Luca Nierychlo takes a strong fourth place at the Junior World Championships in Heerde
Last weekend the young man from Central Hesse went to Heerde in the Netherlands for this year’s Junior World Championships. Last year Luca was denied this event because he was simply too young and was not allowed to take part. But now the time had finally come; he arrived well prepared with his family and the German team. The drivers were faced with a deep and demanding sandtrack that was second to none, as well as heavy, continuous rain on Friday and a lot of rain on Saturday.
On Saturday the free practice of the 65cc Group A class started at eight o’clock, in which Luca was also drawn. Things got off to a promising start for the fifth-grader with fifth place.
However, the qualifying session at midday did not go as planned because the unpredictable weather made it difficult to determine a strategy, as the first parents brought the motorcycles into the pre-start over two hours before the qualifying session just to have a free lap. We decided to drive in last and visit the pitlane. Unfortunately, the track conditions were so extreme that Luca was only able to do one reasonably good lap, which was enough for tenth place. The onset of heavy rain and yellow flags all along the track did not allow for a better result. So, adding both groups together, a disappointing 19th starting place.
Race Sunday brought slightly better conditions, the track was still extremely demanding and deep, but it remained relatively dry from above. The 40 qualified drivers were supposed to offer the spectators pure racing action, as already happened in the morning warm-up. Luca was able to show his good speed from Saturday morning again and set the sixth best lap time.
In the late morning things got serious, it was time for the starting gate for the first race of the 65cc World Championship.
The gate twitched briefly and only fell a moment later. Luca reacted too early and got stuck in the gate. The pilot of the AK Bouw – Hutten Metaal Junior Team showed a spectacular recovery in the deep sand. From 40th place, he fought his way up to fourth place and was close to taking third place from Estonian Theo Kolts with two laps to go, but a small mistake caused him to fall. It was still enough for seventh place in the first race.
The second race was unbeatable in terms of racing action. This time Luca got off to a much better start and came out of the first corner in around tenth place. He quickly worked his way up and took third place on lap two and was chasing the second-placed Dutchman Kash van Hamond.
Nico Verhoeven from New Zealand was currently in the lead, but crashed a little later and had to let van Hamond and Luca pass. The Estonian Theo Kolts also took the opportunity and passed Verhoeven, who couldn’t find his flow again. Meanwhile, the two leaders from Kolts pulled away.
Starting for Team Germany, Luca put pressure on the leading Dutchman and wanted to win the race. The two drove next to each other several times, but van Hamond kept his nerve and won the second race with just one second ahead of the German Luca Nierychlo.
Kash van Hamond became 65cc World Cup winner with a 2-1 result. Luca and his team were delighted with second place in the second race. With the results of 7-2, Luca wasn’t enough for the podium, but he is still very happy and satisfied with fourth place overall in his first World Championship appearance
Quote Luca: “I’m happy with my second place in race two, it’s a shame that I crashed into the gate in the first race. A place on the podium would have been cool. Thanks to Christian Brockel, Willy Stephan and Team Germany for their support and thanks to everyone who cheered me on so loudly around the track.”
The German younggun continues next weekend at the EMX finals in Loket, Czech Republic. Luca would like to demonstrate all his skills there again.Anyone who would like to follow the races as part of the MXGP of Czech Republic live can do so at mxgp-tv.com on both days.
