| 3rd and PODIUM out
of 62 starters. Quali: 3rd. ~400 spectators First podium finish since I race in the Dutch Championship! Amazing result. It was a very hot race day and I had a hard time getting into it. Qualifying was already exhausting because I had to fight to the end for my first row qualifying result. But then things went well and after a 2nd and 6th race finsih, I finsihed 3rd overall! Thanks to the support of my brother and his girlfriend and also big thanks to IZOD! Finally, we made it! Now I plan to practice even more at the track and improve in the short offroad section, then even more might be possible! |
| Finally, I got my tires and new foot pegs, so the bike was ready for Lelystad. My brother and his girlfriend came visiting that weekend. Great to have additional pit crew support and they really made an effort, equipped with team Polo shirts!! The weekend in between, I went to Utrecht to do some Motocross riding and this went very well actually. I should also try to get my Supermoto bike on some suitable Motocross tracks, but I didn't manage this yet this year. I decided for the first time to not cut a profile into the tires because I thought the tire will work better without and they are not really needed in Lelystad. Good decision. |
| Race day was really hot. The hottest day of the year and it went
quite quickly from rather cool to these hot temperatures. I didn't feel
all fresh in the morning, somehow my legs were "heavy" during the free
practice 10 minutes. I did not move freely and effortlessly on the
bike. This conitnued during qualifying, I was more fighting with the
bike than riding it. First time this year I had pit board support but
it was not all easy to read it for me. But I saw "P8" and "P7" and half
of the qualifying time was already over. What was wrong? This is my
"home" track and I thought I would be easily further up in the top 5.
Apparently the others stepped up their game too... Time was up and I
entered my last lap. Already missed the first corner, but somehow
decided to not give up and cotinue the lap. To my surprise, I posted
the 3rd best time with my very last lap! First row is quite important
in Lelystad - any track really - because then you do not depend so much
how the rider in front of you gets off the line. Downside was that I
did most laps of all riders, ten in the qualifying alone. Quite
exhausting in this heat. Quali result: 3rd |
| We discovered before the race that I was running way too high air
pressure in qualifying - a mistake on my side after changing tires the
day before. This explained some slippery behavior of the bike. Now
fixed for the race. I had a great start, running third directly behind Ronnie Kreeft and Arjan Schouten, who came from the outside after apparently a great start from second row. Ronnie had a jump start, so he had to go out to pick up his stop and go penalty at one point. I followed Arjan well, but in lap 3, Kevin Schuurman was literally flying by in the off road section. I thought I’m going backwards – unbelievable. Then in lap 6, Arjan ran into problems and I moved up to second. Tom Ellenbroek pushed hard from behind, but I defended my position well to the finish line and finished second, my best result ever in the championship series! So cool !! And I posted constantly good times throughout the race. I was really tired afterwards... Race 1 result: 2nd !! |
| Second race started off great again; Ronnie took the
lead, followed by Kevin, myself and Tom. Then in lap five, Tom was able
to make a pass and I tried to follow him, but the heat took its toll
and I had to let him go. In lap nine, also Joshua Das passed me and
this was dangerous for the podium. Joshua had to finish well in front
of me in order to take away third position overall. At this stage,
I got really tired and worn out, but I really wanted the podium finish,
so it became a tactical race. I let go the chance for second place
overall and tried to make no mistakes anymore and play it safe and I
made it! I’m really thrilled, our best overall result to date in the
series and PODIUM!! Race 2 result: 6th Overall: 3rd !! |
| In spite of all the enthusiasm and excitement, I know that I have to
work on the offroad section in Lelystad. It is doable for me, I just
need some practice time there to improve. I am ok on the asphalt part.
Unfortunately they don't open the offroad part for practice, so let's
see how I can do this. Always tough to try things out on race day.
Maybe I will use the Saturday before the next race to focus on this
part only! Next race is in Valkenswaard next week before we return again to Lelystad on 1 July. I did reasonably well there last year. I hope that the offroad will be similar to last year and that it won't rain. |