Autospeedway Lelystad: Wim Peeters show on third race day
Wim Peeters dominated the third race day of the 2023 Autospeedway season at Midland Circuit in Lelystad in the Netherlands
The Midland Circuit in Lelystad, near the Dutch capital Amsterdam, was the scene of the third race day of the 2023 season on Sunday, May 21, with Wim Peeters dominating the action in Stockcar F1 and Stockcar F2. However, there were other classes competing on the two ovals. These are the results of the different categories in Lelystad.
The track is located east of Amsterdam and consists of two layouts: In the center is an Autospeedway oval about 400 meters long, surrounded by a large oval about 600 meters long with unique flat corners. The Midland Circuit in Lelystad has been part of the Autospeedway landscape in the Netherlands for many decades and, along with Venray, is home to Tarmac Stockcar F1.
Stockcar F1
Wim Peeters prevailed over his rivals in Stockcar F1. The Dutchman with starting number 124 won heats two and three as well as the final and collected a total of 68 points. Stockcar veteran Johan Catsburg was second with 56 points. Although the driver of car number 99 did not win a race, he impressed with his consistency.
Dani van Haarlem followed in third place, Bo Pepels was fourth. Mika Ronitz won the first race of the day and thus secured fifth place in the daily standings. A total of 14 of the up to 670 hp V8 cars took to the grid on the Autospeedway oval and provided plenty of spectacle.
Stockcar F2
In Stockcar F2, too, there was no way around Peeters. The driver of car number 124 won all four races and thus collected the maximum score of 80 points. His closest rival was Marcel Vermeulen with the starting number 44, who finished third three times and second once. The bronze medal went to Sebastiaan Vowinkel with starting number 33.
The top-5 were completed by Cor Schutter and Piet Huussen, who was still involved in a violent accident at the opening round in Venray. With 15 drivers, the popular stock car class in Lelystad had not a big grid, but the spectators still saw four exciting races on the Autospeedway oval.
Midland Mixed Hotrod
The Midland Mixed Hotrod had a full starting field with 18 cars. Three races were on the program and in the end Raymond Soer with the starting number 9 took the day’s victory. He won the second and third race and thus secured the first place in the daily standings.
Second was Kris Tielemans with car number 679, who won the first race of the day in the Midland Mixed Hotrod class. He was two points short of Soer, but also seven points ahead of third-placed Sven van Dieven. Roy Rollenrad and Jozef Goeman rounded out the top five.
Continental Stockrod and Rookie Rod
Seven cars competed in Lelystad in the Continental Stockrod, in which right-hand drive and clockwise driving is used according to British regulations. The day’s victory went to Tony van Draanen with 30 points. He won the first race and the final, the second heat win went to Anouk Driessen, who finished second overall with 26 points. Third place went to Marloes Claassen.
In the popular Rookie Rod, 14 drivers were at the start, the winner of the day was Mike Wempe. He also won the coveted Walco Trophy in the final. The first race was won by Gerritt Sikkema, race two went to Damon Schulte. In the third race, Sikkema triumphed for the second time. In the day’s standings, however, it was only enough for fifth place behind Bontjer/Bos, Pleging/Wagenaar and Danny van Steijn.
Junior classes
With 16 riders in the field, the junior class F2 was surprisingly one of the most crowded classes of the race day. Jaison Schouten took the day’s win with 76 points. He won the second heat and finished every race in the top-3, followed by Derrick Kentie with 67 and Aaron Terpstra with 62 points.
The Juniors were also well represented with 16 touring cars, and the day’s win went to Djano Netten. He won the third heat and also collected points diligently in the other three heats. The Walco Trophy was won by Keano Boes, who finished second in the day’s standings. Egbert Sikkema completed the top 3, heat winner Cato Caspers was seventh.
