RoSBK 2009 Round 6, Pannoniaring, September 29th
The first time on a racetrack other than Serres! Whenever I asked which should be the next track I should go to in order to improve my riding, everybody suggested Pannoniaring. This advice combined with the fact that Motoevolution was organizing a new training session on Pannonia determined me to be present, together with my teammate Mihai Matei, at this round of the Romanian Superbike Championship.
The trip to Pannoniaring was a very long one, as we faced some traffic jams on the Budapest ringroad. We arrived late in the evening but Roland was waiting for us at the riding school's box. We took the bikes off the trailer and immediately started some theoretical lessons, followed by the suspension adjustment.
My objective for this session were to learn the Pannoniaring track, to obtain a best lap time which would allow me to be in the beginner's race (although I was not planning to actually take part in that race) and to participate to the endurance race.
The next day we met at the track where I was surprised to find out that we were only three students: myself, Mihai and Vlad Marin. Moreover, we had a second instructor - Ionut Manea - which was trained by Roland to become an instructor, too.
The training went on in the manner we already were familiar with, but because the group was not very homogenous, I found myself occasionally pushing a little harder than I was prepared at that time. This is the reason why I went out of the track for a couple of times, the first without consequences, but the second followed by a crash in the gravel. I was fine, but the bike needed minor repairings (the fairings were broken, but some PowerTape - the racer's best friend - helped me fix them so I could continue the session).
Sunday was the races day and our training group registered for the endurance race as team "House24you". Roland explained us the strategy to adopt for a good start in an endurance race, strategy transfered into practice by my teammate Mihai. We started the race from the 28th position (Endurance qualification results - team "House 24you" ). I took the last shift and I entered in the race only two times, because the race ended prematurely with a red flag. The best lap (2:15:617) of the team belonged to Vlad and we finished the race after 81 laps on the 26th place (Endurance race results - team "House 24you" ).
My best lap during the week-end was 2:23:958, positioning me on the place no. 141 in the general standings after the qualifying sessions.
Except for the minor crash that I suffered, I achieved all my objectives for this round.
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