The second sector was a really hard part to crack with the long series of five right handers after the Omega Curve. Not easy... Of course the quick right hander at the top of the hill was great to ride, but I felt it was not as great as Turkey because there you had some positive loading on the suspension whereas at the Sachsenring you were actually going over the top of a hill. Slipstreaming people through there was good fun though! Friday afternoon was another building, learning session but it left me a little puzzled as I just could not work out how some people were passing me and just disappearing. Very frustrating... but in the end I was not far off Krummenacher and Laesser who really know their way around here from the German Championship races they’ve done.
Saturday was much better as I really found my feet after we changed the bike a bit. I also found that hanging back and then chasing down riders, using them as a target, was a really good way of getting into the track and getting the times down. Good target practice that. In final qualifying I set a good time but slowed up a little which was a mistake as the core temperature of the tyre just went and I couldn’t get it back. 14th was certainly not bad though and we were happy to be less than 0.1secs off Thomas Luthi, the reigning world champion.
Race day brought great weather with perfect clear skies, but surprisingly cool and refreshing in the shadows. Thank goodness the humidity had not returned from Thursday… We were the third warm up as the 125s were again the last race of the day, but that was again good as watching the other races on the box gave me a chance to see where people were passing, falling or whatever.
But when the lights going green, it all went wrong as I plummeted from 14th to 27th by the exit of turn one. Arrgh! I had not done any practice starts all weekend as I’d plainly forgotten to do them on the in laps and that was my fault and no-one else’s... and now it was biting me back. Nonetheless I just got on with the job and cut through them. Any gap, and little chance, any opening and there was an orange and blue bike in the hole. And it was mine. Get out of the way... all of you... I now have discovered there are more passing places on a 125 around Sachsenring than you’d imagine!
At the end of the first lap I was 21st and soon on the tail of the group that went from 16th to 9th position. I was passing people well at the bottom of the hill on the inside and outside line, but nearly got caught out once when I was close to going down, but as always it all came down to the last lap... I had to pass Talmacsi and Cortese. Gadea would have been fun too!
