Ducati Club Races - Assen

This was our third visit to "The Cathedral of motorcycle racing" for the annual Ducati Club Races, the largest club race meeting in Europe.
   We had entered the Euro singles class which caters for road based European singles, but inevitably the majority were Ducati's. There are two qualifying sessions on Saturday with the race on Sunday afternoon. The qualifying mixes all the classic classes so in our group there were Euro twins and ONK classics (GP type machines)
Q1 was a little damp. Andy was running in a new big end so was taking things steadily, Stu, however was straight on the pace and was fastest of the Euro singles

 

Q2 was completely dry and Andy was now happy to use full revs

After Q2  the results showed we were both on the front row, Andy 2nd and Stu 3rd between a 450 Ducati on pole and a 350 Ducati in 4th

We were were a little confused about the pole sitter as he was listed as a 350, he was later disqualified for using the wrong transponder.
 We both decided that we needed to alter our gearing for the race, Stu gearing lower, Andy. higher.

Sunday brought perfect weather for the race and being front row we had the unexpected luxury of brolly girls (a first for both of us)

We have both spent a lot of time practicing our starts as we believe they are critical in short races. The shots below show that it has paid off but the power of the 450 meant he still beat us to the first corner (just)

The gearing changes we made proved critical. Stu's lap times were 3 seconds quicker than practice but Andy had gone the wrong way and was 3 seconds slower.

 l

The race was going well Stu was comfortably second behind the 450 ( remember he was later disqualified), Andy was battling with a 350 and a Seeley Gold star for 3rd.
Now the really embarrassing bit..,  lap 4 and Stu's bike started to misfire, the classic novice error - not enough fuel !
In the end Andy finished 4th overall and by far the leading 250.

 And another one for the trophy cabinet

Overall another excellent weekend at Assen, despite the fuel cock up.
We would like to thank all at Ducati Club Netherland for putting on a splendid meeting and special thanks to Ad Kievit, at Wegrace ( http://www.wegraceinfo.nl/) for providing the superb photo's
See you all next year