Hello again,
a double race weekend with at Saturday already the third round for the Estonian championship in Türi. With Panu joining us for this trip we took the Friday evening ferry to Tallinn and stayed for the night in an holiday resort in Aegviidu. The next morning only a short ride to the Kihli motocross track near Türi.
Already during practice we noticed that the modifications of the rear shock didn't work out as expected and after practice we borrowed again a rear shock from Lehtinen/Hietala. It's not easy to get the correct settings, we have the idea but the realization of it is an other thing.
Only 15 teams entered this event and with the rear shock not in order we ended up at the last position.
The weather had changed dramatically and it looked like we got compensated for the long winter with temperatures about 28 degrees Celsius. Nice for a barbecue but in my opinion absolutely not suited for sidecar motocross.
At the start of the first heat we had the last pick at the gate and that means outer most with the longest distance to the first corner. When also a team almost crashed in front of us we ended up in the back of the pack. We were not able to keep in contact with the other teams and drove our own laps at the last position till the finish.
Heat number 2 was mostly a copy of race 1. The other teams were faster and we couldn't really keep up with them. The track was rough with sharp holes and edges and in combination with the hot weather not easy for me. But we finished both heats and got our points for the trouble of it.
After the race and the sidecar cleaned we travelled together with team Lehtinen/Hietala via Viljandi, where we had dinner, to Antsla near the Latvian border for the night. During the trip it we had heavy rain showers and thunder. I would have liked a rain shower during the day to cool things down a little!
The next morning we arrived in Ape with one of the most beautiful but also technical track of the series. Situated on a ridge many long climbs and steep down hills in combination with a soft compound. Not much room for mistakes.
18 teams arrived and we noticed that many teams had skipped Türi and showed up here in Ape. Of the veteran class we were the only team that had participated in Türi. And it was hot again, this time even 32 degrees Celsius. After practice we had the 14th position. Things looked a little better than the day before. For Lehtinen/Hietala practice ended with a blocking engine after some laps and they had to call it a day.
We had the outer most position at the gate but still managed to grab many places during the first corners. About 7th position after the first turns and then the faster teams started to pass. If a race was only 2-3 corners long...
The toll for racing a second day in this hot weather started to burden me, 14th position at the finish.
For the second heat our start was not as good and we found ourselves back at the tail. Already during the first lap I started to wonder about the behaviour of our sidecar. It was difficult to keep in line and I had many looks at Mikael if he was still there where he should be. Riding was a struggle and we couldn't do much more than finish the race. Back at the paddock the problem became clear, the sidecar's tire had a puncture and was flat as a pancake. Mikael had felled how the sidecar wheel had collided with a large stone half buried in the track halfway the first lap. Probably that had caused the puncture.
The good thing is that we finished again and didn't even get stuck at one of the climbs ;-). After 10 heats in 5 races we also have 10 results. Only the gap between us and the nearest competitors should be closed.
After the finish we packed everything quickly and drove to Riga's airport to drop Mikael for his flight back to Helsinki. There was an electrical problem with the van's temperature sensor and with reduced engine power Panu and I returned the next day to Tallinn. We had a stop in Pärnu for lunch and playing tourists for a few hours.
Regards,
Stephan
Trip Google maps: http://goo.gl/maps/LOAEd
Results Tûri (kv = sidecars): http://www.mylaps.com/en/events/898918
Results Ape (bv = sidecars): http://www.mylaps.com/en/events/899495
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