9 November 2024
Boyd Exell class of his own in Maastricht
Compared to yesterday's warm-up round, few mistakes were made at the World Cup in Maastricht tonight. In the first round, only Glenn Geerts dropped a ball, which made him narrowly missing out on qualifying for the drive-off.Georg von Stein and Mareike Meier dropped all the balls in the first rounds, but with their times of 164.25 and 162.68 they could not get over with the rest. The differences in times of Koos de Ronde, Bram Chardon and Glenn Geerts in the first round were minimal, despite choosing different lines in the obstacles. Proof that for different teams, different lines work out better!
Boyd Exell was in a class of his own in the first round. He stayed clear and finished within 146.26 seconds, more than seven seconds faster than the three behind him. Bram Chardon and Koos de Ronde also both stayed clear and finished in 153.11 and 153.17. Glenn Geerts recorded 153.14 but did not select for the drive-off due to his fallen ball, which gave him an extra four seconds.
Glenn Geerts
Photo: Wil Smeets
Everyone back to zero
For the start of the drive-off, everyone started again at zero. Boyd Exell seemed favourite by his first round and made it worth it in the drive-off. Koos de Ronde started first. He was fast, especially on the long lines and stayed clear within the time of 153.42. He was thus 0.32 seconds slower than his first round and did not seem very satisfied with that.
For Bram Chardon, the next starter in the drive-off, things were not going well. Especially in the short turns to the right, he ran into problems. In obstacle 5 this was limited to a small hitch in the short turn after the B, but in obstacle 10 he missed the short turn after the D towards the E. In the process, a ball fell and he eventually had to make a left turn to still pick up the E. This therefore cost him time as well as a ball, forcing him to take his place under Koos de Ronde.
Koos de Ronde
Photo: Wil Smeets
Boyd Exell again got off to a flying start, but halfway through his round a ball fell. Boyd knew he had to be faster than 149.42 seconds to stay ahead of Koos de Ronde. He more than lived up to that by driving a time of 145.44, almost one second faster than his first lap! So a convincing and deserved victory today for Boyd Exell in Maastricht.
He thus earned, like Dries Degrieck last week in Lyon, his first ten World Cup points for the World Cup final in Bordeaux 2025. On Friday 15 and Saturday 16 November, Boyd Exell, Koos de Ronde, Glenn Geerts, IJsbrand Chardon and Jérôme Voutaz will compete for World Cup points in Stuttgart.
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Boyd Exell
Photo: Wil Smeets
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