Daniël Willemsen
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| Daniël Willemsen | |
|---|---|
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| Nationality |  Netherlands |
| Date of birth | May 7, 1975 |
| Place of birth | Lochem, Netherlands |
| Website | Team Willemsen website |
| Sidecarcross record | |
| Bike number | 1 |
| World championships | 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 |
| Race starts | 258 |
| Race Wins | 119 |
| Podium finishes | 197 |
| Championship Points | 4637 |
| 2007 Championship position | 1st (258pts) |
Daniël Johan Nico Willemsen (Lochem, 7 May 1975) is a Dutch sidecarcross rider and six times world champion.
Willemsen is the most successful rider in sidecarcross history, winning the title six times, in 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. He has also won the Dutch national sidecarcross championship eight times, winning it again in 2007.
For his success in motor sport he was made a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2005.
In 2007, he took part in the Dakar Rally, finishing tenth in the solo motorcycle class. After his planed participation in 2008, Daniël was going to have surgery to replace the cruciate ligament but plans to be taking part in the first race of the 2008 season at Oss on 20 April, again partnering with Reto Grütter[1]. To make up for the canceled Dakar Rally 2008, he toke part in the Tuareq Rally in March/April 2008, winning the race.
His home town Lochem named a street after him in 2005.
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[edit] Sidecarcross world championship results
Initially, Daniël started racing in the world championship in 1994. After teaming up with his brother Marcel in 1995, who is now a world championship rider in his own right, his track record started to improve. The two brothers won their first race on 12 May 1996 when they won race two in Baugé, France. After finishing third in 1997 and second in 1998, the two won their first world championship in 1999, taking it out by one point and beating the then current champions Kristers Sergis / Artis Rasmanis. The next two seasons, Sven Verbrugge from Belgium became his partner and the two finished second in the overall standing in 2000 and 2001. 2002 saw a repeat of this result, now with Alfons Eggers as his passenger. With Kaspars Stupelis from Latvia as his partner, he won the 2003 and 2004 world championship. Sven Verbrugge returned for the 2005 and 2006 season and they took out two more world championships together. In 2007, the Swiss Reto Grütter was Daniël's partner and with him he won his record sixth title. In the 2008 season, Willemsen will again race with Reto Grütter as his partner. An injury prevented Grütter from taking part in the first race of the season and Willemsen replaced him with Bruno Kaelin.
[edit] Season by season
In the seasons 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2002, Daniël Willemsen used multiple passengers throughout the year.
| Season | Team | Equipment | Position | Points | Races | Wins | Second | Third |
| 1994 | Daniël Willemsen / Reiner Stuyvenberg |
Honda-EML | 23 | 30 | 2 | — | 1 | — |
| 1995 | Daniël Willemsen /  Bruno Bouvet |
Honda-EML | 25 | 8 | 2 | — | — | — |
| Daniël Willemsen / Christian Verhagen |
4 | 2 | — | — | — | |||
| Daniël Willemsen / Marcel Willemsen |
10 | 2 | — | — | — | |||
| 1996 | Daniël Willemsen / Marcel Willemsen |
Zabel-EML | 12 | 82 | 16 | 2 | — | — |
| 1997 | Daniël Willemsen / Marcel Willemsen |
Zabel-BSU | 3 | 231 | 14 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
Daniël Willemsen / .svg/22px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Sven Verbrugge |
40 | 2 | 2 | — | — | |||
| 1998 | Daniël Willemsen / Marcel Willemsen |
Zabel-BSU | 2 | 279 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| 1999 | Daniël Willemsen / Marcel Willemsen |
Zabel-BSU | 1 | 386 | 24 | 13 | 5 | 1 |
| 2000 | Daniël Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge |
Zabel-BSU | 2 | 320 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 2001 | Daniël Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge |
Zabel-BSU | 2 | 377 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 3 |
Daniël Willemsen /  Premsyl Novotny |
50 | 2 | 2 | — | — | |||
| 2002 | Daniël Willemsen / Alfons Eggers |
Zabel-VMC | 2 | 145 | 8 | 1 | 5 | — |
| Daniël Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge |
88 | 4 | — | 4 | — | |||
| Daniël Willemsen / Bart Notten |
86 | 4 | — | 3 | 1 | |||
| Daniël Willemsen / Dagwin Sabbe |
199 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 1 | |||
| 2003 | Daniël Willemsen /  Kaspars Stupelis |
Zabel-VMC | 1 | 561 | 24 | 13 | 9 | — |
| 2004 | Daniël Willemsen / Kaspars Stupelis |
Zabel-VMC | 1 | 572 | 24 | 18 | 4 | 1 |
| 2005 | Daniël Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge |
Zabel-VMC | 1 | 478 | 22 | 15 | 4 | — |
| 2006 | Daniël Willemsen / Sven Verbrugge |
Zabel-VMC | 1 | 341 | 16 | 13 | — | — |
| 2007 | Daniël Willemsen /  Reto Grütter |
Zabel-VMC | 1 | 375 | 16 | 15 | — | — |
| 2008 | Daniël Willemsen / Bruno Kaelin |
Zabel-VMC | 1 * | 36 | 2 | — | — | 1 |
| Daniël Willemsen / Reto Grütter |
145 | 6 | 5 | — | 1 | |||
| Overall 1994 - 2007 | 4637 | 258 | 119 | 60 | 18 |
Source:The John Davey Pages - DANIEL WILLEMSEN. John Davey. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.
- Passengers in italics.
- * denotes season in progress (as of 25 May 2008).
[edit] Rally's
| Year | Rally | Team | Number | Eqipment | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Dakar-rally | Yamaha Holland Team | 233 | Yamaha WR 450F | 48th |
| 2008 | Dakar-rally | Yamaha Holland Team | 47 | Yamaha WR 450F | race canceled |
| Touareg-rally | Rally Team Touareg Rally 2008 | 75 | Yamaha WR 450F | 1st | |
| 2009 | Dakar-rally | Yamaha Holland Team | Yamaha WR 450F |
[edit] External links
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
- ^ Willemsen adds another title to his 'special list' 23 Oktober 2007
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kristers Serģis |
Sidecarcross world champion 1999 |
Succeeded by Kristers Serģis |
| Preceded by Kristers Serģis |
Sidecarcross world champion 2003 – present |
Incumbent |
