Dernys, you love them or you hate them, they’re a big part of the Sixes; and always with a capital ‘D’ — Roger Derny et Fils first manufactured them in Paris, in: 1938. There’s some real Derny history on the boards here at the Rotterdam Six Day — the tall, slim, grey haired man who chases the riders up to their events here at the is Bruno Walrave.
Bruno was a Derny driver until recently but was also one of the big motor drivers before the UCI binned the event as a World Championship event.
On the one hand, that was sad, because a big motor battle on a big, fast, outdoor concrete track is something to see – but on the other hand, it was inevitable in an event where athletic prowess was secondary to how much someone else had bunged your driver.
The machinations behind the scenes were like a Dan Brown novel with riders thinking they’d bought a driver off, only to discover on race day that someone else’s brown paper envelope had been fatter.
Bruno was unique in that motor and Derny pacing was his only job — all the other drivers had a job in the ‘real’ world.
Still zooming round the boards like a demented Super Mario character is Derny legend Joop Zijlaard, he owns two restaurants in Rotterdam, one serves fish and the other steaks — but if you have a Six Day and there are Dernys involved, he’ll be there.
The Dernys here are 100cc Puch engined with 24” front/26” rear wheels — and not as noisy as some.
The Devil [‘De’il’ in Scots, or ‘Elimination’, or Afvalkoers in Dutch]: — we win, wow!
The sprinters drag those big gears round the slow running board in anticipation of the flying lap; Lakatosh 11.1 — same as it ever was.
Lakatosh is from Trexlertown, home of the famous velodrome but now lives in California where he’s on the US team under the stewardship of ex-GB team sprint and keirin star, Jamie Staff.
Mulder gets home support, 10.5 — that’s not bad.
Sireau, a big man, but not muscle bound, long limbed, you can see the power in his lower back as he levers that Look up on to the banking.
He looks good, scuffing the fence, focussed, he dives, it’s spinning, the line is good, he kicks — 10.297.
Track record!
Up until Kevin’s front wheel broke the beam our own Chris Hoy was the lap record holder, the speaker handles this in dignified fashion;
‘Bye, bye, Sir Chris!’
Minutes after the effort Sireau is still breathing heavily, just 10 seconds of effort but he burned up a huge amount of oxygen in that one lap.
We get a visitor, Regilio Tuur a lightweight boxer, born in Surinam, originally from Rotterdam he now lives in New York; an Olympian in 1988 he’s been a European and World Champion as a pro.
Fight record: 51 fights, 4 losses, 1 draw, 46 wins, and 30 of those were knockouts.
He’s is dapper with a capital ‘D’ and his patter is cool — it’s like the old days of the Sixes when they were the place to see and be seen.
Back when Kris used to go to the London Sixes in the early 70’s you’d get Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger at the races.
Derny 2 and another Dutch win, jings! what a surprise!
Match sprinting now and it’s Sireau v. Lakatosh as Kiss blasts from the PA, my favourite Six Day song -‘I Was Made For Loving You.’
The sprinting is entertaining, the guys fox and weave — just like doesn’t happen in ‘real’ competitions anymore.
As legendary Aussie sprinter Ron Baensch said; ‘it’s just a time trial with two riders on the track, these days.’
It’s close, but Sireau takes it.
Mulder v. Bourgain as ‘The Quo’ hammer out ‘Whatever You Want’ – it’s down to a photo and Mulder takes the decision — another surprise!
We have a new band tonight, they kick off with a string of Beatles and Stones covers and aren’t bad at all.
Jesper’s knee is a little sore so he’s going to sit out the chase whilst Alex rides with Jesper’s ex-partner, Roy Pieters.
Pieters is the son of former road and track professional, Peter Pieters who won Paris-Tours in 1988 and enjoyed a long and successful career.
The time trial and ‘Stand up, For The Champions’ blares for Schep/Stroetinga — they’re exceptional in that event.
Lakatosh and Mulder treat us to a standstill in their third place ride off, ‘Peter Gunn’ thunders the PA as they start to roll — Mulder wins.
The chase isn’t a death race but it’s no potato job, there are men hurting up there — Ligthart isn’t having fun, for one.
He’s Dutch elite road champion and has a responsibility to perform, not just for his contract fee but for his reputation; at his level you can’t just sit in the string and not go for lap gains — pressure comes with stardom.
Diary of a soigneur.
And am I imagining it, but is Peter Schep just a little less metronomic tonight?
Kris sums it up as the chase goes through a spell of particular frenzy and the plywood rumbles like there’s a freight train coming; ‘there’s easier ways to make a Euro!’
Iljo/Terpstra win and Franco/Mouris go back into the overall lead.
The covers band kindle up again, ‘Radar Love’ — there are some songs you shouldn’t mess with and that’s one of them.
Arnaud Tournant comes to visit, still the fastest man alive over a flying kilometre with 58.875 in La Paz.
The ‘Super Sprint’ is the last event; down they come, abandon their gear and sprint for the showers — everyone except Franco who chats to all and sundry before I can get the shop closed for the evening.
It’s the last washing, tonight — I hope we get back to decent rolls for breakfast, not those damn pre-packed things…
Rotterdam Six Day - Results from Day Five
Koppelkoers
1 1 Stam – Havik
2 9 Mouris – Marvulli
3 5 Lampater – v Bon
4 6 Schep – Stroetinga
5 2 Terpstra – Keisse
6 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
7 3 Ligthart – Bartko
8 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
9 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
10 13 Markus – Hester
11 12 Jonkman – Pronk
12 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
Koppelafvalkoers
1 3 Ligthart – Bartko
2 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
3 1 Stam – Havik
4 2 Terpstra – Keisse
5 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
6 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
7 5 Lampater – v Bon
8 13 Markus – Hester
9 9 Mouris – Marvulli
10 6 Schep – Stroetinga
11 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
12 12 Jonkman – Pronk
Derny's - 1e Serie
1 12 Pronk-Zijlaard J
2 10 Kreder-Vaarten
3 11 Vermeulen-Kos
4 7 Pieters-Huybrechts
5 13 Hester-Stam C
6 8 Boskamp-Bakker
Afvalkoers
1 7 Mørkøv – Pieters
2 9 Mouris – Marvulli
3 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
4 4 Rasmussen
5 5 Lampater – v Bon
6 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
7 2 Terpstra – Keisse
8 13 Markus – Hester
9 12 Jonkman – Pronk
10 6 Schep – Stroetinga
11 1 Stam – Havik
12 3 Ligthart – Bartko
13 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
Derny's - 2e Serie
1 1 Havik-Zijlaard J
2 2 Keisse-Bakker
3 5 Bon van-Vaarten
4 9 Marvulli-Zijlaard R
5 6 Stroetinga-Stam C
6 3 Bartko-Kos
7 4 Rasmussen-Huybrechts
Koppeltijdrit
1 6 Schep – Stroetinga 22.094
2 4 Rasmussen – Pieters 22.195
3 9 Mouris – Marvulli 22.352
4 5 Lampater – v Bon 22.430
5 10 Kreder R – Kreder M 22.695
6 3 Ligthart – Bartko 22.734
7 2 Terpstra – Keisse 22.984
8 13 Markus – Hester 22.984
9 11 Traksel – Vermeulen 23.000
10 8 Kreder W – Boskamp 23.289
11 12 Jonkman – Pronk 23.703
12 1 Stam – Havik 23.984
Koppelkoers
1 2 Terpstra – Keisse 20
2 6 Schep – Stroetinga 12
3 9 Mouris – Marvulli 10
4 3 Ligthart – Bartko 8
5 1 Stam – Havik 6
@ 1 Lap
6 5 Lampater – v Bon 4
@ 2 Laps
7 4 Rasmussen – Pieters 0
8 10 Kreder R – Kreder M 0
@ 3 Laps
9 13 Markus – Hester 0
10 8 Kreder W – Boskamp 0
@ 5 Laps
11 11 Traksel – Vermeulen 0
12 12 Jonkman – Pronk 0
Supersprint
1 8 Kreder W – Boskamp
2 6 Schep – Stroetinga
3 5 Lampater – v Bon
4 3 Ligthart – Bartko
5 11 Traksel – Vermeulen
6 4 Rasmussen – Pieters
7 10 Kreder R – Kreder M
8 2 Terpstra – Keisse
9 9 Mouris – Marvulli
10 12 Jonkman – Pronk
11 1 Stam – Havik
12 13 Markus – Hester
Rotterdam Six Day - Overall after Day Five
1 9 Mouris Jens – Marvulli Franco 263
2 6 Schep Peter – Stroetinga Wim 257
3 2 Terpstra Niki – Keisse Iljo 227
4 1 Stam Danny – Havik Yoeri 193
@ 1 Lap
5 3 Ligthart Pim – Bartko Robert 179
@ 2 Laps
6 5 Lampater Leif – Bon van Leon 188
@ 5 Laps
7 4 Rasmussen Alex – Pieters Roy 88
@ 8 Laps
8 13 Markus Barry – Hester Marc 124
@ 11 Laps
9 10 Kreder Raymond – Kreder Michel 159
@ 15 Laps
10 8 Kreder Wesley – Boskamp Melvin 83
@ 20 Laps
11 11 Traksel Bobbie – Vermeulen Jeff 100
@ 25 Laps
12 12 Jonkman GeertJan – Pronk Jos 50
