Hosted by Bikers’Classics in SPA Francorchamps racetrack Sultans of Sprint Challenge 2018 second round had been a hot blast. With very hot temperature the weather had nothing to do with last year: almost 40°C in the shade !!!
These very high temperatures was the main challenge to face on the track for all Sultans of Sprint sprintracers, riders & teams … who said Belgium can’t be hot & sunny ?
With a shorter track than usual the game was a bit different and power was not the main thing this time. More than ever the start was playing an essential role for success on the belgian track and traction has been again the key leading to victory. With these unusual high temperatures it was not that easy to find out the proper grip to take off and both riders & bikes have suffered a lot from heat.
Triumph Germany X Mellow Motorcycles Team has clinched a shock victory at the 2018 Sultans of Sprint Factory Class challenge second race. The former Moto2 race rider Arne Tode made the best use of the Triumph Thruxton R “Phantom Blaze” and found out quickly how to get the grip with the supercharged engine of this amazing machine.
A great second place for Rolf Reick on his BMW R nine T X Krautmotors “Little Go Beep” #19 which was featuring a new copper bodywork. Not sure this color made his bike faster but clearly Rolf was really in a good shape finishing just ahead of the insane Yamaha Motor XSR 700 “Sakura” built by Workhorse Speed Shop & ridden by Andy Geeroms.
4th place for Amelie Mooseder on the BMW R1200R X VTR Customs “Spitfire”. Amelie pushed hard but the others were faster on this shorter track this time.
Indian Motorcycle couldn’t participate in Belgium because of an incident the week end before with their FTR 1200 Custom. The prototype is currently being fixed to come back on the dragstrip to compete at the next round hosted by Glemseck 101 beginning of September.
Triumph Germany X Mellow Motorcycles leads the current 2018 Factory Class standings by 40 points with this victory in Belgium.
For their third season in a row Radical Guzzi team finally got a very well deserved first place with Simon Bronold riding the crazy Moto Guzzi NOSferatu #66. Strugling to find out how to findd the proper traction for their super powerful Moto Guzzi nitrous injected engine the german team finally made it on top of the podium : determination, commitment & hard work paid off finally !!!
A great second place for Daniele Ghiselli on the SouthGarage Squadra Veloce “The Superhero” Ducati #16 just ahead Philip Ludwig #46 on his nitrous oxyde injected Kraftstoffschmiede BMW 4 valves “Hercules”.
4th place for Laurence #17 on her Lucky Cat Garage BMW 2 valves “Bombinette” who did really well finding quickly the right balance with the throttle on the starting grid.
Many teams suffered from Nitrous or clutch issues because of the unusual heat as FCR Original with their Triumph “Crazy Bonnie” for instance.
Kraftstoffschmiede Team #46 is currently leading the 2018 standings with 167 points ahead Radical Guzzi #66 & Schlachwerk #25 teams.
Mai-Lin is a stuntrider girl representing Louis Motorrad. Partners of Sultans of Sprint 2018 Challenge we decided to organize a friendly competition between the female riders of the challenge to compete with her: Evy from Team Hermanus #53, Amelie Mooseder from Team BMW Motorrad X VTR Customs #85, Laurence from Team Lucky Cat Garage #17 as well as Barbara on Jo Hecht’s Gasoline Culture BMW “XT Punk” #31 & Manuela on Rolf’s Krautmotors BMW “Little Go Beep” battled just for fun on the dragstrip.
With her V4 powered Louis Motorrad cafe racer Mai-Lin was much too fast but we should really cheer Evy for a great second place !
Sultans of Sprint “Party Monster Bonus” … was this time a sprint race combining longboard & velosolex presented by A-XOC !
A real sprint race for which riders & mascots were involved: the mascot on the velosolex moped pulling the rider on a longboard. Not so easy for beginners & clearly a good way to test the A-XOC protective underwear gears !!!!
All participant contenders got the 10 bonus points & we really congrat all riders & mascots for facing again the belgium heat for this last challenge on the track.
Thanks to our partners Duvel & Sailor Jerry but also a great DJ set from Dorsan the legendary Sultans of Sprint after race party was at its best saturday night in the Bikers’Classics Lifestyle Village. Not only performing a great show on the dragstrip Sultans of Sprint showed again to be an absolute benchmark when it comes to become party animals !
Many thanks to the all organization crew : Laura at the flag, Marine & Laurence at the hospitality, Fred at the bar, Andreas at the microphone, Axel, Ralf & Patrick at the racetrack as well as photographer friends Christine Gabler, Marc Holstein, Ben Ott, Michael Rauscher, Cyril Casagrande, Antoine Hotermans, Kati Dalek & ZJerome and the video crew with Benjamin & Antoine.
Find out all photos from Sultans of Sprint second round ON THIS LINK & the current 2018 standings HERE !
Stay tuned for the next step: online vote to choose for the best 2018 Sultans of Sprint sprintracer for the “Best Style & Enginnering Award” on Pipeburn !
Next race will be hosted by Glemseck 101 in Leonberg [GER] 31st august / 1st & 2nd september.
