Sunday
morning, November 25th, has to be the final day of the 72th Ghent six. Official
name sounds totally different: Lotto z6sdaagse Vlaanderen Gent. While the U23
riders just started their final Madison (240 laps).
This circa
45 minutes race give us some time to look back on a carrier of one of the most
famous person in the six days circus. Although he is not a rider, a lot of
people know of this man. He became famous when he let his mo grow. Joop
Zijlaard made his appearance in the derny world in 1970. We will see the 69
year old Rotterdam citizen for the last time in a race this afternoon. In his
last motor paced race he will try to win the final later this afternoon. Who
with? I’ll bet you it will be Iljo or Glenn. The list of races he won is long,
9 European titles, 30 times champion of the Netherlands and even 3 Belgian
ones.
At the
moment we’re half way the U23 race and still the Czech and German team leading
by one lap. Five other teams are only one lap down, so everything is still
possible. But I must admit that Kraus-Rugovac and Hesslich-Horstmann control
the race completely. The points leaders, French couple, Boudot-Barbeau really
need to take a lap to win this race. If they can manage this, it almost
guarantee them the first place, they have 1OOpts, the Czechs 38 and the Germans
only 16pts. Scary moments with ten laps to go, when the yellow jersey came down.
Fortunately they could continue the race. The stage was finally won by Germans
Wotschke-Pirius. The final winners of the U23 six days are the Czech riders:
1 Jan Kraus
– Denis Rugovac (40pts) 2 Nico Hesslich – Samuel Horstmann (17pts) 3 Jonas
Rickaert – Otto Vergaerde (-1 lap / 88pts)
In the pro
six, four teams start the final session in the same lap, O’Shea-Keisse
(383pts), De Ketele-Van Hoecke (379pts), Dillier-Bartko (266pts) and Hester-Hansen
(230pts). So it will be either taking a lot of points or more important a lap.
And the fight for the points started immediately, Iljo and Glenn took 20 points
and that was 8 more than the Belgian World champions. The following race was a
missing out with a final sprint between Keisse and Van Hoecke. And once again O’Shea-
Keisse are the winners.
The fastest
lap was won by “the Swiss Bullet” Tristan Marguet with his fellow countryman
Franco Marvulli. And guess won the first heat behind the derny…..yes Iljo
Keisse with motor pacer Joop Zijlaard.
It is now
waiting for the final Madison!