Tuesday 24 June 2008
My second ZAC race of the year. Again at Zolder in Belgium. I put a piece of Explosafe in the air intake in an attempt to reduce the intake noise. If it helped I don't know but the fact is that I wasn't pulled off the track (and in april I was pulled off twice). I opted for the S1 class this time because I finished 6th last time in the S0 class.
Did this do the trick?
Free practice
Sh*t, sh*t, the Kawa doesn't start. 'FUEL' flashes in the dashboard so I throw in some gas (although I'm sure there was enough in it already). Still won't start. Wait, the fuel pump doesn't make it's usual noise when I turn the ignition on. OK, let's get the gas tank off. The connector to the fuel pump was loose!? It is in a pretty remote place so it is almost impossible to accidentally disconnect it. Hmm, at least I found the problem. In the meantime the practice session had already started. I ask if I can join the S0 class for one session and I am allowed to do that. My best lap time was a 1:56.963 (best time in April was 1:56.1).
Qualifying practice
This time I could join the S1 group. That didn't help much though, I only managed to scrape off 1/100th of a second. Position 23 on the grid, in a field of 37 contestants.
Race 1
I think the start went pretty well. It was a bit messy in the first corner. The riding was fun, I had a nice fight with 'Dolle Hond'. I could overtake him going into the chicane before the Sacramentsheuvel. A bit later I outbraked myself in a ginormous way. It felt (and 'Dolle Hond' Jeroen said it too) like the rear wheel came half a metre from the ground. Luckily for me there was a little strip of tarmac that I could get on so I didn't have to go into the gravel trap. After another overtaking manouvre and another braking error I decided to stay behind Jeroen. I finished in 22nd place, not bad for a first time in the S1 class. Fastest lap was a 1:53.855, much faster than in practice.
Race 2
I took it easy in race 2. I didn't want to make any braking errors. The result was a 23rd place with a best lap of 1:54.454.
(c) MR Racing - software version 2.14 - 05 January 2019.