Thursday 12 april 2007
A race at last. The first for the ZAC in 2007, at the circuit of Assen.
Free practice
First practice at 9.00 am. I got on the track with brand spanking new tyres with a temperature of 7 degrees. I took it easy. The clutch lever started to get a lot of free play too so I abandoned the session. A nut had come loose (read I didn't fasten it well enough). There are no times available for that prcatice simply because they were never measured. Saves the embarresment of having to show very bad times...
Qualifying practice
The second practice went much better. It was warmer, the tyres were scrubbed in (and the clutch nut was fastened). The enige modifications cou;ld be felt really well, accelleration is much better. But throttle repsons below 4500 rpm is really bad. And the exhaust pipe touched the ground once so a little more groundclearance is wellcome (Rene, where are those shorter dogbones???) Best time was 2:16,780,
2 seconds slower than the best time of last year. But good enough for the 17th place on the starting grid (of 36 riders).
Race 1
Start as usual, which means I loose a lot of places. And in the Madijk corner there was a cleaned up oil track so everyone kept on the inside and there were no possibilities to gain places. But I have been able to overtake some people during the race. Out braking them just before the Strubben seems to go very well, overtaking on the outside on the part of the track from Ruskenhoek to Stekkenwal can be done as well! But the best is getting on the inside in Duikersloot (and than hope they don't get back in the fast Meeuwenmeer section).
I think Ramshoek can be done faster but for some reason I roll off the throttle more than I want to. I finished 19th with a best time of 2:14,202.
That is 0.4 second faster than last year!
But when I entered the pits I was pulled aside. My bike was leaking at the rear. A lot of coolant had come out of the breather of the expansion container.
Race 2
I didn't start in race 2 because I didn't know the cause of the coolant loss.
(c) MR Racing - software version 2.14 - 05 January 2019.