Veteranencup report 2003

Wow, the veteranencup was this year again a great event. This time 21 veterans were at the start and 15 - 20 additional retired BMX bikers visited at a sunny day the BMX track in Weiterstadt. Therefore everything was perfect for a good BMX race.

Who was present? Andreas Tittmann and Pete Schmidt came from Cologne as well as Stephan Prantl, who is actually no veteran, but a dinosaur in the german BMX scene. Beside them I saw Juergen Wagner under the spectators and Jens Linder, Jan Merx, Thorsten Schroth, Markus Stoeckel, Dirk "sportsmoker" Haynberg and Ivi Vidakovic. Oldschool giants like Andreas Diener, Swen Lauer, Guido Hannich, Dirk Waehler, Agi Ramalho, Oliver Rapp and the brothers Ivar and Karl Herrling were participants at this years veteranencup.

The three gates in the veteran class looked as follows:


1. Gate (from right to left): Agi Ramalho (#1), Olaf Klein (#27), Andreas Diener (#23), Manfred Wald (#17), Maik Schoelzl (#19), Uwe Burdeck (#11), Uli Gasper (#33)


2. Gate (from right to left): Ivar Herrling (#2), Marko Vaeth (#24), Robert Niesl (#20), Bernd Mueller (#13), Andreas Zornow (#18), Guido Hannich (#9), Ralf Mauritz (#3)


3. Gate (from right to left): Niko Koch (#25), Oliver Rapp (#6), Dirk Waehler (#16), Swen Lauer (#22), Alex Venus (#14), Karl Herrling (#4), Oliver Arroyo (#40)

The final was spectacularly. Hans "The Gateman" Fischer let us from the gate with the usual command: "Riders ready? Watch the lights...!" The lights turned from red to yellow to green and the gate dropped. I was on lane 8 and saw Ivar on lane 7 with a big holeshot jumping out of the gate. The first straight with both jumps, the step jump and the speed-step-combi, was fine and everybody makes it into the first corner. In the turn I was on the farest outside and took a look into the inside: Everybody was still there and no gap to dive into. At this point I thought that it is great to race BMX! After the turn comes the big double. Karl Herrling had some problems in the first berm and lost speed, therefore he went eighth, I seventh. Guido Hannich was in front of me but after the double his sixth place was history. He had to break hard in front of the double and moved carefully over the hills. I took over position 6.



In front of me was Olaf Klein (5.) and Swen Lauer (4.). Both had some difficulties to handle with in the second turn and lost some space. Bad luck for the guys, good luck for me, I was able to pass them on the following third straight and in the third turn I was in fourth position.



The fourth straight and Marko Vaeth in front of me. He rode his bike clean and fast but at the small double at the end of the fourth straight he had some troubles and landed like a jackass. This was the chance for me to pass. Because I was seconds away from a lung collaps I just rode my bike sitting in the saddle on the final straight into the finish. The winner of the race was Agi Ramalho with Ivar Herrling behind him. I became third, Marko Vaeth fourth, Swen Lauer fifth, Olaf Klein sixth, Karl Herrling seventh and Guido Hannich was in position eight. On the following picture the guys from the final are wearing the shirt from this years veteranencup.



At this times King-of-oldschool contest three veterans got present for best oldschool bike and best oldschool outfit. Place 3 went to Uwe Burdeck with a green Skyway with Tuff Wheels, on Place 2 was Robert Niesl with a white Skyway and an original Skyway Outfit and Place 1 went to Guido Hannich with his red GHP Cruiser and ultracool GHP clothes. On the picture below you can see Uwe and Robert with Dieter Schadowski.



All together the 9. Veteranencup 2003 was again a brilliant event. Nobody was getting hurt, everybody had a lot of fun, riders and spectators.

A lot of thanks goes to Wolfgang and Kerstin Fritscher from Rabbit BMX Bremen and Dieter Schadowski from Rainers Bike Shop for their support that enables us to make this event happen.

I can not wait onto the next year and the 10. anniversary of the Veteranencup! This will be a must for those, who rode BMX in the past! Come and join us next year in Weiterstadt!