Six National Hotrods titles: Great year for Jeffrey Roeffen
Jeffrey Roeffen snatched all the big titles in the 2022 National Hotrods season – The Dutchman won the national championship
Jeffrey Roeffen will need his own cleaning company after 2022 to get his many trophies dusted off. The Dutchman has cleaned up all the major titles in the #430 Ford Fiesta. The two most important championship wins were the titles in the Dutch Championship and the NHRRG Cup, both of which are held across tracks in Venray, Lelystad, Posterholt and Ter Apel.
In addition, he won the track championships in Venray, Posterholt and Lelystad as well as the Gouden Helmet. So it went like clockwork for the young Dutchman, even if he didn’t lead on the last race day in Venray at the end of October. The final day of racing, which concluded the Dutch Championship and the NHRRG Cup, went to Leon van der Kevie, who won the final race.
Tonnie Hendriks, who had finished the first heat in first place, secured second place in the day’s standings, followed by Lars Dreschel from Germany. The Recklinghausen native finished on the podium twice on the final race day of the 2022 season. Although Roeffen only finished eighth, he won the second heat. Since he had big leads in all the championships, the overall victories were a mere formality.
In the Dutch Championship, he won with a 33-point lead over Reimon Bos, who snatched the Supercup at Raceway Venray. The podium was completed by Johan Sanders ahead of veteran John van den Bosch and Pieter van Logten. Best German was Dreschel, who finished seventh overall behind Jeroen Kurvers. He was followed by other pilots from Germany: Winnie Holtmanns and Delia Horstkamp.
In the NHRRG Cup, Roeffen had a 24-point lead over Bos, who in turn relegated Sanders to third. Van Logten was fourth, while Dreschel completed the top-5. A total of 24 drivers were classified in the cross-track Cup, while there were 29 drivers in the Dutch Championship. This shows that the touring car class on the Autospeedway ovals is still booming, even if the starting fields have shrunk somewhat compared to 2019.
“After a rollercoaster year included 13 straight wins at the beginning of the season and in the mid season some fuel issues we found back our speed,” says Roeffen on his Facebook page. “It was a really busy year and our first full season with 23 races. The team spent a lot of time and effort to get the car ready for every meeting, sometimes including some blood, sweat, tears and long nights but we’ve made it everytime.”
The 2023 season is already casting its shadow, and the schedule of the two major NHRRG championships is sure to be announced soon. Over the winter, drivers will be revising and preparing their cars for the upcoming season. It will also be exciting to see whether new drivers or old big names will find their way into the series. Raceway Venray has already announced its calendar for the 2023 season.
