So, I saw that this guy named Lars van Berkel had showed up at Redbud and did pretty well. He was from Holland, and I’m not sure where I saw him talking on social media, but he seemed like a funny guy, and I wanted to get his story. We did a Privateer Pod before Southwick, and I got his story about being a MXGP guy turned professional beach racer. He actually quit the sport for a bit before discovering his true calling: going 100 mph on a beach.
I knew he would do well at Southwick, I mean, he’s Dutch and he’s a pro beach racer. Duh. So I mentioned that maybe he could hit the Canadian national the next day at Gopher Dunes which is, unlike Southwick, bottomless sand. It’s basically Lommel, the famed GP track in Belgium. We had a good laugh about it, but I contacted my guys at the Honda Canada team, and they were on-board with lending Lars a bike and a mechanic for the day. It was all coming together! Except Lars wanted me to drive with him, which was tough because I wasn’t going to Southwick, and I also didn’t want to drive seven hours on Saturday night to Canada.
But with the help of his buddy, Lars was up for the adventure and headed to the Great White North after a top 15 day at Southwick—absolutely nuts to do Pro Motocross nationals on back-to-back days (Kyle Chisholm and Bobby Kiniry have also done this), but it’s REALLY nuts to do Southwick and Gopher in back-to-back days.
After getting very little sleep and not really knowing anyone on his “team,” Lars went 4-2 on the day for third overall at Gopher Dunes. Pretty good! He and the team worked so well together he’s staying up there this week and, instead of racing the Spring Creek National, he’s going to do Sand de Lee, a track outside of Ottawa. It’s a sand track, but more like The Wick 338 where it’s got a hard base.
One of the deals I made with van Berkel was that if he did the double, we would have him on the PulpMX Show on Monday, so a deals a deal. Here’s a little conversation we had about racing four motos in two days in two different countries. You can listen to the whole thing over on PulpMXShow.com and he comes on at 1:30:00 into the show.
If you want to listen to the privateer podcast we did, make sure to give it a listen here.
Racer X Online: What race was tougher, Southwick or Gopher?
Lars van Berkel: For me, to be honest, I think you will be surprised by that, but I have to say Southwick just because of the humidity. I have to be honest as well, I’m riding a privateer bike in America, which is pretty stock. I thought I was not so handicapped with that, but when I stepped on the bike with Derek [Schuster, owner of Gopher Dunes Honda], I was blown away. So, I think that makes riding also easier in the sand because you can just play with the throttle and can just jump the bumps. It makes it a bit easier, and the temperature was lower, of course.
![Lars van Berkel]()
Lars van Berkel Align Media ![Lars van Berkel]()
Lars van Berkel Align Media
You did get some rain at Gopher.
Yeah. I didn’t know it could rain around this time here. We had some rain the first moto, and the second moto of the 250 it was also raining a lot. So, I was happy with that.
I did a Privateer Podcast with Lars earlier this week and I was saying he should do Gopher the next day, and I was kind of half joking but half serious because Lars is a beach racer. He’s good in the sand. It all worked. Derek Schuster from Gopher Dunes Honda got him a bike and it all worked out. It’s really cool. Really neat deal that this all worked out.
It’s super cool. To be honest, when I stepped into the car to drive here, I was rethinking my decision a few times. But I’m really happy now. It was really nice.
So, you put your suspension and bars on Gopher Dunes Honda? Is that how that worked out? How much did you make the bike your own?
They asked me what gearing I rode and bars and everything, and then I just did my own suspension and a few things, because I’m riding a slightly bigger fuel tank, like one and a half liters bigger. You need that here in a sand track. We put it in a rental car. We picked up a rental car in Albany with me and Corey [Lars’ buddy that helps him in the States—he’s a cop, we don’t know his last name]. So, they put the suspension in in the morning, when I was actually still sleeping on the couch. Then I changed the suspension a bit and put the tank on. We did a few real small changes after the free practice, and it all went from there.
Four-two on the day, third overall at Gopher, and then at Southwick a 16-15, so that’s awesome. You’re having a hell of a time, hell of a vacation. You loved it so much you’re staying this week. That’s great. I love it.
Yeah. Me and Corey had a talk after the podium because my bike was pretty much falling apart. Really, without a joke, we had to clip our chain like five minutes before the first go, because it was too stretched. I’m doing privateer stuff, so I only had one chain. We couldn’t find an extra one. He had to cut it. He knew he had one chance, and if he would have f****ed that up, I wouldn’t have been on the line the second moto. But it worked out well and we did the moto. I finished 16th and 15th at the Wick.
To be honest, I wasn’t too happy with it just because I was smoked. Riding the bike with Derek the other day after, I also know it’s a bit of a power thing because it makes it a lot easier if you have some extra horsepower on the bike.
This was a test bike of theirs, right? It had a few motor mods?
Actually, it was Derek’s bike. So, he ran it in quite well. I think it had an ECU and race fuel and the ignition. But he told me it was not that special, but I came off the track and the only thing I could say was, “This thing rips.”
I’m sure it’s set up perfectly for Gopher.
With my suspension, I was a bit unsure because I changed suspension guys in Europe just after I did some sand races. So, I was a bit nervous because I didn’t feel my suspension so good this week. But I think that was also the power thing because if you shut off the gate, then your bike brakes very hard, the front then goes down. Here, I could just stay on the throttle, and it was all good.
Did they say, do you want to stay for the next round in Sand Del Lee? How did that come about? What happened?
So, as you could see on the video, I was super excited. They know Sand Del Lee was closer to the USA than this was. Corey was only going to make the trip to Millville. I was going to do it, and Derek said, if we are doing this race, then it’s very difficult to turn down another opportunity to ride for a team like GDR in Canada. So, it looks like we’re going to do Sand Del Lee. It’s 20 hours from Corey’s place to Millville. We have to drive there, because I cannot tell Corey I was alone there. So, there would be 40 hours ride, up and down, because I have to fly back on Monday from Corey’s place. Then the guys here, they welcomed me so nicely on the Sunday. It was a short welcome, but it was a good one. They said, you can stay here.
So, you got in from Southwick at 3:00 in the morning, and then you raced practice at 8:00 am or whatever?
Yeah. I underestimated the trip a little bit. [Laughs] I know to do back-to-back races. Then of course at Southwick, we had to clean the bike first. Then we had to take the suspension out, tank off. Then we had to put it all in the van. I decided together with Corey to rent a car at Albany, because we have to take the van. You cannot really sleep, and your knees are all bent up. So, that’s not going to work. So, we went to Albany. I had to wait quite a bit for the car. Then we drove to Canada. Then I only fell asleep at 1:00 or something, with the chair all the way up the back.
Then all of a sudden Corey is like, “We’re here!” And that’s when we arrived. Then I did some sleeping. I thought I could sleep until 9:00, but then I actually don’t know who opened the door, but he said, “Lars, you have to come to the riders meeting.” I think it was 7:45. I was wrecked. I was like, “What did I get myself into again?”
Listen to the full show #551 of the PulpMX Show below:
