On the first weekend in October, our SHR Motorsports boys went to Dreetz in Brandenburg.
The deep 1750-meter sand track not far from Berlin promised to be an exciting finale.
With an almost all-Dutch driver line-up, we competed in all four racing classes. In the smallest class, the Junior Cup 85, only Nonni Lange (DE) represented us this time, as Bertram Thorius unfortunately had to watch from home with a broken arm.
After moving up to the 125cc class and a long injury break, Junior Cup 85 champ from 2022 Jayson van Drunen (NL) returned for the final round in Dreetz.
Youngster Cup rider Bradley Mesters (NL) was to have his best weekend in his short ADAC MX Masters season.
Also from the Netherlands and freshly crowned Beachcross winner Mike Bolink (NL) competed in the Masters class.
In pleasant temperatures around 20 degrees, our boys competed in their qualifications on Saturday.
Nonni Lange qualified for the qualifying heats in 19th place in his group.
Van Drunen also put in a good performance with a time of 2:08.322, securing 11th place on the grid.
Mesters obviously feels comfortable in the deep sand and set a clear signal with a time of 1:57.884 and only 0.051 seconds behind the first-placed. As a result, Mesters was allowed to line up on the grid in third place.
In the Masters class, Bolink also enjoyed the track conditions and finished qualifying with a strong 10th place in his group.
Now it was time for the first heats. The smallest pilots made the start, and our Nonni Lange now competes against the best international drivers. Nonni finished in 38th place. As one of the youngest and smallest in the field, Lange had to gain experience and take it with him.
Jayson van Drunen had a bomb start and came out of the first lap in third place. Unfortunately, van Drunen had an unfortunate crash right in front of the helper’s box, but was able to move back up to 9th place in the course of the race.
Bradley Mesters had one of the top starting positions at the start gate and was also able to mingle directly with the top 5 at the start. After a crash directly in the first lap, he only came out of the first lap in 20th place. Mesters started an impressive race to catch up and was able to fight his way back to 6th place
Mike Bolink, in his first race of the weekend, was also able to move into the middle of the field at the start and finish in 14th place. Bolink’s best result of the Season.
Sunday was opened by the Youngster Cup riders, who had already started the races at 10:10.
Mesters just missed the Holeshot and was in second place after the first corner. He crossed the finish line in 3rd place after the first lap and was on the move towards the leading group. During the second half of the race, Mesters moved to the front of the field and took his first Victory.
Nonni Lange took to the starting gate for the last time this ADAC MX Masters season and was able to improve his result from the first race by 3 places and see the checkered flag in 35th place. That meant 36th place in the weekend standings.
Van Drunen again made a phenomenal start and was already in the top 5. One last time, he had to take up the chase. Until four laps before the end, Van Drunen kept himself safely in the Top 5, but then unfortunately had to go down unpleasantly and drop back to 12th place. Van Drunen needed a few laps to collect himself and build up his rhythm again for the last laps. In the end, he was waved off in 16th place. This meant 11th place for the former ’85 champ for his comeback this weekend.
Bolink got off to a good start again, lined up in the midfield, and was able to finish in 13th place. Unfortunately, he lost this position to the Belgian Jens Gettemann two laps before the end and was waved off in 14th place.
Now the time had come for Mesters to concentrate fully at the gate for the last time. Again, Mesters just missed on some centimeters the holeshot and went straight into the chase of Mike Gwerder and Edvards Bidzans. On the third lap, he caught Bidzans, and two laps later, Gwerder could not withstand Mesters’ pressure either. Mesters took the lead and drove his own race. In the last two laps, things got exciting again when compatriot Jens Walvoort got on Mesters’ rear wheel. However, just 500 meters before the checkered flag, Mesters experienced technical problems and pushed his Yamaha on to the table. This cost Mesters the weekend victory. Visibly disappointed, Mesters returned to the team. Mesters proved to everyone this weekend that he is more than back from his long injury phase.
The last drop of the 2023 season for our Masters Rider, Mike Bolink, is full concentration once again. Bolink was unfortunate to be held up at the start by riders falling and could only finish in the top 20 after the first lap. Bolink found his pace again in the second lap and was able to move up to 15th place. Unfortunately, Bolink also suffered a technical defect halfway through the race, from which one is never exempt in this sport, and Bolink was unable to finish the race. This resulted in 17th place in the weekend standings, Bolink’s best result of the season.
The season ends with many ups and downs. Lots of bad luck with injuries to our front Riders.
We would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters, because without each and every one of them, such a season would not have been possible. A rider is only as good as his team, and we can’t wait to attack again in 2024..
