Sachsenring IDM

On the 19th of May Yamaha Deutschland and I arrived at the Sachsenring circuit for the 4th round of the German Superbike Championship. After Jorg Teuchert’s huge highside in the first race of the previous event, his bike had been completely rebuilt and was race ready again.

So when reports of a burning crashed bike, together with a missing Jorg coincided, my heart sank. Luckily Jorg was ok, however the bike was a mess. So for free practice three we elected to use the spare bike, which regretfully Jorg promptly crashed. That night the team worked until 2:30am repairing both bikes so that on Saturday Jorg was able to qualify 5th. Not a great position but we knew we had two strengths that would help in the race. Firstly Jorg is really good on the startline, so we were fairly sure of entering turn one in the top three. Secondly Jorg had tested at the track after the Oschersleben race and found that the left side of the front tyre was wearing badly. Based on this information Dunlop were able to respond with some tyres developed especially for the track. Pirelli on the other hand did not and after 15 laps of the 20 lap race the tyres were badly worn and 2 seconds off the pace.

In race one Jorg started well and completed the first lap in 2nd, while Bauer stretched a commanding lead. This lead peaked at around 9 seconds at 10 laps then Jorg put in some great laps and took the lap record on lap 17. By which time Bauer’s Pirellis were wrecked and Jorg was able to pass him 2 laps before the end.

Race two was much the same as race one except Bauer’s lead was lost when he crashed out of the race. This left Jorg in the lead ahead of Andy Meklau. The race was then red flagged after a crash, and the bikes returned to the pit. Normally in this situation the tyres are changed for new ones, however Jorg decided not to. Then during the sighting lap he ran through the gravel trap. Luckily the dunlop’s coped very well with the abuse and Jorg claimed another victory.

The double win allowed Teuchert to take 30 points out of Bauer’s championship lead and gives him back the second place in the championship that he lost after the double DNF in the Nurburgring. The gap is now 40 points with 8 races left. So another double win at the Salzburgring on the 6th of July is the plan.

Isle of Man Senior TT

After the disastrous Nurburgring IDM round, I was pleased to get back to the Isle of Man and forget about it. Whilst I’d been away the team had replaced the injured James McBride with Micheal Dunlop, son of Robert Dunlop, who was tragically killed at the northwest 200 just 2 weeks earlier. When I arrived on the Tuesday Micheal had already raced in the superbike race and finished 14th. With this result under his belt he was looking for a top ten in the Senior TT.

On Wednesday afternoon the roads were closed, and the competitors took to the circuit for a few practice laps. Micheal completed two laps on the bike and felt happy with the softer rear spring we were evaluating. the bike was then prepared for the race, which included fitting an on board camera for the press.

Micheal’s start number for the race was 19, meaning he started 19th on the road. after one lap he was in 12th position and after two routine fuel and rear tyre stops, Dunlop finished the 6 lap race in 10th. This it has to be said is a great result considering he missed practice week.

Phase One’s season has so far been an on going saga of crashes, riders giving up and more crashes. The TT was no different, as one of the planned riders McBride, crashed his own bike and needed replacing. Then Jimmy Moore decided he didn’t want to race because he found he was thinking about his family and couldn’t go fast. However this turn of events was dealt with, and the team came away with 5 finshes from 5 starts, which was better than most of the top teams.

The next World Endurance event is the Suzuka 8hrs which is the best event of the year in my opinion. It is held on the 27th of July.

Nurburgring IDM

On the 29th of May the Yamaha Deutschland team arrived at the Nurburgring for the 3rd round of the German Superbike championship, or IDM as its known in the trade. After finishing 2nd in the first 4 races we were hoping to get a win. To assist us in our goal we had saved some weight on the bike, by removing the starter motor and fitting some new lighter components.

Changeable conditions in qualifying saw us 5th on the grid which was not ideal, but we were confident of a good result. Jorg got a great start in race one and reached the first corner in first place, then the race was red flagged because of an incident behind him. The restart again saw Jorg get a great start, and this time he was second. After several laps Jorg moved past Bauer to take the lead for a few laps before being passed back. A little later in the race Jorg highsided, exiting the last chicane. The crash was quite heavy, but Jorg was fit to ride in the second race. The bike was however a little worse for wear, and it was decided to use the spare bike in the second race.

The second race started well, with Jorg again reaching 2nd place, however after several laps Jorg was forced to retire with engine problems.

It has to be said that with two DNFs, the Nurburbring weekend was for me, one to forget.

However on the otherside of the garage NIna Prinz, had an excellent weekend taking her Yamaha Deutschland R1 to 8th in the first race and 16th in the 2nd race.

Jorg is now 4th in the championship with 80 points, and Bauer is leading with 150 points. 6 wins from 6 races is quite an achievement for Bauer, but there is still time left in the championship to equal or beat his score. The Sachsenring runs from the 20th to 22nd of June.

Isle Of Man TT Practice Week

Almost everyone in bike racing has heard of the Isle of Man TT, however I for one had never been before. So when Phase One were invited to run two bikes there I was keen to attend. My rider for the duration was James McBride who had unexpectedly raced at Le Mans earlier in the year after the episode with the frenchman.

The first practice session went well, with McBride completing one lap on my bike, and another 1 or two on his own supersport and superstock machines. The debrief highlighted a few differences in bike requirements at the TT, including softer springs and damping, much higher screen, seat pads, tank grips, etc.

With the bike modifications achieved McBride completed two laps on my bike in the Monday evening session, one on his supersport bike and just managed to get out to start a final lap on his superstock bike before pit lane closed.  Another 20 minutes later, and most of the field had returned to the paddock and James, being the last man out was due back any second.  A few minutes later and the pit lane gate was shut, meaning there were no bikes on track. After enquiring at the race office we were told James had been involved in an accident at Gorse Lee, a 5th gear corner not far into the 37 mile lap, and had been airlifted to hospital.

During the van ride to the hospital very little was said, but I’m sure very similar thoughts were in the minds of team manager Russell Benney, James’ regular mechanic Ady, and I. After a short wait at the hospital we were informed that James had broken his ribs, arm, and shoulder. Which to us was excellent news as it meant that he was alive and his injuries were not critical.

Before I left on the Wednesday after the crash James was due to come off the intensive care ward and was making great progress. Therefore the team were concerned with finding a replacement rider.

On Wednesday I flew to Germany to prepare for the IDM race at the Nurburgring

Oschersleben IDM

From the 16th to 18th of May, Yamaha Deutschland were at the East German circuit of Oschersleben. Also present at the race was Micheal Schumacher, an up and coming motorcycle racer and former car specialist.

Other aspects of the meeting remain hazy, since for the last 3 and a half weeks I’ve been on a bit of a racing binge. What I do know is free practice and qualifying were often interupted by rain, leading to us entering the first race having not been able to test some of the new tyres Dunlop had developed. This meant we chose a tried and tested compound that we were pretty sure would last the race. This theory served us well as Jorg finished 2nd from his 3rd place on the grid. However the rear tyre was clearly wrecked and a plan was hatched to run a slightly different pressure in the 2nd race to help the tyre last.

The second race was much like the first, with Bauer again taking the win, as he has done all year, and Jorg taking 2nd, as he has done all year. This finishing order was by then wearing a little thin, and by shedding some weight and upping engine power via some technical development in the workshop, we hoped to get ahead of Bauer.

After unloading the truck at MGM’s north German workshop, I was on my way to the Isle Of Man where I was to work with Phase One in their first TT attempt.