL) It will Belgian Individual Championship. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DutchGrasstrack 807 Posted April 25, 2011 It was pronounced as the Belgian open championship a few months ago but it's now changed to the 'Open Helzold Championship'. So I'm not sure if it's a official Belgian championship or just a open meeting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
