IDM 4 Sachsenring

4th race of IDM series was held in a legendary MotoGP venue, Sachsenring.

GP racing has been happening in this area since 1927.
The circuit has been modified several times, but last modification was in the 90s and the circuit is still in that form.
Yamaha cup`s first free practice went pretty trouble free, but finding the right gearing was not as easy as usual, since the nature of the track made it pretty challenging.
Track area has massive elevation changes and that really is one of the reasons why it is a good track in the first place.
First part of qualifying went OK and I was lying in 10th place, but on the very last minute three guys came bye or actually posted the exact same time as I, but had better hundredths of a second!
That dropped me back to place 13.
For second session we had a plan to try small changes and different gearing, but once again just minutes before us, rain came down.
Quick change of wheels and out with “so called” rain tires. So called because from a rideability point of view these old tires we have to use in the cup really suck. Only good thing is, that they suck for every rider.
For race, I got a decent start, but lost some places in the first corner and came around from first lap around 17th place.
I had real difficulties of getting on my own pace, since there were so many bikes in a group and that always makes it difficult, since you have to keep on eye on others as well.
After around 6 laps race was again stopped, because the rain came down again.
15 minutes of time was given to change the rain tires on, but that never really happened, since the rain stopped real quick and track started to dry again.
For restart I got bit better starting lap and made few good passes and eventually ended on 14th place again…
On the points again, but for sure this is not what we came here for.
However level of series is really good and like qualifying once again proved, time differences are minimal all the way through the pack.
Bike is working now well, after the trouble we had at the beginning of the season, but the “limiting factor” at the moment is track time.
2x25minutes of practice on track one doesen`t know is very little, but that’s how it is.
Not too bad though, we just have to keep chipping away and progress by little all the time.

Results at: http://yamaha-cup.de/index.cgi?x=X&y=X&z=20110627-4450073-1027061057&a=aktuell&b=detail&c=1261&h=startOverview