We took Friday the 17:30 ferry to Tallinn as the start for this double race weekend. At Saturday a Cup race in Karksi-Nuia, Estonia, and the next Sunday a race for the Latvian championship in Stelpe. We stopped for the night in Viljandi about 35 km from Karksi-Nuia.
Saturday morning a soft sand track waited us with a lot of up and down hills. The weather was very good, sunny and warm. There were 19 entries and our training time was 17th. For us it was the first time riding at this track and I needed time to learn it's layout. With all those up and down hills it was difficult to orientate in the training session.
First heat with 18 sidecars and a narrow first corner followed by a jump, a chicane and an even narrower turn resulted in a stop and go rhythm. Unfortunately our Husaberg engine didn't like this and just stalled before the second corner, dead last thus. We passed one team but that was the only highlight during this heat, 15th place.
Second heat the same start and the engine stalled again. This time nobody to see anymore and lonely we did our laps until the first doubled us, 15th place again. Riding was going better during the second heat even when considering that the track had gotten very demanding with some deep ruts at the softer parts.
Together with the team of Jani Aronen/Arto Mantila, 2nd and 3rd good for second total, we started for Latvia. In Valmiera we stopped to have a hot meal and then we continued to Kekava for our hotel. The next morning the sun was up early and it was clear that it would be a very warm day. In fact, 34 degrees at noon and when it was our turn for the first heat the thermometer showed 36 degrees Celsius!
Stelpe is a fast track with a lot of jumps made from clay and sand. We have been here before and with 17 entries we had the twelfth time in the training. But with motorsport you can never be sure and 2 teams improved their lap times in the final minutes and we dropped 2 places.
Our start wasn't very good in the first heat, our direct line was through very soft soil and due to our training time at the wrong side of the gate. The first laps we had some nice racing but the sharp holes and the 36 degrees took their toll and we did loose some places and finished last, 16th.
We almost passed a team also struggling with the heat but we lacked 0,265 seconds ;-). The track was very demanding not only because of the many jumps but also the hard and sharp holes everywhere. Jani Aronen/Arto Mantila scored 2 second places and again in total the second place.
Both teams stopped in Kekava for a meal and continued back to Tallinn. Altogether it was a nice weekend, not for the results directly but riding was nice and we scored points in all heats. This doesn't say we didn't had any technical problems, the front suspension started to leak in Estonia and after the second finish in Stelpe a radiator hose was punctured. There's some problem with the carburator we have to solve yet. We washed the bike this evening and found some other broken parts on the bike, work enough again for this week.
Regards, Stephan
Route 3-6.6.2011
Results Karksi-Nuia (kv = sidecars)
Results Stelpe (b/v = sidecars)
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