Spa Francorchamps - On 11-12 August the Dutch team Van Dijk Racing obtained the 2nd place at the "4 Hours of Spa Classic". But this time it was a shiny Laverda 1000 that brought us through the time and not the legendary De Lorean DMC-12.
The bike was a replica of the Endurance 1000cc of 1974, built and tuned by the "Doc" Gijs van Dijk, with a 120° crankshaft, like one of the works bikes of Bol D'Or 1975. In fact at this historical racetrack the works bikes reached 2nd and a 3rd place with the riders Lucchinelli-Fougeray and Gallina-Cereghini back in 1975.
But lets start from the beginning.
On Saturday morning I took a flight from Venice to Bruxelles, where Bruno Chevolet was waiting for me to go to Francorchamps together. When I land, an SMS from Marnix beeps on my cellphone: "Everything is running good until now. We await you here". We arrive at the circuit at 17.30, pick up the passes and the race weekend commences.
The race will be run in two manches of two hours each and the first starts at 20.00 hours and will finish in the dark. Qualifying went very well for the team and they started from 4th spot. As soon as we arrive in the pit-box we say hello to everybody and then we proceed to the pit wall to check the laptimes of the riders Henk van der Mark and Dirk Brand and to see the racer in action. Marnix says: "In my opinion the time is right for a successful weekend... wait until you hear how the engine sounds!". And in fact he is totally right! The sound of the triple is a pleasure for the ears and for the heart!
At the sunset all the riders get in a row in front of the bikes for a start in "Le Mans" style. Our strategy is to let Henk start, a pit-stop after one hour and than to let Dirk finish the race.
Three, two, one... Gone!
Immediately Haquin, the rider of Godier-Genoud team, leads the race with an extreme rhythm, impossible to follow. But after half an hour we see him coming in the pit-lane with the fairing destroyed... he had a crash! The mechanics repair the bike in a few minutes and the second rider gets back on the track. Some laps and then we don't see him anymore. After a little while he comes back once again with cashed fairing. Another time on the ground... The team retires, one competitor less for us.
In the meantime the race goes on and Henk continues with an impressive regularity. After one hour we are the 3rd place and comes the time for the pit-stop. Henk comes in, bike on the stand, re-fueling, a general look to see if it's all ok on the bike and Dirk leaves the pit-lane with the engine screaming. At the beginning he seems to be looking for the right feeling with the bike, but after some laps he starts hitting great lap-times.
Than comes the night. The leading bike, a Honda, makes a pitstop 30 minutes before the finish. Probably they have some problems because the mechanics run around the bike very nervously. After ten minutes the bike leaves the pits, but the podium is gone. Our 1000 instead runs like a "Swiss watch", looking very healthy for all the race. When the chequered flag is waved we are at the 2nd place after a Triumph of an Italian 'Peppo' team. In our pit-box explodes a wave of happiness for such a result, but suddenly everything calms down and everybody start to think about Sunday's race.
The engine's crankcase has scratches on both left and right side... These are tough boys! Then everybody goes to sleep letting the wind blowing in the Ardennes cool down the engines and cradles a thought that everyone has in mind.
10.00 of Sunday morning. After a good breakfast we return to the circuit. The second start is foreseen for 16.00, so in the meantime me and Bruno go around watching the other races of the day, Gijs sets up the bike and Marnix studies the strategy to take home a result that everybody wasn't expecting on Friday. Than the team practices the pitstop to make sure that no precious time is lost. At 15.30 begins the starting procedure and at 16.00 it's again bagarre!
Our plans are almost the same as the day before, trying to keep the position and pushing only if really necessary (to reach a better one…). Everything runs in the due way and after 32 year a Laverda is on the podium of Spa-Francorchamps finishing 2nd!
Now in Champagne time!

The final results:

1° Baumann / Germann, Triumph Rob North
2° Van der Mark / Brand, Laverda Corsa 1000
3° Zimmerman / Juanes, Honda CB900F