6 Heures Moto Masteroil by MRP dominates the 6 Heures Moto de Spa-Francorchamps
The Saturday evening parade in the centre of Spa brought out the crowds of the fair weather, the race was run in simply perfect conditions, without any major incident, and at the end of the day, the podium ceremony was a joy to behold. There's no doubt about it, the 2024 vintage of the 6 Heures Moto de Spa-Francorchamps concocted by DG Sport, which brought together some 72 crews on the starting grid, was a grand cru!
After qualifying between 9am and 11am, the #37 Masteroil by MRP (Buhn-Lombois-Bijsterbosch) and the #91 NineT-One (Ancia-Bikkems-Claessen) were set to battle it out for the win. A puncture in the #91 less than an hour after the start sealed the outcome of the race, with Jan Buhn, Pepijn Bijsterbosch and Vincent Lonbois, called in at the last minute as reinforcements, able to fly away to a new victory following that achieved in 2023 for Masteroil by MRP. As fast as they were consistent, the trio in the #37 didn't give the competition a chance, crossing the chequered flag with a 3-lap advantage over their closest rivals! Impressive...
From then on, it was the battle for first place that kept the public and observers on in suspense, with Gian Mertens, Nicky De Wit and Sébastien Le Grelle making short work of the #15 Interbike Racing Team to take the silver medal, He got the better of the #61 Mototech GTYR ProShop of David Drieghe, Davy Maes and Arno Verstrepen, as well as the #85 CL Racing of Christopher Lequeux, Cédric Fievet and Arnaud Dekimpe. The #91 NineT-One of Yan Ancia, Ouri Bikkems and Sander Claessen came back from a puncture to finish in 6th place in the 1000 PRO class, just behind the #111 Trax Racing Team of Dennis Vermoesen, Johan Larminier and Yves Bollaerts.
With almost... 40 bikes at the start, the 1000 AM category was by far the best attended! The result was an all-out battle for victory, which was decided by less than 30 seconds at the end of the 6-hour race. With an excellent 6th place overall, #133 APM Organisation / JS Products of Arnaud Mulders and Geoffrey Possen emerged victorious ahead of the #69 MC69 Racing 1 of Steven Dierickx, Wesley Ceulemans and Tom Vanneste, and the #88 DD Racing 88 / WBB of Christian Greter, Raphaël Gerein and Didier Daniel.
This 2024 edition was not kind to the 600cc machines, whose representatives in the PRO class all encountered problems. In the end, it was the British #200 Danik Group Motorsport (Brown-Burnham-Herbertson) that won the race, but they finished a long way behind the winning 600 AM team, the #921 EPC Racing of Dutchmen Senna Middelkoop and Bradley Goossens! The class podium was rounded off by the #44 Ideal Team of Alexandre Boone, Bastien Van Vaerenbergh and Jean-Paul Plumier, and the #66 Team 1 Moto Ecole Georges of Olivier Carlier and Arille Servais.
The first Trophy team (only one bike per team), the #294 JOJ Racing Team of Germans Billy Hilpert, Daniel Vermaas and Michiel Burger, came in at the 16th place, while in Trophy AM, the #8 Racing Team Kock of Dutchmen Johnny, Marcel and Harold Kock won ahead of the #219 Moto Racing Experience of Olivier Demarbaix, Renaud Roche and John Picard, and the #100 of French TeamThuyRacing Gaëlle Remy and Julie Benard!
The final round of the Belgian Masters of Endurance, the 6 Heures Moto de Spa-Francorchamps crowned... the overall winners, the #37 Masteroil by MRP, who beat the #91 NineT-One and the #15 Interbike Racing Team in the standings. At 9pm, the official prize-giving ceremony for this competition took place in the heart of the Spa-Francorchamps paddock... with the promise of a repeat in twelve months' time, at the end of the summer of 2025!