2019 Dutch EP Onroad Nats Rd5 – Report
The fifth round of the Dutch Electric Onroad Nationals was held last weekend at the fast and smooth MACH circuit in Heemstede, host of the 2012, and upcoming 2020, World Championships. On Saturday the track was open for everyone to practice, which looked very promising, with many people breaking their personal record. The track was fast and the weather was beautiful. Sunday however was the opposite as rain disrupting the running meaning many drivers took out their rain cars to prepare it.
The 1st qualifier was to run on a wet track, with many drivers waiting until the 3rd qualification in the hope that the track dried out and when the last qualification started many drivers came to the track for 1 lap to be allowed to ride the final. But there were still a lot that started using their rain car for the full 7 minutes. In F1 it was the favorite Jitse Miedema who was one of the people that drove all 3 qualifications and he also took the TQ. For the F1 on slicks it was a bit slippery, but they still knew how to turn it into a rain show.
There were also several drivers in the touring car class who took to the track with their rain cars. In the Stock class it was Rob Janssen who took the TQ, with Tjitte Miedema and Remco Mutsaerts close behind him. In the Modified class, it was Sidney Blokker who showed how to play in the rain, and took the TQ. Sidney was not going to get an easy win in the final, as Rick van den Akker and Govert Verbeke were close behind him.
Where the qualification started wet and ended wet, the finals were dry and getting warmer meaning the action could finally start after a difficult wet qualifying.
In the F1 the field, which had become pretty thin due to the rain, Jitse Miedema managed to win 1st place with his Infinity in addition to a TQ, with 2nd place going to Hampy Jansen and 3rd place Wesley van Silfhout.
The Stock class had a full field of driver after the rainy qualification. In final 1 Rob Janssen immediately set a good pace where others struggled. This is partly due to the drying track and the Rush 36x tires. In the stock class, the Rush tire may be difficult to control. Rob Janssen won, Tjitte Miedema was 2nd and Ronald Arts was 3rd.
In final 2 it was Rob Janssen again with the win, this time he had to fight hard to stay front of home rider Tjitte Miedema who crossed the finish line with 0.2 seconds behind him. In Final 3, Tjitte Miedema managed to get the win, which he didn’t manage in the 2nd final, but now had succeeded. The podium was filled with 1st Rob Janssen, 2nd Tjitte Miedeman and 3rd Ronald Arts.
The Modified class was again a very exciting race with a lot of action. The top 4 Sidney Blokker, Rick van den Akker, Govert Verbeke and Thomas Buijze managed to set up a nicely mixed race. In Final 1 it was Sidney Blokker who finished 1st, followed by Rick van den Akker and Govert Verbeke. There was some fair racing by everyone that was exciting to see.
In Final 2 a lot happened, Govert had to drop out after 5 rounds and Rick van den Akker just lost 1 round of battery capacity. The top 3 was 1st Sidney Blokker, 2nd Thomas Buijze and because of his distance on the 4th driver and the failure of Govert Verbeke, Rick van den Akker still managed to claim 3rd place.
For final 3 the 1st place in the final classification was already certain but behind that everything was still free. During the last final, Govert Verbeke managed to get the gap close on Sidney Blokker, and due to a mistake, Govert Verbeke was able to win with 2nd place going to Thomas Buijze and 3rd Sidney Blokker. The podium was full Awesomatix with Sidney Blokker winning, Govert Verbeke in 2nd and 3rd Thomas Buijze.
Report and images by Patrick de Wit.
