This afternoon it’s time again: after two years, dozens of cars can race again on the Venhuizen course for the annual autocross. One of the favorites in the standard class is Jesse de Graaf. He drives a home race: “Crossing at home is always the best.”
“The pressure is just a bit higher,” says Jesse. The 30-year-old driver has been racing for twelve years now. Often in the Rodeo class, but now also in the Standard class. “I’m driving my pregnant girlfriend’s car now. She said, ‘go drive my car, because it has been standing still for two years‘.”
And so said, done. He started in Wersvershoof and it went so well that he decided to do the other races for the North Holland Championship as well. Venhuizen is the latter, but competition is lurking. “There is a top five that is going very fast, they are well matched. Besides me, they are Niels Danenberg, Jelle Schuit, Peter Voorsluys and Wilson Vriend.”
Lots of enthusiasm
There is a large field of participants this year, says chairman Adri Veken. “More than 170 participants, that’s quite a lot.” He is looking forward to it, because it could not go on for the past two years because of corona.
He proudly talks about the transponder system they have. “We are the only ones with timekeeping. Via the transponders on the cars, you can see who is in front on a large screen.”
And whether Jesse is the one who is constantly in the front and will take home the championship, that remains to be seen. “It can still go either way, you can earn 20 points per moto and there should be four motos.”
Last check
The past few days, Jesse has been working on the car quite a bit. “Everything is checked. Everything is dented and checked extra. You don’t want to fail. We also test the car the day before on the grassland next to our house.”
Jesse has high hopes in great races. And Adri is also confident in another fun day full of autocross: “It’s a great outing for Venhuizen.”