German Endurance requires each rider to use his own machine, leaving only a fast change of transponder at each pit stop. It’s a good idea I reckon, as it’s a cheap way for people to go racing, without having to have all the ‘quick change’ equipment, fuelling dramas, or problems with some dropkick who trashes your bike 3laps into the race, only to never been seen again…
So, after talking with Mandy the only solution was to use a ‘Demo’ model R1 from the shop, as he told me I had more chance of getting him to “slam his dick in a car door” than I had of using the YART R1. Keeping in mind I was only using the race as a way of practicing, I decided to give it a go.
The German Endurance Championship runs alongside another championship, the German R1 cup series. I had no real knowledge of the R1 series, but after practice that changed. The free practice for the Endurance Race was also the qualifying for the R1 cup race, and after getting surprisingly comfortable on the stock bike I came in to check the time sheets. I was on pole.
Dirk and the boys were all pretty excited and convinced me to do the race as well. So that afternoon, with a new set of Pirelli slicks, I lined up to start the race.
I got a pretty good start but was out dragged to the first turn and got pushed back to 3rd. I was pretty aggressive in the opening laps and soon I was leading. I was slowly pulling away when I saw that an Ambulance was driving towards a fallen rider. It was former WEC rider Michael Roth, who’d bitten the dirt pretty hard.
With no yellow flags or anything warning me of the carnage ahead, I figured I’d better keep a close eye on this Ambulance that I was rapidly approaching. Good thing I did, when it pulled onto the circuit directly in front of me. A quick emergency swerve was the only thing that saved me crashing directly up it‘s ass. I then turned to give the driver the universal ‘dickhead’ signal.
The race continued on trouble free and I gapped the field and held the lead to the last lap, when suddenly the bike lost power and sounded ratily and loud. I rode on until the bike stopped 3 turns later. I was spewing. I thought “I’ve just blown up a Standard R1 on the last lap of a 12lap race, you gotta be jokin“… It was no joke. It was rat shit.
So I returned to the pits on the back of the pick-up truck, but was told I’d still won the race as the guy with the chequered flag must have been taking a piss when I went past and he missed me. So, some small justice was done and a made it home by the skin of my teeth. I was a lot happier then.
Problem now was that my bike was cactus, and we didn’t even have any spares let alone another engine. I decided to go home. I picked up my trophy and packed the van, when Dirk came to me and said “I know another guy with an R1. I could go and get it and it’d be ready for tomorrow. What do you think?” It didn’t take long to answer him with “Sure, let’s do it mate.”
So Dirk was off, and when I arrived in the morning Mick (OBI Projecteam Mechanic) had already got it all prepared. I was stoked to see it was in mint condition with about 2,500ks on the clock. Lovely.
I missed final qualifying for the Endurance race while we made the final checks over the thing, but had it all ready by Warm Up and discovered it was even a little bit faster than the first R1. Sweet.
Huby (my OBI Team mate for the Endurance Race) really wanted to start the Endurance race, as he liked the idea of the LeMans style start, so I planned to run 2nd and got everything I was going to need ready for the start.
I climbed the pit wall with Dirk to watch the start and saw Huby get away cleanly, although a little way back in about 7th. We waited for the 2minutes or so it took them come around again when we saw them roar onto the straight to start the first flying lap. Then I saw Huby dive up the inside of 2 guys on the brakes going into turn one as he disappeared out of sight…. Then I saw dust, bits of blue fairing flying through the air and yellow flags. Shit.
It was Huby. He’d lost the front going into turn one, which is pretty fast, and the bike took a bit of a bashing. It looked like it had been through a crusher. The race was over.
"What are you gunna tell Mum?"
Luckily he was ok, and the boys and I started to get his bike back into shape in the hope of making the 2nd R1 cup race the next day. By morning we were both ready for the final R1 cup race and lined up in shape.
This race went much more to plan for me, as I got a great start, built a lead in the first half of the race, then just maintained the gap to the finish. It was great to win the second race after all the work the boys did to get me a 2nd bike ready in time. They were pretty pleased.
So all in all, the weekend turned out to be a good one and I had a real load of laughs with the OBI Projecteam boys.
A week later I found myself at the other end of Austria in Salzburg, teaching a high performance school with the Austrian Police Force.
Teaching Race Schools was something I’ve been doing for a while, but the course with the Cops required some different methods and exercises to give them skills they could use on the road. Although the guys got wet with some rain after lunch, the school went really well and they all improved a lot. It was also nice getting some return on the money I’ve spent on speeding fines over the years… Whilst there a cameraman was shooting video that will be used on Police Training DVD. They got loads of film, including some high speed wheel stands, that they will use in the DVD. Not that that type of riding is encouraged by the police…
A few days later I spent a good part of 6hours getting the first instalment of my new sponsorship deal with Die Buntmacherei…. A new Tattoo. It’s coming along nicely, although there’s still a way to go before it’s finished. I’ll be keeping it under wraps until the job is finished, at which time the pics will be released to various outlets. I can say it’s looking pretty cool though, and the artwork of Thomas Tanzer is fantastic. Anyone who is considering getting some ink done should take my advice and see this guy. He’s unreal.
After recovering from my 1st stage of Tattooing, it was back to Pannoniaring for a Yamaha R Day which the YART squad are required to attend. I spent the day riding a new R6 road bike around, until I saw some Supermoto going on at the specially enclosed Supermoto course. I went over to take a look and noticed the Team Yamaha squad were all set up with current Austrian Champ Hanson Schruf doing laps. He sure knew what he was doing and after watching him go around I started getting itchy feet, wanting to have a go myself.
Supermoto is something I’ve done before and with my Dirt Bike background it’s something I’ve been pretty good at. I went over to the guys and got chatting when I heard the magic words “Do you want to have a go on my spare bike?” Ding Ding Ding. “Does Oprah Winfrey like French fries?”
About 15seconds later I was out on Hanson’s spare YZ450F getting to grips with the beast.
And it really was a beast. Loads more horsepower than I had with my YZ450F last year, slipper clutch and full Brembo Brakes so powerful they could stop Elton John at a Vogue Clearance Sale.
I was getting faster and faster each lap, slowly getting comfortable on the thing when I suddenly snotted myself. I came into a 3rd gear right hander, backing it in under brakes when I used the clutch slightly to bring the bike back into line. The second I touched the lever, the revs died and the bike completely stalled putting my into an 80kph skid. The thought of laying it down and scratching the shit out of the Austrian Champs bike urged me to try and save it at all costs, but soon I knew I was so sideways that it was only going to end in one way. A high side. That’s what I did. A mother high side that sent me into an aerial double somersault twist in a pike position.
I hit the ground hard, but trying to avoid as much embarrasment as possible, I jumped to my feet and picked up the bike as if I’d meant to do it. Luckily the bike didn’t have a mark on it, as the steel bark busters had kept the bike off the ground in the crash. It was just my wrist that began hurting. I didn’t think it was broken, as I’ve come to know with pretty good accuracy whether I’ve broken something or not now, but it was right in the scaphoid zone and it was getting sorer and sorer by the second. I did a few embarrassing “goodbyes” and “Sorry mates” then jumped in the car and headed to Mandy’s place.
"If it's broken I'll kill you"
As you can imagine he was very impressed, and took me up to the hospital for some X-rays. I sat in the waiting room praying that the evil ‘Scaphoid’ word wouldn’t come to bite me. Luckily it didn’t and the injury was just an aggrevation of an old fracture from some years ago, with a fresh old slap to go with it. Thank God.
So it’s been a week or so since then, and the wrist although still sore, is definitely on the mend and shouldn’t give me any problems for my next race in Japan.
Will be sure to report again soon with an update before I set off to Suzuka.
Ciao for now,
Damo.
