The Belgium Grand Prix is not just another meeting.  Its an event that is always held at the beginning of July to link up with the festivities at the Reist Park in Kampenhout.  Festivities meaning a lot of music, beer and of course, chips and mayonnaise.  There are competitors from all over Europe that attend this meeting and some real world class drivers have been in attendance in the past.  It is so popular that it’s booked up in less than 6 minutes , yes 6 minutes from the time the entry opens on-line.  They have a reserve list that is huge. You get the point here, it’s popular!!  There is always a reason why a venue is very popular and this is easy to see why on this occasion.  The Heremans family and their crew are all great hospitable people that have organised this event for so so many years.  They are the core of the success along with a track that is very consistent and so rewarding when driven right.  They have the music in the evenings, the beer throughout the week and glorious sunshine to go with it all.  I ask you where else??

A very rare picture of Simon in his home from home tent/pitting area and not on the rostrum!  (simonstent) attached

The venue is in a park so you can turn up at any time, put yah tent up and away you go for practice.  Some people turned up on the Monday and just practiced away.  The event is on the Saturday for 2wd and Sunday for 4wd, just like the UK Nationals BUT here you can just practice and practice, till you drop. Belgium has an adopted new son of the name of Simon Reeves.  

Simon has attended this meeting for many many years and this year he was determined to do well.  So well that his new name is Simon ‘The Practice King’.  He just didn’t get off the rostrum.  Man I have never seen anyone, anywhere practice so so much.  If there was a will to win, it was evident here. Whenever anyone looked for Simon the first place was on the rostrum!!  It is rumored that ‘The Practice King’ did some estimated 1800 laps round the circuit prior to the event. Wow!

European talented drivers were present to challenge for the honors.  Last years winner Simon Bettens was present along with Wouter Wynen, Lee Martin, Tom Cockerill, Kim Nielsen, Fabian Gourmet to name just a few.

Thomas 'Thunderdome' just has the edge on the Brits in the beer department

Pete and Pat Warren still come to the annual meeting although Lee Warren stopped racing many years ago

The fearless Danes showing off their cars (fearlessdanes) attached

The night before the main 2wd event saw the Danish take on the Brits in a drinking competition or at least trying to match each other drink for drink.  Man oh! man what a huge mistake by the Brits.  The Danish people can drink like fish and boy oh! boy did they get Lee Martin and Tom Cockerill hammered the night before the 2wd event. The secret broke out that this was one way in beating the Brits.  

Thomas ‘The Bad Man Thunderdome’ from Denmark was ace all week long and as seen here did nothing to disappoint when they were asked to take pictures of their cars!!!

2wd
Round 1 - With Tom and Lee still hammered by the Danes from the night before it left the door open for Wynen Wouter to take TQ in round one.  Tom somehow and I have no idea how, got 2nd with Simon Bettens 3rd.
Round 2- Tom now awake puts on a great drive to take TQ fro round 2 with Wynen Wouter 2nd and Lee Martin waking up in 3rd.
Round 3 – Well it all went a little wrong in this round as half way through it rained and we saw Fabian Gourmet taking the TQ from Bart Van Echelpoel and Rudy Renaux in at the three spot. The top heats were affected and were well off the pace in the wet conditions.
Round 4 – Finally the Tamiya TRF201 of Lee Martin was awake and on it like we all know it can.  A great drive in the last round saw Lee TQ the round with Simon Bettens second with Arjan Van De Graaf in at three spot in round.

Qualifying - Top Ten 2wd 1- Tom Cockerill 2 - Wouter Wynen 3 - Lee Martin 4 - Simon Bettens 5 - Fabian Gourmet 6 - Mark Stanley 7 - Stefan Mesker 8 - Sabastien Wartelle 9 - Tom Van Echelpoel 10 - Bart Van Echelpoel Right: Tom 'TQ' Cockerill

2WD A final grid rogues gallery

It has to be pointed out that there was a rain shower half way through round 3 that really did really get some great results for some drivers.  This was a contributing factor for our ‘Practice King’ Simon Reeves that after all those laps round the Kampenhout track saw him pole the B final.  Amazingly though Si still had a smile on his face – Good on you dude!

A Final Leg 1 - was interesting enough with Tom and Lee fitting out between them for the majority of the race till they were going so fast that they got together towards the end of the race and let Simon Bettens through to take the first leg win with Wouter Wynen 2nd.

Lee tried a different approach in beating Tom from behind

A Final Leg 2 - was again the Tom and Lee show with them trying to drive away from the field.  Lee got out in front and Tom was on his gearbox for all the race.  Tom was waiting for that error from Lee but it didn’t look like it was going to happen.  Pressure and more pressure from Tom saw Lee clip a part of the track that seem to just upset his car enough for Tom to tuck up the inside on the very last lap to steal the win from Lee and Simon Bettens in 3rd.

A Final Leg 3 - All to play for now with 4 possible winners.  Tom Cockerill and Simon Bettens had a win with Lee Martin and Wouter Wynen having a second.  Tom set off and was on a mission, Wouter and Lee stayed with Tom throughout the race with Simon just waiting to pick up the pieces if these go together.  We witnessed some real close racing in this last leg of the main A with Tom being extremely accurate as was Wouter, Lee and Simon.  All the fun drinking and the jokes were all aside and this was serious for the win and the prestigious title of winning the 20th Belgium GP.
There was immense pressure on Tom and with just a lap to go there was a get together with all the drives that was actually key to the final result.  Out of the 4 cars that all seem to get tangled up, Wouter got out in front and went on to take the win from Tom, Lee.  I believe Simon Bettens broke.  Tom and Wouter now had a 1 and a 2 and it was all down to the fastest time in the final.  The get together of all the leading cars in the last leg slowed the race down enough to allow Tom to have the best time from leg 2.  So by a margin of just 2.04 seconds Tom ‘God’ Cockerill driving his Schumacher Cougar, took the honors of being 2010 2wd Belgium Grand Prix Champion.  2nd was Wouter Wynen driving his Atomic CR2 and third was last years winner Simon Bettens driving his Associated B4.

Simon Bettens 3rd - Tom Cockerill 1st - Wouter Wynen 2nd

4wd and Truck
The 4wd event always sees  less drivers than the 2wd.  This is because in Belgium they have this idea that 4wd is for gays - These are their words not mine!  Nevertheless we do have the introduction of trucks.  Yes, I am confused as well.  One would of thought that was for ….. I will leave the rest to you to decided!

Round 1 – One has to say that the strong odds on favorite had to be the newly crowned 2010 4wd British Champion Lee Martin driving his Tamiya TRF511, so lets see!!

Lee got off to an absolute flyer in round 1 setting a blistering pace to take the TQ.  Second was Kim Nielsen also driving a Tamiya 511 then ‘God Cockerill with his Schumacher CAT SX. In the Truck class we saw Bruno Heremans take TQ in round one and this was very controversial because it was quickly remembered than Bruno made a statement last year that trucks are for ???...again I leave it to your imagination and read some of the threads to find out more. This year he is driving Trucks.  In his defense though he did look after race control all weekend so we sort of forgive him.

Round 2 -  Lee Martin once more set a fast pace that was just 0.5 slower than his round one time.  Wouter Wynen came in second in round and Kim Nielsen in at the three spot. – In Trucks we saw Bruno dominate with another TQ.

Simon Bettens looking real happy after leg 1 win of the 2wd	Wesley Van Helmond - Got Lee and Toms autographs - Maybe the other way round one day! Star of the future?!

Rob Rasey thought his luck changed	Hot day so Lee was stocking up the back of the Merc with some drinks

Round 3 –  Tom Cockerill wanted to get the pole and set a great time in round 3 to take TQ.  Second was again Wouter and third was Simon Bettens driving a Losi. In Trucks Elvo was just in a another world taking another TQ in a faster time - what a guy.

Tony Evdoka with his Associated B44 was at a point real close to a possible A final comeback as he sat outside the A in  11th needing to drop 1 more point in the last run.  Tony finding his B44 worked real well with the new RudeBits chassis.

Round 4 – So much now riding on this round.  Tom could take TQ from Lee with a TQ and faster time!  Tom dominated the last round of qualifying and did TQ the round but some 0.79 slower than Lees fastest time from round 1 - so overall TQ would fall to Lee.  Second in round was Simon Bettens to put him 5th on the grid and 3rd in round was a great drive by our own Mark Stanley to put him 6th on the grid. In trucks Bruno was just great and TQed all the rounds - give someone else a chance!

Apparently this gadget has to be worn if you qualify pole in the B final	Lee Chorley made the trip from Southport

This is the man responsible for staggered ribs	Adam 'Showtime' Lewis just knows how to enjoy himself

Trucks Finals
Leg 1 – Bruno and Stefan had a great battle for the first leg win. Bruno just by a whisker from Stefan and third was Steven Verelst.
Leg 2 – Another leg win for Bruno would get the win for the meeting.  Bruno (Elvo) just wanted it.  He drove real good and secure the leg win and the meeting.  Elvo and his truck were winners!! (don’t forget to read the threads on the oOple forum) In at second was again Stefan and third was again Steven.
Leg 3- Bruno decides to put in a real hot motor for the last leg and gets no where – 5th in fact – it was just too hot Bruno!! Stefan takes the win in leg 3 with Steven in at the three spot.
Result was Bruno, Stefan and Steven.

top 3 in trucks – Bruno middle 1st – Stefan Right 2nd and Steven left 3rd

4wd Finals
Leg 1 – Tom was on a high.  He won the last 2 rounds of qualifying and just missed out on pole by a more or less nothing time.  He got off to a flyer and got out in front.  Lee pressured Tom for the full 5 mins but TomGod came out on top to win the first leg from Lee Martin and local hero Simon Bettens in at third.
Leg 2 – Well just like every other final once you have a 1 counting you know you are in with a chance in winning.  Tom was sat behind Lee Martins Tamiya for some 5 mins.  Lee looked in total control but the smallest of errors saw Tom Cockerill overtake and take the leg and with it the win in 4wd.  Lee came in second with Wouter Wynen in at third. I’ve never liked the winner not running the last leg and understand that at Euros, Worlds etc there is reasons why not to run.  This event is prestigious for sure but Tom was going to run and so he should!!
Leg 3 – Lee got off to an amazing start and overtook Tom straight away.  Lee was obviously disappointed in not winning the event (as all top drivers are) but was out to get his second place and was just on fire for the 5 min last leg.  Lee won with the fastest time of the whole week and secured second place while Simon Bettens came in second in the leg to secure third of the 4wd meeting

Tom Cockerill took home all the glory by winning 4WD to go with his 2WD win. Lee Martin 2nd and Simon Bettens 3rd.

Conclusion
“I tell you what” this is a great meeting to attend and if you get a chance this is a must.  Great people, a great track and just great fun all-round.  To top it all one of our own superstars Tom ‘God’ Cockerill adds his name to the long list of elite names that have won the Belgium GP.