Daniël Willemsen

Daniël Willemsen is a Dutch sidecarcross rider, born on 7 May 1975 in Lochem in Gelderland, and the most successful rider in the history of the sport. He won the sidecarcross world title ten times, in 1999, from 2003 to 2008, and in 2010, 2011 and 2012, racing with a succession of passengers that included his brother Marcel, Sven Verbrugge, Kaspars Stupelis and Reto Grütter. He also won the Dutch national sidecarcross championship nine times and the Belgian championship twice. His sidecar career began in 1981 in a home-made 50 cc outfit under the guidance of his father Berry, who had also raced sidecars, and he entered the senior Dutch championship in 1994. In 2005 he was made a member of the Order of Orange-Nassau and his home town of Lochem named a street after him. Outside sidecarcross he rode the 2007 Dakar Rally in the solo motorcycle class, finishing tenth, and he won the Tuareq Rally in 2008.