Monday 14 august 2006
Another ZAC race on the famous Assen TT circuit. The weather forecast hadn't been very
positive for days but on monday it looked like it wasn't going to be that bad after all.
On my way to Assen I was hit by a big shower but that was the last 'big' one for the monday
and tuesday. Evert had rented a pit box because he wanted all of his fans to stay dry and
he offered a couple of other racers couls use the pit box too. After all the cars and trailers
were unloaded we enjoyed some beer, wine and strong stories.
Tuesday 15 august 2006
Free practice
Because the order for today was S2 - S3 - S0 - S1 we were the third group to go on the circuit,
the *wet* circuit. My power disadvantage disappears a bit on a wet track but I didn't really
like it. And when it started raining again I rode around very careful. Stopping before
the flag was waved wasn't an option because that way you will never learn anything.
A lap time of 2:39.420 got me on 31st place (of 33 contenders). But this time was done
in lap 2 of the practice, the last 3 laps were around 2:57!
Qualifying practice
After the free practice of the S0 it hadn't rained any more. So when I could go on the
track for the qualifying practice there was a dry line that became wider every lap. The
lap times came down rapidly from 2:46 at the start to 2:20.423 at the end. That is only 0.6
seconds above my fastest time ever, set in May on a dry track. That time was good for position
26 on the grid, with 8 people behind me.
Race 1
Before we could start our race in the S0 class there was a long period of silence because
of a severe accident. The races were continued after some time without us knowing exactly
what had happened. Afterwards we heard that the rider had been taken to the hospital in Groningen.
Of course you know racing i dangerous but with incidents like that you are reminded of it again.
I had a reasonably good start but the stronger bikes were passing me on both sides. I entered
the first turn last. And until the Strubben it was too crowded to pass. I don't remember who
I passed in what lap but I averaged one pass per lap. Fighting with the people on stronger bikes
is *very* nice. But at some point I wanted to pass a guy so badly that I turned the gas too far
and the cable got stuck. I had to roll off the throttle strongly to get it going again.
Scary moment on the fastest part of the track (Meeuwenmeer - Hoge Heide). After that I accepted
that full throttle is really full throttle. By the time I started the 7th lap I had passed 7 people.
I could pass the 8th whilst braking for the GT-corner. That resulted in 28th position. My fastest
lap confirmed that I had been going very well as the lap time was 2:16.419! That is more than 3
seconds off the previous best.
Race 2
The start went a little bit better and this time I wasn't last in the Haarbocht. Before the
Ossebroeken I could out brake some more. But on the Veenslang I was passed again by some of them.
From lap 3 or so I was stuck behind a Ducati 996 that I could not pass, at least not for more then
a couple of seconds. The deviation in the lap times was very low this race which means that the
race went very well. My fastest lap was one tenth of a second slower than the first race. My Sigma
cycle computer indicated a top speed of of 179 km/h and that is pretty quick for a Skorpion. If it
is going a little bit better in September I might even hit the rev limiter at Hoge Heide, We'll see.
Results free practice S0
Lap times free practice S0
Results qualifying practice S0
Lap times qualifying practice S0
Results 1st race S0
Lap times 1st race S0
Results 2nd race S0
Lap times 2nd race S0
For the results of the other classes see the ZAC Motoren site.
(c) MR Racing - software version 2.14 - 05 January 2019.