Memorial Gert Van Damme

Mario with the winners spoils

The Patio

Driving the teletubby car

The place to be in Liedekerke on a Sunday afternoon.

This past Sunday was the first ever Grote Prijs Sportzone, a race put on by the team sponsor Sportzone. The race was for the VWF, which is similar in structure to the ABA at home. There are 6 categories based on skill and age. Each category does a race of around 60-70 km on a 5-8 km circuit. The first couple of years I came over to Belgium I did a few of these races to fill out my program between national events, but this year I am trying to avoid them and therefore when Tino asked if I wanted to help out at the race I was more than eager to experience race organization Belgian style.
My day started helping set up the huge patio in anticipation of about 500 racers and spectators who would be wanting a beverage as the day great warmer. We set up tables, chairs, umbrellas, tents and a bar, arranged the cattle guards etc. I spent alot of time driving around in a box van playing mover, picking up more tables and chairs all morning. To put on a race in Belgium this aspect is crucial and is evident in the final drink sales results of the day. In approximately 7 hours 300L of beer (that includes draft and bottles), countless cases of coke and water and 150 coffees were consumed.
As the eve of the first wave of racers grew nigh I began to prepare myself for my second job of the day, driving a follow car. I was pretty excited about this one as I would be following 3 different races all afternoon on a twisting, fast, completely closed circuit outside the boundaries of traffic laws and restrictions. On top of that I was to drive a brand new Hyundai Getz team car with a commisaire on board. It was great fun ripping around the circuit flying through corners and generally feeling like a rally driver or something like it. On several occasions we would get caught behind dropped riders on a narrow road and have to wait to pass for a bit and then have to bridge the gap to the main group or break as quickly as possible. The commisaire was giddy at times in his broken English yelling "go, go, go" and "yeah, drive, drive" as we hurtled down narrow country lanes. Although it was fun I have concluded that actually riding in the race is much more enjoyable and that I won't be making any moves to become a professional driver anytime soon.
In the "A" category our VWF team did very well with Mario, who is the current Belgian Champion of the VWF, taking the win in a tight two man sprint.
All in all it was a very successful race and the VWF was so impressed with the event that Sportzone managed to secure a provincial championship and national championship in the coming years.
At the end of the day the labour of the morning was reversed and all evidence of the event was torn down faster than in was put up. Another great day in Flanders.
Thanks again to Sammy for the pictures.