PAUWELS AND CARTELLE SHINE AT CROSS CARS

© copyright photo: Johan Hendrickx

Besides the tenors of the World RX of Benelux, it was also looking forward to the spectacular Cross Cars during the weekend of Aug. 5 and 6. The Mini Buggies, open to drivers as young as 7 years old, worked through some demonstration series. In the XC Junior and XC Senior categories, the fifth round of the Belgian Championship was on the program.

With five participants, the field in the Juniors was well filled. In the series there was no limit to Lucas Cartelle, who only lost the fastest time in the second series on Saturday due to a false start, forcing him to go through the wildcard twice. So it was no surprise that he dominated the final from start to finish, although championship leader Jordan Genten was still pushing in the very last corner. Cartelle won ahead of Genten and Marius Debuisson. Kim Ermens, the 18-year-old young lady from Rijkevorsel, finished fourth ahead of Monegasque Thomas Pregliasco.

“I maybe let Jordan get a little too close in the final lap, but I felt like I had everything under control throughout the final. The weekend just went perfectly, except for that false start in the second series. In the championship everything remains possible,” Cartelle said.

In the Seniors, Lifelive presented the new TN11, a Cross Car with a new chassis. Tom Heindrichs had the honor of giving the new weapon its baptism of fire and Thierry Neuville’s half-brother was the best in the series and in the semi-finals, but each time Kobe Pauwels was hot on his heels with the Mygalle XC04. In the final, Heindrichs took the lead, but Pauwels kept chasing. When Tom Heindrichs took his wildcard, he did so a little more cautiously than Kobe Pauwels, who was able to take over the lead on the final lap. The outgoing Belgian champion took his first win of the season.

“It’s great to give Mygalle a first BK victory in the context of the World Cup moto. I had to ride particularly hard for it, because Tom took a great start and also turned great lap times. A perfect joker lap made the difference,” Pauwels said.

Romuald Demelenne finished third, ahead of Jari Van Hoof, Kyandro Van de Vivere and Eric Borguet, who after a slide in the second moto was already happy to limit the damage with a final place.