Smets knocked out of the Knock Out
Despite his best efforts, Joel Smets was forced to retire from the Red Bull Knock Out beach race at the Dutch seaside resort of Scheveningen last weekend. The legendary racer made it to the final on a BMW G 450 X but after two-and-a-half hours of intense competition, a problem with his battery meant that the former five-times world motocross champion had to sit out the final laps of his first beach race.
Joel Smets in the dunes at Scheveningen
Known as one of the toughest beach races in the world, the Red Bull Knock Out claimed its fair share of casualties and retirements – due to physical exhaustion as well as machine failure. In fact, from a starting line-up of around 650 riders, only 102 actually made it to the finish. High-profile retirements on the extremely tough course included David Knight and the 2007 winner Timotei Potisek, but this year's victory went to Belgian rider Steve Ramon, who up until Thursday wasn't even on the entry list, but managed to squeeze into the starting line-up after a phone call to the organizers and some last-minute cancellations.
As the only BMW rider on the sand, Smets wasn't sure what to expect in his first beach challenge in front of more than 150,000 race fans who lined the promenade at Scheveningen, but the 39-year-old 'veteran' soon got into the swing of things in the first hour-and-a-half qualifier, after which the slowest 325 riders would be eliminated.
The awesome sight of 650 riders charging across the sand at full throttle
"After the first two laps of the first heat I was up to fifth place and felt really good out there, even though I did get caught up in a big pile-up of riders, but apparently that's normal in beach racing," said Joel "Because of the format of this event, I knew that the fastest 325 riders would go through, so I didn't want or need to push things too much in the first leg, so I took things fairly easily, as it's easy to tire yourself out or even burn out a clutch in the deep sand.
"I was forced to pit twice, as we didn't have the fuel capacity to remain out there for as long as we wanted, plus the conditions were extremely heavy and having to pull the bike out from such deep sand was burning a lot of fuel up. As it was, I finished the first heat in 21st place, which put me on the front row for the final."
Joel had to wait until he was nearly 40 to compete in his first beach race
After the first stage, the field was thinned out and the remaining 325 riders would battle for the coveted 2008 title, as well as a cheque for 15,000 Euros. Frenchman Arnaud Demeester was leading for much of this race, but it was eventual winner Steve Ramon from Belgium who caught him and passed him 15 minutes before the end of the race – and then never looked back. As for Smets, his race came to a premature end early in the final, but who knows what he might have accomplished, had it not been for a simple battery failure...
"In the final, I was running well, but after four or five laps, I got tangled up with another rider and the bike toppled over in the sand and the engine stopped. It just wouldn't start after that, so I pulled the bike to a safe place at the side of the track, adjusted my goggles and pushed the starter button, upon which it fired up first time – which was a surprise," said Joel. "Despite the time I lost, I carried on, but then about 20 minutes later the bike stopped again and it was obvious that the battery wasn't charging. This was a pity, because the bike was working well throughout the first heat and I was feeling absolutely fine, physically, but that's racing and many other bikes suffered from much more serious problems, such as engines blowing up. It's a tough race, which takes its toll on the machines – I guess that's why they call it the 'Knock Out'! I've enjoyed every minute of this beach race and our BMW G 450 X attracted a lot of attention from all the other riders, as well as the spectators, which made the whole effort more than worth it!"