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Comment by England's George Kimber
Postkaart uit Oostende

(Received by mail, to compare with Georges Ribeira article of last year). It is always hard to be talking of of an IMCA Championship. Despite IMCA having now a new President in Chris Radisch, one could be wondering if the ever controversial Jean Pierre Van Rossem has let go of any of his strings. This time we could leave Sicily far behind and head for the beaches of Flanders to witness Oostende's biggest invasion since Dunkirk. That some Seventy Five drivers from Five continents and sixteen nations showed is a testimonial to IMCA and its ability to raise sponsorship to meet travel costs. Only at Imca can we see the best Wing Racers fighting it out with the best from Scale and from Model Cars. So this time only the USA and UK could be missing at the start with their best racers. No show for Gawronski,Chicky,Hood and Gilbert and the British without Saunders,Gooding and even a Cleave who could miss the boat. Only Gick from the rest of the World could add any kudos to the Championships. Certainly it could be a bigger test of endurance than Sicily with five titles to be decided. One would be suspecting many nights of burning candals to make up the roll cages of the Nascars before we could even see the offerings of God himself the South African Englishman. Sicily had seen the revenge of the Italians over the Czech Devils and this time the Italians could count on the track of Noviello.
GEORGE ON G-12
Certainly the signs were good for Open Gp 12 with Chris Radisch heading the qualifying with Noviello and "Il Bandito and only Poledna of the Czechs, with Einari Fyhr, Buggenhout, America's young Stewart and even a KIMBER. Once more his country could ask of him for one last fight but surely it could be his last time. Fourty years is too long, so he thinks on Tony Blair to give up his Stone Age throttle. Arise Sir George, your country needs you,  so he gives him the Pro 2 to slay the Czech Devils. But Sir George knew he could not beat them on his own,he would need a guardian angel to watch over him so he calls on Jean Pierre to send him a Protector. So he searches high and low in the land of Social Security till he could only find one Englishman left in Walsall who could collect his benefits in a Ferrari. So Kimber could make it even to the Semi's. But this time Horky could not make the move to the final. Only Korec could save the Czechs and join Poledna in the final but the Old Grezzer stood in his way. Even with nine laps Kimber could not be sure on lane one, Korec could drive like the wind, he had to make the move soon: time was running out. So he calls on his Czech mates to block him. Horky twice could be pulling the vanishing hand trick on Kimbers car gripping it like it was a Boccaccio Babes G String, but this time the Axeman stepped in to save the Honour of Sir George and lead him to his rightfull place. Surely victory was for Radische, he only had to finish to take his first World Title, but he could not count on a Czech with X Ray eyes and Poledna could savour his victory as the Ostend dawm let the dark reccesses of the NSR Future track.
GEORGE ON OLD-TIMERS & NASCARS
No one could be stopping the Czechs, so this time Gugu and the boys from Brazil hit on the Futura track with Magnetic braid and left the Czechs in the distance.
The Nascar car races were set in stone so it was not possible to challenge without the Dodge or Chevy .This year JP could stop the stunts of the tyres with the handouts changed in two minutes but he could be forgetting that it is not wise to trust on the accuracy of seventy pairs of tyres packed like sardines on a trip from Spain. This time Noviello could not stop the Czech but what of Horky, could he be letting Korec have his IOC points with simply no victories for the man who always wins? Will it be Three Czechs for ever at the top of the IMCA tree? They can be only respect for the Czechia talents but they have a long way to go to master the straight road. Of course it could be else, if only they could realize the Wall has come down and vanquish their Communistic Ghosts learning to play with the good old English straight Bat . We could somewhere find it in us to welcome them into the bosom of our slotracing family.
So what can we say of Jean Pierre since some thirteen years could pass. This time we could not see the slightest check of Groundclearance at the end of the Mains, normally a speciality of IMCA Races. It would appear that those years have mellowed his mind and he can think only of a father to the slotracing World. So as we look to 2003 we can remmember to get some SAS training in sleep deprevation and remember that slot racing is for the young and we could not have had a greater contrast in the conduct of those young gentlemen from Old England and our American Cousins. We salute John Brown and Andrew Aynsley: you made me proud to be English.!
George's Van Rostrum 2002.