The 2007 FIM Sidecarcross world championship, the 28th edition of the competition, started on 9 April and finished after eight race weekends on 16 September 2007 with Daniël Willemsen taking out the title once more.
Overview The 2007 season was the 28th edition of the sidecarcross world championship. It resulted in a record sixth world championship for Daniël Willemsen, his fifth in a row, but the first with his new passenger Reto Grütter from Switzerland. The team absolutely dominated the season, winning fifteen out of the sixteen races, of those, the first twelve in a row. Despite this, their winning margin of 89 points was not a new record, this is still held by Kristers Sergis / Artis Rasmanis with 168, set in 2002, however, in a 28 race season. The only race the world champion didn't win, number 13, they team finished outside the points on 24th rank. Second placed Jan Hendrickx / Tim Smeuninx did not win a race all season but nine podium finishes and the fact that the team saw the final flag in all races put them well ahead of place three. Kristers Sergis, five times world champion, came third in the 2007 season, with eight second places and a win to his name, in their home GP. Apart from this performances, his results were not strong enough for a sixth title.
The eight races of the season were held in six countries, France, Belgium, Germany, Croatia, Latvia and the Netherlands.
Format Every Grand Prix weekend is split into two races, both held on the same day. This means the 2007 season with its eight Grand Prix had sixteen races. Each race is currently 30 minutes plus 2 rounds long. The 2007 season had 60 teams registered but not all of them raced in every event. Teams go through a qualifying, usually on Saturday. Typically, around 50 teams compete for 30 spots on the starting grid, meaning around 20 teams miss out on the race altogether. Some teams did not actually get a race start all season, failing in qualifying each time. All up, 48 of those teams gained competition points. Only three teams qualified but never scored any points. About fifteen teams never achieved to get above the cut.
The first twenty teams of each race scored competition points, allocated accordingly to the following system: PlacePoints1 252 223 204 185 166 157 148 139 1210 11PlacePoints11 1012 913 814 715 616 517 418 319 220 1
Calendar The 2007 season had the same number of races as in the previous year, however, only half the races were held in the same locations as in 2006. The countries hosting GP's however had not changed:FIM Sidecarcross World Championship – 2007 Calendar FIM website, accessed: 5 August 2011 DatePlaceRace winnersGP winner9 April Oldebroek Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter29 April Plomion Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter6 May Zabok Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter13 May Baugé Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter17 June Jauer Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter22 June Neeroeteren Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter12 August Kegums Kristers Sergis / Kaspars Stupelis Kristers Sergis / Kaspars Stupelis Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter16 September Rudersberg Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grutter23 September Slagelse Latvia The Sidecarcross des Nations in Slagelse on 23 September 2007 is a non-championship event but part of the calendar and is denoted by a light blue background in the table above. Passengers in italics.
Classification
Riders The top ten of the 2007 season:FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Classification 2007 FIM website, accessed: 14 August 2011 PositionDriver / PassengerEquipmentPointsWinsSecondThird1 Daniël Willemsen / Reto GrütterZabel-VMC37515——2 Jan Hendrickx / Tim Smeuninx Zabel-VMC286—273 Kristers Sergis / Kaspars StupelisKTM-Mefo2421814 Andy Burgler / Martin Betschart KTM-VMC196——25 Vaclav Rozehnal / Marek RozehnalZabel-VMC191———6 Maris Rupeiks / Haralds Kurpnieks KTM-AYR184—417 Marco Happich / Meinrad Schelbert Zabel-VMC180—118 Joris Hendrickx / Eli Piccart KTM-AYR177——19 Tomas Cermak / Ondrej Cermak JAWA-Mefo153———10 Janis Daiders / Lauris Daiders KTM-AYR148——— Equipment listed is motor and frame.
Race by race statistics The numbers for every team are allocated according to their 2006 season finish, meaning the world champion received number one and so on. The numbers for drivers not participating this season were not re-allocated, for example number 16 was not used as Uli Müller who finished 16th in 2006 had retired. New entries received a random number. In the last season, 50 teams finished with points in the overall table, every number above this is therefore a new entry or has not scored points the previous year, the exception being the numbers 68 and 116 who should have been numbers 13 and 21. This system makes it possible to see a driver's improvement or decline from last year by comparing number with position.
The sixteen race events finished as follows and resulted in this final table: PDriver / PassengerEquipmentNo.Points123456789101112131415161 Daniël Willemsen / Reto GrütterZabel-VMC1375 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1x 1 1 12 Jan Hendrickx / Tim Smeuninx Zabel-VMC5286 24 3 3 39 3 3 274 3 341193 Kristers Serģis / Kaspars StupelisKTM-MEFO1924210 2 2 2x 3 2 211x 2 2 1 2xx4 Andy Burglar / Martin Betschart KTM-VMC6196 3 31054132010xx8548485 Vaclav Rozehnal / Marek RozehnalZabel-VMC9191x12714815147466455x56 Māris Rupeiks / Haralds Kurpnieks KTM-AYR4184610xx 2 24x12x7x 2 35 27 Marko Happich / Meinrad Schelbert Zabel-VMC31805x5411106x6 3146x6 2x8 Joris Hendrickx / Eli Piccart KTM-AYR7177x141271414115 312581210679 Tomas Cermak / Ondrej Cermak JAWA-MEFO18153xx4610513x10410131114101210 Jānis Daiders / Lauris Daiders KTM-AYR1214811x11915612198897x7x411 Henrik Söderqvist / Tobias SylwanHusaberg-AYR23139456x5x94x 219 312 Carlo van Duijnhoven / Christian VerhagenZabel-VMC151241916x16716716161011x8991113 John Watson / Mark WatsonZabel-VMC20116x6xx13115x55xx 3614 Nicky Pulinx / Ludo SomersKTM-AYR116959781094x6xxxx15 Martin Walter / Andre SaamZabel-VMC229515201212181413111719711x1016 Jarno van den Boomen / Henry van de WielZabel-VMC1491713xx67158191317 Marcel Willemsen / Marco Godau Zabel-BSU10821411xx19xxx9xx9613121418 Evgeny Scherbinin / Sergei Sosnovskikh MTH-MEFO262815xxxx 3109x19 Scott Wilkinson / Gary BurtZabel-VMC2462xx148x9x9x11x1320 Bertram Martin / Bruna KaelinZabel-VMC685318x913x8x187xxxxx21 Etienne Bax / Marc van DeutekomZabel-VMC5152xx1612172016131515xx14x22 Marcel Grondman / Alfons EggersZabel-VMC33461288x142019x23 Thomas Morch / Marius StraussZabel-BSU75381819141581524 Stuart Brown / Luke Peters Zabel-VMC8351391515x18xx25 Geert Devoldere / Edouard ChereauHusaberg303517x17xxxxxx141817x16171726 John Lyne / Pete GirlingZabel-VMC2630xx2019xxxx1012161927 Thijs Derks / Roy DerksHusaberg-BSU2827x191916xxx15x16152020xxx28 Andreas Clohse / Phillipe SchmidtZabel-VMC3226x1413x151629 Steffan Metz / Billy HilpertKTM-AYR832317121230 Josef Brustmann / Philip SchmidtJF-NMP112316177x31 Lukas Cerny / Miroslav VosmikJAWA-VMC98201718201517x20x32 Werner Wittmann / Guennady AuvrayKTM-NMP3118xx18x191118x33 Kristof Santermans / Patrick NieuwenhuizenYamaha-SST251720x10x16xxx34 Kārlis Leimanis / Kaspars LiepiņšKTM-AYR6617x1820x16x171735 Baptiste Bigand / Julien BigandMTH-BSU431413xx17xx20xxx36 Andy Eastman / Steve KirwinMTH-VMC19813x1613x37 Jean Marie Ains / Bernard JayetKTM-MEFO42101818xxx18x2038 Kert Varik / Erkki KoivKTM-AYR1319151839 Jan Visscher / Jeroen VisscherZabel-VMC1359x12xx40 Peter Steegmans / Dagwin SabbeMTH-EML200813x41 Gert Gordejev / Keit KivasteKTM-AYR1245181942 Igor Rodionov / Dmitry RodionovKTM-AYR62515x43 Peter Brussen / Bjorn RoesZabel-VMC524x1744 Jürgen Blank / Rainer SemetZabel-VMC843x1845 Michael Poirier / Bertrand PoirierKTM-VMC292x20x2046 Oskars Liepiņš / Ilvars AmeļkinsKTM-AYR141219x47 Guillaume Martin / Francis BlancoZabel-VMC1102x1948 Argo Poldsaar / Tonu HansarMTH-AYR1771x20— David Barat / Guennady Auvray101—xx— Wim Janssen / Henk Roenhorst36—xx— David Keane / Andy Heighes46—xx Where there is only one flag shown, it indicates driver and passenger are from the same country. Placings below the first twenty not shown. Drivers who never qualified for any GP not shown. x denotes qualified for race but finished outside of points. Passengers in italics.
Manufacturers The manufacturers of side car frames are very specialized companies, catering for a small market, but within this they are very well known. Engines can be large half litre off-the-line machines. However, specialized sidecar engines are available to, like the 2-stroke engines from MTH (630cc) and Zabel (685cc). In the 2007 season, four out of the top-five used a VMC frame, including the world champion. Zabel provided the engines to the world champion and the runner-up. The only other engines found in the top ten were KTM and JAWA.
References
External links The World Championship on Sidecarcross.com The John Davey Grand Prix Pages – Results of all GP's up until 2005 FIM Sidecar Motocross World Championship 2010