Race day! It has been quite some time since I raced and that was the 4 hours of Assen and when the e-mail of this ZAC race came available I jumped at it!
Always wanted to do a race but it never happened. I was in the “slowest” group of the CUP but I have not driven that often at Assen and my laptimes are for some time in the 2:02.00 and was not able to lower them on a regular base. During the free practice I did a start at the end of the pit lane. And I needed it! The first launch was terrible and the clutch lever was to tight and the front wheel went up way to high and could not control it. Changed the clutch lever to a better position and it helped a lot. The second try went a lot better and felt ready for the race.
FP1 and FP2
FP1 and FP2 went well, put in my normal times and they where at the low 2 minutes. Q1 was a very good run and qualified with a 1:59.963 👌 and was happy with it. I had the exact same time as a other rider and that put me in the 4th starting position and it was a good position to start the race.
🏁 Race 1
The start was not great but also not a disaster. At the first corner I already caught 1 rider and was in 3rd position. The 2 first riders seemed to start a little slow and I could stay right at their tail. Exiting the Strubben corner I positioned the bike and used the horsepower to overtake them. From that moment I was in first place and did not let to of that position. At my supprise the adrenaline helped me a lot to push hard and did a new personal record 1:57.964 👏. Crossed the 🏁 finish line with a small gap of 3 seconds and was very pleased with the result.
🏁 Race 2
Because the result of Race 1 is the start position of Race 2 and that put me in pole position. The weather was very good that day and the temperature was rising. Due to a small delay of the previous races we started a little bit later. The start was perfect, launched the bike with a long small wheelie to the first corner and thought to myself make a gap quickly to prevent riders catching up my good start. And did a good first lap that gave me a good gap to the rest of the riders. But due to the temperature and the lack of condition 😅 the lap times where quite slower than Race 1. But thanks to my good start I could stay in the front. I looked a few times back but did not see any rider approaching me and I went into a more comfortable mode (💣 WRONG!!). It gave a opportunity to the second rider to catch up and in the last corner (Geert Timmer bocht) he passed me on the breaks. Looking back to the video I was SLOW and way to confident. But I thought on the exit I can use the shorter line to try to pass him on the finish line. I almost did. With a time difference of 0.003 seconds I lost the race 😭 and became second.
Result
Due to the winn and one second place the other rider and me had the same points. The rule (I did not knew that one) states: Riders with the same points the last race position determines the podium position. So second of the day.
I was a little disappointed but also happy that on my first race I led the 2 races from the start to finish and to loose with 0.003 was bitter but a good lesson to ALWAYS keep pushing the limit and open up a bigger gap even if it is already big enough.
Now looking back to the video’s they are a little boring but I had so much fun that day. Looking forward to a next race. Not sure when I can find the time but I hope this year.
Good that I have a second day at Assen planned to improve my skills at this circuit.
See you on the track!
