20 December 2024
London: Dries Degrieck and Boyd Exell very evenly matched
This afternoon the warm-up round of the World Cup competition in London was held. So far, Boyd Exell and Dries Degrieck are the ones who have already won several World Cup competitions this season. They already competed against each other once before this season, that was in Stockholm and then Dries Degrieck managed to win. Today they competed against each other for the second time this season!In the first round Dries already managed to put Boyd under pressure, despite having the new Frederik-Jane as left leader. A forced choice, because the faithful Hunter was not fit, Nevertheless, like Boyd, Dries managed to stay clear in the first round. However, he was 0.11 seconds faster than the Australian!
In addition to Dries and Boyd, IJsbrand Chardon also qualified for the drive-off. He too stayed clear in the first round and was only three seconds slower than Dries and Boyd. Koos de Ronde ran into some communication problems in the first round. When taking the bridge the first time, the leaders were a little bit spooky, so Koos had to drive an extra circle to then still take the bridge. Then balls fell and he corrected an error of course a course in obstacle five. Not Koos’ day, but of course today was not about the World Cup points!
Mareike Meier and Fredrik Persson also drove nice rounds. For Mareike unfortunately two balls fell, Fredrik stayed clear. Unfortunately the times were not fast enough to enter the drive-off.
Boyd under pressure
The drive-off times were different than the ones of the first round. In the drive-off, gate D in obstacle five and gate F in obstacle ten did not have to be driven.
IJsbrand Chardon went first and set the fast time of 143.33. Unfortunately, three balls also fell along the way, giving him twelve extra penalty points. Then it was Boyd’s turn. It was clear that he had to drive for what he was worth. He and Dries had both gone clear in the first round and only had a time difference of 0.11 seconds! In obstacle five, Boyd took one gap too early to pick up the B. He then brought his team to a halt, let his leaders go out through the same gap and then took the B. So no error of course, but expensive seconds and a ball because one of the leaders hit the obstacle when turning around. Later, in obstacle ten, a ball also fell.
So Dries knew he could afford two balls. For a long time he seemed to stay clear, but on gate eight a ball fell and later he ran into another one. So it was all or nothing, he had to set a faster time than Boyd. And he succeeded! With two seconds less on the counter, Dries won the warm up in London today!
Today’s result determines the starting order for tomorrow. Then there will be a fight for the World Cup points, everyone is on edge!
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