The 2006 FIM Sidecarcross world championship, the 27th edition of the competition, started on 23 April and finished after eight race weekends on 17 September 2006 with Daniël Willemsen taking out the title once more.
Overview
The 2006 season was the 27th edition of the sidecarcross world championship. It resulted in a fifth world championship for Daniël Willemsen, his fourth in a row and the second with his passenger Sven Verbrugge from Belgium.
The two clearly dominated the season with 13 wins in the 16 races and an 83-point gap to the second placed Evgeny Scherbinin / Sergei Sosnovskikh from Russia. A close third came Marco Happich / Meinrad Schelbert, the German-Swiss combination.
After ten seasons in the top ten and five world championships, it was the first time since 1995 for last season's runner-up Kristers Serģis not to finish in the top ten. Due to injury, the Latvian only took part in four races but still achieved three podium finishes. The eight races of the season were held in six countries, France, Germany, Croatia, Belgium, Latvia and the Netherlands.
Format Every Grand Prix weekend is split into two races, both held on the same day. This means, the 2006 season with its eight Grand Prix had sixteen races. Each race is currently 30 minutes plus 2 rounds long.
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.
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
Retirements At the end of the 2006 season a number of long-term competitors retired from the World Championship, the longest standing of those being German Josef Brustmann with 19 seasons in the competition and Belgian Geert Devoldere with 18 seasons, both first having raced in the World Championship in 1988.Official World Championship classification 2000–present FIM website, accessed: 9 November 2014JOSEF BRUSTMANN GP RECORD The John Davey Pages, accessed: 9 November 2014GEERT DEVOLDERE GP RECORD The John Davey Pages, accessed: 9 November 2014
Calendar The 2006 season had sixteen races:FIM Sidecarcross World Championship – 2006 Calendar FIM website, accessed: 5 August 2011 DatePlaceRace winnersGP winner23 April Oss Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge21 May Zabok Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge4 June Brou Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge18 June Ķegums Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge2 July Neeroeteren Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge20 August Teutschenthal Māris Rupeiks / Haralds Kurpnieks Māris Rupeiks / Haralds Kurpnieks Josef Brustmann / Stefan Urich13 September Saint-Jean-d'Angle Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge17 September Rudersberg Marco Happich / Mark Watson Henrik Soderqvist / Collin Dunkley Daniel Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge24 September Ķegums Netherlands The Sidecarcross des Nations in Ķegums on 24 September 2006 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 final standings in the overall table of the 2006 season were:FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Classification 2006 FIM website, accessed: 13 August 2011 PositionDriver / PassengerEquipmentPointsWinsSecondThird1 Daniël Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge Zabel-VMC34113——2 Evgeny Scherbinin / Sergei Sosnovskikh MTH-APZ258—533 Marko Happich / Meinrad Schelbert *Zabel-VMC2431124 Māris Rupeiks / Haralds Kurpnieks KTM-AYR2311425 Jan Hendrickx / Tim Smeuninx Zabel-VMC217——16 Andy Burgler / Martin Betschart KTM-VMC211—227 Joris Hendrickx / Eli Piccart KTM-AYR180——18 Stuart Brown / Luke Peters Zabel-VMC165——19 Vaclav Rozehnal / Marek Rozehnal Zabel-VMC157——110 Marcel Willemsen / Bjorn Roes Zabel-VMC137———11 Josef Brustmann / Stefan UrichKTM-NPH1171——12 Jānis Daiders / Lauris DaidersZabel-VMC115———13 Nicky Pulinx / Ludo SomersKTM-AYR113———14 Jarno van den Boomen / Henry van de WielMTH-VMC100—1115 Carlo van Duijnhoven / Christian VerhagenMTH-VMC100———16 Ueli Müller / Reto GrütterZabel-MTH100———17 Eric Schrijver / Ramon van MilMTH-VMC93———18 Tomas Cermak / Ondrej Cermak JAWA-VMC68———19 Kristers Serģis / Kaspars StupelisKTM-Mefo64—2120 John Watson / Mark WatsonZabel-VMC57———21 Bertram Martin / Bruno KaelinZabel-VMC57———22 Martin Walter / Andre SaamZabel-VMC54———23 Henrik Söderqvist / Collin Dunkley Husaberg-VMC52—1124 Scott Wilkinson / Gary BurtZabel-VMC52———25 Kristof Santermans / Patrick NieuwenhuizenYamaha-VMC47———26 John Lyne / Michael TurnerZabel-VMC26———27 Laurent Devoldre / Sebastian DevoldreHusaberg-VMC20———28 Thijs Derks / Roy DerksHusaberg-BSU17———29 Michael Poirier / Bertrand PoirierKTM-VMC14———30 Geert Devoldere / Guennady AuvrayHonda-EML13———31 Werner Wittmann / Mario WohlfartZabel-AYR10———32 Andreas Clohse / Guido SchlabertzZabel-VMC10———33 Marcel Grondman / Martijn GeerdinkZabel-VMC9———34 Roland Sutter / Sandro MichelletoKTM-VMC9———35 Patrick Fagerberg / Daniel FagerbergKTM-AYR9———36 Wim Janssen / Henk RoenhorstZabel-VMC8———37 Maikel Kuster / Wilfried KeubenZabel-VMC8———38 Johan Smit / Bart NottenHusaberg-BSU7———39 Patrick Greup / Marc van DeutekomKTM-VMC7———40 Imantas Tamuliūnas / Egidijus KaraliūnasKTM-AYR6———41 Jens Bochmann / Stefan ProgschaZabel-AYR6———42 Jean Marie Ains / Bernard JayetZabel-VMC5———43 Baptiste Bigand / Julien BigandMTH-BSU5———44 Andrus Vaks / Raimo KaulKTM-AYR4———45 Boudewijn Gommeren / Steve van TongerloKTM-AYR4———46 David Keane / Andy HeighesMTH-VMC3———47 David Surcin / Landry TessierZabel-VMC3———48 Otomārs Skreija / Gastons SkreijaMTH-BSU2———49 Herve Boursaud / Edouard ChereauKTM-VMC1———50 Guillaume Martin / Jacques PilleirZabel-VMC1——— Equipment listed is motor and frame. Marko Happichs only win of the season came with Mark Watson as passenger, who raced at the German GP with him.
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