Kenny van Gaalen

Kenny van Gaalen (born 29 January 1988) is a Dutch sidecarcross rider and the 2012 Sidecarcross World Champion, riding as passenger with Daniël Willemsen.[1]

In this Dutch name, the surname is van Gaalen, not Gaalen.
Kenny van Gaalen
NationalityNetherlands Netherlands
Born (1988-01-29) January 29, 1988
's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Bike number6
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Sidecarcross World Championship
Active years2009-2012, 2014-present
ManufacturersKTM-VMC (2009-2010)
Zabel-VMC (2011)
Zabel-WSP (2012, 2014–present)
Championships(1) 2012
2015 championship position6th
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
98 5 13 1,252

Biography

Kenny van Gaalen began his sidecarcross career as the passenger of Belgian driver Ben Adriaenssen in 2004, racing in the Netherlands in the competition of the Motorsport Organisatie Nederland, a Dutch amateur motorsport organisation[2]

In 2009 the pair moved up to semi-professional level and entered the World Championship, making their debut at the Swiss Grand Prix at Wohlen. They finished the season in 18th place overall with three sixth place finishes as their best race results.[3] In the team's second World Championship campaign, in 2010, Adriaenssen and van Gaalen finished sixth overall, with a second place in the first race of the Danish Grand Prix as their best result.[4]

In 2011 van Gaalen did only race sporadically, at the side of fellow Dutchman Bjorn Roes. In the 2012 edition van Gaalen replaced Haralds Kurpnieks who broke his wrist in the first Grand Prix of the season as Daniël Willemsen's passenger but himself suffered a knee injury in the second French Grand Prix, and being in turn replaced by Lauris Daiders for the last five GP's.[5][6][7][8] Van Gaalen took out the World Championship as a passenger because he earned more than 50 percent of the total points Willemsen took out in the 2012 championship, the necessary requirement for a passenger to become World Champion as per FIM regulations.[9]

In 2013 van Gaalen did not race at World Championship level while his former partner, Ben Adriaenssen, took out the World Championship.[10] He returned for the 2014 season, now as passenger of then 17-year-old Koen Hermans.[11] The pair raced together again in 2015, now coming sixth overall.

Season by season

The season by season results in the world championship for Kenny van Gaalen:

Season Driver Equipment Position Points Races Wins Second Third
2009 Belgium Ben Adriaenssen KTM-VMC 18 108 14 — — —
2010 KTM-VMC 6 322 27 — 1 2
2011 Netherlands Bjorn Roes Zabel-VMC 41 5 4 — — —
2012 Netherlands Daniël Willemsen Zabel-WSP 1 249 10 5 4 1
2014 Netherlands Koen Hermans Zabel-WSP 15 100 13 — — —
2015 Zabel-WSP 6 368 30 — — —
2016 Zabel-WSP
Overall 2009 – 2015 1,252 98 5 5 3

Honours

World Championship

References
  1. Kenny van Gaalen biography FIM website, accessed: 1 January 2013
  2. Ben Adriaenssen official website Archived 2013-10-16 at the Wayback Machine accessed: 14 October 2013
  3. 2009 Sidecarcross World Championship Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine FIM website - Official results, accessed: 14 October 2013
  4. 2010 Sidecarcross World Championship Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine FIM website - Official results, accessed: 14 October 2013
  5. NEWS: Race-report Pernes les Fontaine (in Dutch) Team Willemsen website, accessed: 17 September 2012
  6. DANIËL WILLEMSEN ZET MET VERVANGENDE BAKKENIST JACHT OP DE WERELDTITEL VOORT (in Dutch) Team Willemsen website, accessed: 17 September 2012
  7. Willemsen grijpt tiende wereldtitel (in Dutch) De Stentor, published: 16 September 2012, accessed: 17 September 2012
  8. Tiende wereldtitel zijspancrosser Willemsen (in Dutch) De Telegraaf, published: 16 September 2012, accessed: 17 September 2012
  9. FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP APPENDIX Archived 2012-06-09 at the Wayback Machine FIM website, accessed: 7 January 2012
  10. 2013 Sidecarcross World Championship Archived 2013-10-16 at the Wayback Machine FIM website - Official results, accessed: 14 October 2013
  11. Gespann-WM: Willemsens aufgewärmte Beziehung (in German) Speedweek, published: 9 April 2014, accessed: 24 April 2014
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