RoSBK 2012 Round 1, Serres, March 25th
The first round of the 2012 edition of the Dunlop Romanian Superbike Championship came with two presents: one free testing day for the pilots who registered for the championship and four days with excelent weather conditions in Serres, Greece. The team (Dan Demetrescu, Ionut Pasere, Adi Teodorescu, Dan Tudorache, Cristi Andrei and myself) increased as a few more members joined us, amongst them being Virgil Marin and Sabin Zabarcencu.
During the first test day I only entered the track twice, being able to do a best lap in 1:34.462, about one and a half seconds slower than my best lap of the previous session on the Serres Racing Circuit. I was feeling so tired that I didn't even stay on the track the whole 20 minutes of each training session.
The second day of this round was dressed in black because of an israelian pilot - Yaniv Kitlaro - who crossed the finish line one last time. During the morning session, before the tragical accident, I was able to do a best lap time of 1:34:462. In the afternoon, with the moral affected by the events, I could not improve my laptime.
Saturday was the qualification day and in the first session I made my fastest lap, with a lap time of 1:33.082, almost matching my best performance on this track. This qualifying time placed me on the 10th positon on the starting grid.
Unfortunately, Adi's engine blown during the last qualifying session of the SSP class, making impossible for him the participation to the next day race.
Sunday, before the races, we paid our respect by keeping a minute of silence in the memory of Yaniv Kitlaro.
The first race of the day was the C class fun race combined with the Ladys' Cup won by Radu Somesan and Cristina Udrescu, respectively.
The second race was supposed to be the 600 GP Racer Cup (B class 600 cc), but an incident at the race start - Mitica Calagiu used too much throttle at the start and his bike made an uncontrollable wheelie and dropped on the start line causing an oily mess - forced the organizers to postpone both Rookie races (600 and 1000 cc).
The next race was the 600 cc (A class), won (as usually) by Ionel Pascota. My teammates finished in the following order: Ionut Pasere - 8th; Dan Demetrescu - 10th; Virgil Marin - 13th and Dan Tudorache - 15th. Adi Teodorescu did not start because of a technical problem.
The A class 1000cc race had to be stopped after 5 laps because of an incident which involved Catalin Cazacu and Stefan Popescu, the latter suffering a hand fracture. After the restart and the remaining laps, the first romanian who crossed the finish line was Ionut Mistode, on the third place. The next race was the postponed 600 GP Racer Cup was also marked by an incident during the last lap, which made possible for my teammate Cristi Andrei to finish on the 3rd position.
Finally, the last race of the day was my race, the 1000 GP Racer Cup. I started on the 10th position, but because I don't master the art of race start, I was passed by five or more riders. Luckily enough, the rider on the 9th position, Petar Todorov, stalled the engine at the start. If he would have had a good start, I wouldn't have been able to pass him, probably. Anyway, during the race I passed a lot of riders (I outbraked two at the end of the main straight, one on the straight line, one in the second corner and the last one just before the finish line, in the last lap). I finished on the 9th position, beeing the third romanian rider. The final results are here. During the race, I improved my best lap time (even if I wasn't expecting this) with over 1.5 seconds, now beeing at 1:31.343.
As I registered for the championship, I also received 11 points, beeing currently on the 5th position.
During the first test day I only entered the track twice, being able to do a best lap in 1:34.462, about one and a half seconds slower than my best lap of the previous session on the Serres Racing Circuit. I was feeling so tired that I didn't even stay on the track the whole 20 minutes of each training session.The second day of this round was dressed in black because of an israelian pilot - Yaniv Kitlaro - who crossed the finish line one last time. During the morning session, before the tragical accident, I was able to do a best lap time of 1:34:462. In the afternoon, with the moral affected by the events, I could not improve my laptime.
Saturday was the qualification day and in the first session I made my fastest lap, with a lap time of 1:33.082, almost matching my best performance on this track. This qualifying time placed me on the 10th positon on the starting grid.
Unfortunately, Adi's engine blown during the last qualifying session of the SSP class, making impossible for him the participation to the next day race.
Sunday, before the races, we paid our respect by keeping a minute of silence in the memory of Yaniv Kitlaro.
The first race of the day was the C class fun race combined with the Ladys' Cup won by Radu Somesan and Cristina Udrescu, respectively.
The second race was supposed to be the 600 GP Racer Cup (B class 600 cc), but an incident at the race start - Mitica Calagiu used too much throttle at the start and his bike made an uncontrollable wheelie and dropped on the start line causing an oily mess - forced the organizers to postpone both Rookie races (600 and 1000 cc).
The next race was the 600 cc (A class), won (as usually) by Ionel Pascota. My teammates finished in the following order: Ionut Pasere - 8th; Dan Demetrescu - 10th; Virgil Marin - 13th and Dan Tudorache - 15th. Adi Teodorescu did not start because of a technical problem.
The A class 1000cc race had to be stopped after 5 laps because of an incident which involved Catalin Cazacu and Stefan Popescu, the latter suffering a hand fracture. After the restart and the remaining laps, the first romanian who crossed the finish line was Ionut Mistode, on the third place. The next race was the postponed 600 GP Racer Cup was also marked by an incident during the last lap, which made possible for my teammate Cristi Andrei to finish on the 3rd position.
Finally, the last race of the day was my race, the 1000 GP Racer Cup. I started on the 10th position, but because I don't master the art of race start, I was passed by five or more riders. Luckily enough, the rider on the 9th position, Petar Todorov, stalled the engine at the start. If he would have had a good start, I wouldn't have been able to pass him, probably. Anyway, during the race I passed a lot of riders (I outbraked two at the end of the main straight, one on the straight line, one in the second corner and the last one just before the finish line, in the last lap). I finished on the 9th position, beeing the third romanian rider. The final results are here. During the race, I improved my best lap time (even if I wasn't expecting this) with over 1.5 seconds, now beeing at 1:31.343.As I registered for the championship, I also received 11 points, beeing currently on the 5th position.
Posted by: Dan Eugen Albu, at 2012-03-27
There are no comments!You must be registered to vote or post comments.You must be registered to post an article.
