2011 Seasons conclusion

Hi all,

it's a long time since I've updated our blog but that didn't mean we've only been sitting on the sofa all that time. First the results of the 2011 season:

Finnish championship 5th position
Estonian championship 15th position
Estonian cup 12th position
Latvian championship 15th position
Latvian championship Veteran class 3rd position

All together we participated at 22 races including two world championship events. At the start of the season we had some technical problems and missed too many points there. We listed what went wrong and with the implemented improvements and better preparations for next season our goal is not only to finish all the races but also to improve our results.

2012 we'll be riding together again for an other season. Mikael has been training with driving the sidecar by himself but needs more time on the bike before he can participate in races. What did we do those 3 months? First we took 2 weekends off, did sleep long in the weekends and just be lazy (yes on the sofa). The intensive season of 22 races in 5 months was feeling mentally and fysically, not to mention financially.

Then we picked up training again and during these sessions we tested some changes to the carburetor. Mikael started to drive with his friend Marko. Well first I made many laps with Marko to get him used at the job as a passenger and then I swapped my role and was passenger for Mikael. I've never been so many laps doing that job and it's not easy to move quickly and ligth as a feather from side to side. Then after a while Mikael and Marko started to drive together.

I also tried the left hand sidecar of Jani  and Arto but that was unbelievable difficult to ride. Everything felt wrong, only one lap and quickly back to the paddock. Our training sessions ended at some moment when the gearbox started to give problems. The weather was getting worse and the clubs started to close the tracks. For this reason Mikael and Marko weren't able to spend more time with driving the sidecar. We decided to take the sidecar apart because the frame needed to be fixed and I also wanted to have some changes made. The rocks and stones had badly damaged the tubes under the engine and the left feet rest isn't much better. A new paint job and it's ready for the new season again. All in all the AYR frame has been very reliable during the season.

December the 9th I took the ferry to Tallinn and brougth first the frame to Are Kaurit, AYR manufacturer, to get it ready for next season. From there I continued to meet an Estonian team, Ivanov/Jalas and together we travelled to Latvia for the price ceremony of the Latvian championship. We had very bad weather during our trip and it took longer then expexted. The price ceremony was in Vecumnieki near Stelpe.

The Latvian federation had organized a big happening and there was a very relaxed atmosphere.
Unfortunately Mikael became ill the day before and had to miss all the fun.

For the moment we're waiting for the frame to be ready and are looking for rebuilding one engine to have a longer stroke. This is one of the changes we must make to be more competitive next season.

Untill the next post I would like to thank especially our sponsors for their support and hope they will stay on board and continue with helping us to achieve our goals next season.

Best regards,

Stephan