| Kaspars Stupelis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Latvia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kaspars Stupelis (born July 7, 1982) is a Latvian sidecarcross passenger and double World Champion.
As of 2008, he is part of the Team Serģis, operated by five times world champion Kristers Serģis. However, his two world championships were gained when being the passenger in Daniël Willemsen's team. In his time with Willemsen, he also won two Dutch titles in 2003 and 2004.
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Kaspars Stupelis entered the sidecarcross world championship as a passenger for his fellow Latvian driver Modris Stelle in 2001. His first two seasons alongside Stelle were not particularly successful and it came as a surprise when the reigning world champion, Daniël Willemsen, picked him as his passenger for the 2003 season. The team was successful from the start, winning the first race of the season in Talavera de la Reina, Spain on April 6, 2003.
It was Stupelis first race victory and he gained another 30 in this and the next season with Willemsen, winning two world titles in the process. Willemsen, who has exchanged passengers frequently over the years, did something of a swoop with Kristers Serģis after the 2004 season, with Stupelis joining his fellow Latvian former world champion and, in exchange, Sven Verbrugge from Belgium joining Willemsen from Serģis.[1] The new pair Serģis / Stupelis finished second in the final standings in 2005, winning seven races.
2006 was not a good year for the combination and they only raced in two events, failing to win any of the four races they participated but archiving three podium finishes. In 2007, they were back, won their home GP and finished third overall, becoming the only team to snatch a victory from the world champion Willemsen. The duo continued to race and took part in the 2008 season, which was Serģis last.
In 2009, Kaspars Stupelis is racing as passenger of Nicky Pulinx in the world championship, in 2010 he raced with fellow Latvian Maris Rupeiks. He missed the first two events of the 2011 season, being replaced by Elvis Mucenieks, but raced the remaining eleven Grand Prix with Rupeiks again.
As Willemsens passenger, he has also won two Dutch national titles, in 2003 and 2004.
| Season | Driver | Equipment | Position | Points | Races | Wins | Second | Third |
| 2001 | Modris Stelle | Zabel-AYR | 27 | 14 | 10 | — | — | — |
| 2002 | Modris Stelle | Zabel-AYR | 23 | 69 | 12 | — | — | — |
| 2003 | Daniël Willemsen | Zabel-VMC | 1 | 561 | 24 | 13 | 9 | — |
| 2004 | Daniël Willemsen | Zabel-VMC | 1 | 572 | 26 | 18 | 4 | 1 |
| 2005 | Kristers Serģis | MTH-BSU | 2 | 440 | 22 | 7 | 12 | — |
| 2006 | Kristers Serģis | KTM-Mefo | 19 | 64 | 4 | — | 2 | 1 |
| 2007 | Kristers Serģis | KTM-Mefo | 3 | 242 | 16 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| 2008 | Kristers Serģis | KTM-AYR | 2 | 434 | 24 | 4 | 12 | 2 |
| 2009 | Nicky Pulinx | Zabel-VMC | 12 | 229 | 25 | — | — | — |
| 2010 | Maris Rupeiks | KTM-WSP | 5 | 423 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 2011 | Maris Rupeiks | Zabel-WSP | 4 | 316 | 22 | 1 | 4 | — |
| Overall 2001 - 2011 | 3,264 | 213 | 45 | 55 | 7 |
Source:"The John Davey Pages - Kaspars Stupelis". John Davey. http://www.thejohndaveypages.org/CV/XXX/CV_XXX_P_Stuplis_K.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by Artis Rasmanis |
Sidecarcross World Champion (passenger) 2003 - 2004 |
Succeeded by Sven Verbrugge |
| Preceded by Dagwin Sabbe |
Dutch national sidecarcross champion (passenger) 2003 - 2004 |
Succeeded by Christian Verhagen |
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