| 5th and 6th out
of 36 starters. Quali: 11th. ~5,400 spectators A great event with lots of spectators, fun racing and overall a great race result. I had good starts and exciting races, so it was a good weekend. Also, qualifying in position granted me a grid girl (see pictures) - that's service! The weekend was a great learning exercise as well, seeing the absolute top riders of the world. Now the plan is to incorporate this in some practice sessions and see how it works out for the races in the second half of the season. |
| The last practice in Lelystad went quite well, but other than that
there was no other preparation possible before the race. The race was part of
the German Amateur Championship and races are part of the overall
International German Supermoto Championship, so since this is a very popular race
series, there are many top Supermoto riders at the event. For this
race, even some of the best Supermoto riders of the World Championship
showed up, but other than Mauno Hermunen winning the event as the only starter that races
both championships regularly, the others didn't do so
well and Markus Volz finished second. The event itself was more or less
in front of the famous football stadium in Dortmund, a cool
spot! In contrast to the Dutch Championship, it is a full two day event with two free practices, a qualifying, a first race on Saturday evening, then a warm-up practice on Sunday and the second race Sunday afternoon, primetime between the two S1 races, which are the top events of the day. |
| I skipped the first practice due to the long drive to Dortmund. The
second practice went well, I liked the track and got a good flow right
away. There was one bigger jump in the off-road, which I tried twice
and came short and cross, so I lost a little confidence there and
short-jumped it for the rest of the weekend. Didn't cost much time
though. The rest of the off-road part was good for me, not like the
ones in the Dutch Championship... The free practice ended in position
10. For the qualifying, the plan was to be around position 7, it seemed realistic from the free practice times. I gave it my best, felt good and fast, but the result was 11th position. I really thought it would be better, somehow the speed wasn't quite there. Quali result: 11th |
| After the qualifying, I watched the other classes to see some
different lines and speeds, so I hoped for a good start and then a good
pace again. The start was great, I passed the start-finish already as
9th and came out of the first lap in position 6! In lap 4, the guy in
front of me crashed and I passed for 5th position (see video link below
for that guy's helmet camera). Now I had three riders in my neck and
the one behind me built up quite some pressure, so I had to choose
defensive lines to keep him behind me. This of course was not helpful
at this stage of the race to also hold the others behind for the rest
of the race. So in lap 6, I decided to let him by and then use him to
pull me away from the others. In lap 10, he stalled his bike in the
off-road and due to yellow flags I first hesitated to ride by him
immediately because I thought it was a different incident. This gave
the guy behind me the chance to move up and pass me by the end of the
off-road. I kept 6th position at this point, but of course lost the
chance for 5th. In lap 10, also the 3rd of the race crashed out, so I
was back in 5th, with some pressure from behind. But I secured 5th to
the end of the race. Great result! Race 1 result: 5th |
| I was extremly beat Saturday evening, totally exhausted, but
had a good sleep, good breakfast and all in all felt ok. Sunday
morning. The warm-up went well, I recorded the 4th fastest time and
felt good for the race. It was a long waiting time between warm-up and
race. The start itself in the second race didn't go as well as in the first race, but I managed to pass some guys and came as 7th out of the first lap. I had good contact to the leading group actually, but instead of closing the gap, they moved away little by little in the first laps. I wanted to go faster and the mind was ready, but the weekend so far took its toll and my body didn't follow the mind. After mid-race, I was totally exhausted and I felt like a snail... with this speed, one guy was able to catch up again (same guy who passed me two laps before the end Saturday) and I thought I can keep him behind actually. I was not aware that I was on a relatively good 5th position at this point! Then another rider came between us and I didn't notice really, so I defended as much as I could. Just before the off-road, he tried to pass me on the outside and on the following left turn leading into the off-road, he tried to cut into the corner in front of me. I staid firm, ellbows out and we both went over the edge of the track and off the track. Luckily, we both didn't go down and came back on the track, but the other guy behind me slipped through, so I was suddenly 7th. Justice came immediately - the guy pushing us off the track overdid it in the following off-road and went down - so I was back in 6th, realistically the best postion I was able to make in that race. The girl (yes) that finished behind me on Saturday made it to the Podium, so although it was a great result overall, it feels like I missed a great Podium opportunity due to lack of better preparation. Race 2 result: 6th |
| The next race starts the second half of the Dutch Championship on
14 August, I hope I manage to get enough practice and workout time to
be really fit for the remaining races. The bike runs well and the speed
should be there, so now maximum preparation needed. |