| 10th out
of 80 starters. Quali: 10th. ~400 spectators. The newly introduced noise limits for the amateur classes caused the event to only hold one race per class instead of the usual two. Due to my limited Dutch language skills, I only found out when wondering why everone packs their stuff while getting ready for the second race :-) Race itself went well, 10th position was a positive surprise considering the limited preparation time and quite some sore muscles after getting a little bit too excited on Saturday's free practice. |
| Saturday was a free practice at the track, so I took
the opportunity to have the first roll out on slick tires. All went
well, bike felt good but getting used to the performance of slick tires
takes some time. There was also quite some lack of rhythm, flow and
picking the right lines. That day, the KNMV (Dutch racing sanctioning body) did some noise level tests and I failed quite convincingly. It is a drive-by test at full throttle, the limit is 96db and most bikes had serious trouble complying. Question was if it makes sense at all to show up Sunday, but I decided to do so and take it "easy" at the check point... they can hardly disqualify majority of field, right? And if so, at least I would get more riding time. All in all, it was a very important practice session, the price was sore muscles on race day... |
| Here I was, all beaten up from yesterday's practice
with a bike that is too loud. Any attempts to lower the noise level
failed, so basically the bike was at 98db instead of 96db. Then again,
most bikes were clearly too loud... let's see what happenes after
qualifying... The race day schedule is quite different to what I'm used to, the only free practice and qualifying are within one 25min session - first 10min free practice, last 15min timed qualifying. Especially with very limited track knowledge, this is quite a challenge, but I knew this track at least a little bit from the previous two practice sessions. I was pretty tired and pulled only one or two fast laps in the qualifying. The time monitor showed 8th position... since it was two groups, I figured I might end up at 16th starting position or so, was a bit disappointed although I knew that I couldn't expect miracles. To my surprise, the second group was much slower so my time was good enough for 3rd row and 10th starting position. My time did not look so bad either, but it became clear that there will be quite some competition this year and I'm not too far away. So promising season outlook. Big question was about the noise - I did shut down the throttle where they have measured, as many did, but they figured that 90% of the bikes were too loud and regulating this was impossible. It was announced that every rider has one "free ride" on noise but at the next race, all bikes have to comply, no mercy then. Well, then I knew what I needed to do after the race - the Akrapovic was clearly not working anymore... Quali result: 10th |
| Start to the first race of the season! All went well
and I came out of the first lap in position 8, which was clearly better
than expected. In lap three, I had to let two riders by, dropping to
10. I felt confident about my speed and was chasing position 9. In lap
7, I tried a move, which did not go so well and I got pushed on the grass. I lost another
position, but in the following lap, I tried a second attempt, which was successful and I got back to 10th
position, which I kept until the end. Race 1 result: 10th |
| After the first round of races in all classes, the
event apparently "used up" its noise budget and the second round of
races had to be cancelled this time. Race 2 result: no race Overall: 10th |
| The next race is on 8 May in Zelhem, a track that I
don't know at all, so it is going to be interesting what that will look
like. Four weeks time for more practice and getting used to
the bike. Also, I will try to get some Motocross practice for
general fitness. |