IDM 8 Hockenheim

Last race of the season 2011 was on the cards as the IDM circus headed to Hockenheim raceway.

Hockenheim circuit was one of the few places that we actually knew beforehand due to last years
wild card race in supersport class.
Free practice kicked of again on Friday and my pace seemed pretty good compared to usual front runners, so with good spirits we were ready for qualifying.
However, things did not turn out to be too sweet, since after bad nights of sleep I was really feeling it and only managed to qualify in 15th place.
For second session I had some rest and was feeling a lot better, but still despite my improved feeling could actually not improve my time at all!
So disappointing 16th place, was given for my troubles.
Sound of rain woke us up in Sunday morning and Saturday`s weather forecast seemed to hit the spot.
Not too bothered about the rain, I was determined to run a better race than my last outing in the wet, which was in Schleiz so it took a pretty fast pace from the sighting lap onwards.
As for the start of the race I got a good start, but already in the first corner Bollen fell and had to be avoided by other riders including me.
Not too long after, third corner to be precise, championship contenders Lucy and Jesko had some drama which led to Lucy crashing and Jesko having to run of the track.
Race was soon stopped and I was slightly annoyed by this because I had already risen to 8th place.
Re-start happened pretty fast since no one was injured and I got of the line again pretty well and by Lap 3 was already on 6th place.
I just caught 5th and 4th place riders Wegmann and Zeelen at the end of lap tree and was running very fast lap times, when just as I was lining the up for pass, I saw yellow flag and backed down.
It was because race leader Mulhauser crashing and that left all other riders from 2-6th place to fight for the victory as the whole leading group was now together.
I was the fastest man on the track at the time and felt like I could fight for the win or podium at least, but this was not to be since, at the same time Sokolov fell at the back of the field.
That led to race being stopped again and results were taken from lap 3.
Meaning that Mulhauser won the race and I was left were I was, at the end of lap 3.
I was really disappointed, since I had a good feeling with the bike and was riding like I should on the wet.

Results at: http://yamaha-cup.de/index.cgi?x=X&y=X&z=20110924-5112915-5024585022&a=startseite&b=start&h=menuTop

Anyway, that racing for you and at least I had a good pace again.
Championship title went to Jesko Raffing who despite his very young age rode a superb season.
He has a wise head on young shoulders and should be destined to good things in the future.
I ended up as 13th from 43 racers, so pretty stellar season for first one in IDM series.
This year has been very educational in every way and definitely a way forward in my racing career.
General economy situation does not look good, so too early to talk about next season, but we definitely have some plans!

I would like to give a very special thank you for moto service Tretow, Mr and Mrs Tretow, Thomas Kohler, Helmut and Thomas Thieme and Sicco H.
Thank you all very much indeed..!
VV #13