OK Belgian Nationals at Lake Galgenweel, Antwerp
by Terry Curtis, IOKDBCA 17 Sep 2008 11:04 BST
13-14 September 2008
26 OKs from 5 nations attend the Belgian nationals on Lake Galgenweel in Antwerp © Eric de Smedt
26 OKs from 5 nations attended the Belgian National Championships on Lake Galgenweel in Antwerp over the weekend 13-14th Sept. Due to major disruptions on the channel crossings due to the tunnel fire, only 2 British entries made the trip from the UK.
After a short delay Saturdays racing got underway in a very shifty, patchy North Westerly blowing across the lake. As the day progressed the wind veered to the east & settled a little. Terry Curtis from the UK finished the day with 3,1,3 to hold a narrow lead from Belgian Yannick Laumans with 4,4,1 & Jorg Rademacher of Germany with 1,5,4 in third place.
True to tradition, the host club put on a fantastic BBQ with an appropriate amount of free beer, to ensure a sound nights sleep. Sunday dawned with a very welcome force four from the North East & bright sunshine which stayed throughout the day. Curtis made the most of the conditions winning all three races to take the championship with a race to spare. Germany's Ralf Machman took 3 second places losing race 5 by only half a length. Laumans couldn’t get to grips with the conditions & slipped to 5th place overall with Rademacher doing enough to keep 3rd overall.
Overall Results:
1st Terry Curtis, GBR2118, 7pts
2nd Ralf Mackmann, GER711, 14pts
3rd Jorg Rademacher, GER730, 15pts
4th Christian Heinz, GER605, 19pts
5th Yannick Laumans, BEL205, 21pts
6th Maurice Slap, BEL203, 26pts
7th Paul Verrijdt, BEL214, 29pts
8th Ronny Poelman, BEL220, 35pts
9th Heinz Ridder, GER651, 47pts
10th Rod Andrew, BEL1, 52pts
11th Stephan Klaus, GER615, 61pts
12th Thomas Neveling, GER664, 62pts
13th Joost Rommelaere, BEL56, 62pts
14th Koen Hopsy, BEL0, 68pts
15th Maxime Manca, FRA1336, 72pts
16th Torsten Albrecht, GER596, 77pts
17th Jan Bechmann, GER567, 79pts
18th Jan Taelman, BEL4, 82pts
19th Uli Borchen, GER587, 86pts
20th Susanne Mackmann, GER723 99pts
21st Arne Good, NED657, 102pts
22nd Alexandre Rosier, BEL, 108pts
23rd Dominique Istasse, BEL125, 108pts
24th Denis Gilles, BEL5, 109pts
25th James Andrew, GBR2090, 113pts
26th Thierry Demblon, BEL44, 135pts