Spain’s Jonahthan Barragan had an off-day finishing a miserable 14th overall. Kevin Strijbos was on the pace as well, allthough he left empty handed after a late crash in the final heat. After a first medical check on the spot no rupture of his wrist was diagnosed, it’s believed Strijbos suffered a severe hyperflexion.

The 2008 champion, Steve Ramon, and runner-up, Manuel Priem, sat out the event due to injuries.

Ken De Dycker immediately fired a warning shot during the first heat. It was Philippaerts who resisted briefly, but the lanky Suzuki rider pulled away remarkably easy. Kevin Strijbos closed in on Philippaerts, but in the end he dhad to settle for third ahead of Desalle, Coppins and the MX2 mounted Joël Roelants.

Strijbos made the best of his excellent jump from the gate and dominated the second race.

However the more than 6.000 strong crowd was all eyes for the battle that had developed for second between Philippaerts and Desalle. The two switched positions but the Belgian confirmed his reputation as a tough, dedicated racer picking up second.

De Dycker spoiled the crowd as well as an inspired push from 26th -after a mistake in the opening lap- earned him fourth. Again Kevin Strijbos had the best start, but this time his closest rival for the event win Ken De Dycker, was right behind him. Strijbos and Keeno set up a blistering speed setting them free from Philippaerts.

After half race distance De Dycker made his pass on Strijbos, the latter kept second until he made a mistake in the final stage of the race. Marc De Reuver enjoyed his best result of the day bringing his CRF 450R home in fourth.

Ken De Dycker: “It was not a perfect day, but still I had a great start to the championship with two heat wins ! Unfortunately I went down with Barragan in the second heat, but I had no one to blame but myself. The riding was going good and my back wasn’t hurting me anymore like the lats couple of weeks. Kevin was riding well today and I enjoyed racing with him in the last heat, still I felt I had some advantage over him here. Congratulations to the organizing club and the Meganck-Collewaert sand quarry for creating a cool track today, I certainly enjoyed it ! »

David Philippaerts: “For sure it was good today. With the sunny weather and the track in place I felt a lot more comoftable than with the terrible mud we had here last year ! You know that Ken (De Dycker) is going to be very strong on a track like this, so I’m happy with second in Beervelde. »

Clément Desalle: “Unfortunately I couldn’t race to win today, but getting on the podium was okay. I had nice fight with David (Philippaerts) in the econd race and if you come out on top it’s obviously even better! Normally I can be near the front for all races in the series, so there’s no reason why I can’t fight for the title this season!»

RESULTS

Heat 1: 1 De Dycker (B-Suzuki), 2 Philippaerts (I-Yamaha), 3 Strijbos (BEL-Honda), 4 Clément Desalle (B-LS Motors-Honda), 5. Coppins (NZ-Yamaha), 6 Roelants (B-KTM), 7 M. De Reuver (NED-Honda), 8 Barragan (SPA-KTM), 9 Van Daele (BEL-Honda), 10 Wouts (BEL-Shineray)

Heat 2: 1 Strijbos, 2 Desalle, 3 Philippaerts, 4 De Dycker, 5 Coppins, 6 De Reuver, 7 Roelants, 8 Tarroux, 9 Verbruggen, 10 Laeremans

Heat 3: 1 De Dycker, 2 Philippaerts, 3 De Reuver, 4 Desalle, 5 Desalle, 6 Roelants, 7 Wouts, 8 Verbruggen, 9 Tarroux, 10 Van Daele

Classification Beervelde and United Telecom Trophy standings 1 De Dycker 68, 2 Philippaerts 64, 3 Desalle 58, 4 De Reuver 49, 5 Coppins 48, 6 Strijbos 45, 7 Roelants 44, 8 Verbruggen 35, 9 Tarroux 34, 10 Van Daele 33