IRTA
- Jerez
1.
Losail
2. Jerez
3. Istanbul
4. Shanghai
5. Le
Mans
6. Mugello
7.
Catalunya
8.
Donington
9.
Assen
10. Sachsenring
11.
Laguna Seca
12. Brno
13. Misano
14. Estoril
15. Motegi
16. Phillip Island
17. Sepang
18. Valencia
|
  |
News 29/07/07
Round 9. Dutch
: Assen
Seby scores a Hat-Trick after taking
his
third victory in a row, this time at Assen, the famous
cathedral of motor racing. Skider and CrazyBoy complete the podium.
Welcome to
the cathedral of racing!
Seby took
victory at the A-STYLE TT Assen on Sunday to extend his unbeaten record
at Assen to 2 years. Seby has won after a fierce battle to the end with
Skider, once again forcing his archrival to settle for second place, in
another exciting race and a classic battle of the giants race.
Seby’s win was also his third in succession, the longest winning run by
a Yamaha rider in the history of motorcycle racing.
Vouks started the race in pole position and took the early lead with
Seby following in second and Skider in third. Vouks continued to lead
until lap 5, with Seby close behind and Skider cutting the gap with a
succession of fastest laps. As much as Vouks tried, he was unable to
hold the lead and both Seby and Skider overtook, turning the race into
a classic battle of the giants. The Greek ended the race on another
blow after he fell on braking, seconds after Seby and Skider overtook.
Vouks is now all but out of the chase for the runner-up spot after
crashing heavily with five laps remaining of today’s race and dropping
to a massive 53 points behind Seby in the championship.
One lap after Vouks fell, Skider missed a braking point and went wide,
allowing Seby to built a three seconds advantage with four laps to go.
Skider put in a couple of fast laps to gain two seconds on Seby but the
Romanian managed to keep his head down and passed the finish line
first, only 0.814 of a second advantage.
A late charge from CrazyBoy saw Suzuki celebrating at the end of a
difficult weekend, putting three Suzukis into the top four. The
Spaniard riding alone today in the absence of his injured team-mate
Jarvis_Co and coming through to snatch the final podium position from
team-mate Thunder with a draft pass at the finish line.
Whilst Bradders relegated Yvos to sixth place in today’s race with an
aggressive pass just one lap from the end, the British rider also moved
ahead of Jake and LuKe in the championship and now lies 21st. Yvos was
forced to settle for sixth position after an impressive start to the
race that saw him take an early forth-place lead. Yamaha rider Jake
finished in seventh position ahead of Kawasaki Racing Team rider SFW in
eighth.
French pair and archrivals Maxou and Gaz&Slide completed the top
ten respectively.
Skider now leads the championship by only 9 points to Seby, with a
total of 220 points and a massive 62-point advantage over Vouks.
The Assen race was not accident free. Vouks dramatically crashed out in
the first half along with SFW. Other riders to crash out included down
and LuKe.
Seby Lords Of
Shadow (winner, 15:50.810):
"Thanks guys!
Believe me, I'm more surprised to be the winner here than all the rest
of the guys...
I've won this race and now I have 2 wins and a 2nd place at Assen in 4
years which is fantastic, I'll be the man to beat at Assen (the
cathedral of racing!) next year too.
Well this race has been much harder for me than Catalunya and
Donington. At the start of the practice sessions I didn't have a good
feeling with the front tyre, I fell too many times on the brakes. I
think Michelin has played a trick on me this time.
I knew from practice that Vouks and Skider were fast and since I didn't
have a good feeling with the bike I was hoping for a podium finish. I
just wanted to finish the race without major mistakes or worse, a fall.
I wanted the Pole Position because I had 3 poles in a row at Assen, in
2004 & 2005 & 2006. I did some practice with soft tyres but the
feeling was worse than with soft-med (race tyres). I did a lap in 33.7
and I didn't push for more because the race was more important, I
needed more laps with race tyres. In official qualifying I saw Vouks
was very fast, when he did that 33.3 I was like 'OMFG WTF' lol. Skider
did 33.8 and in one way I was happy because he didn't recover time in
the Qual Award. Before the official race I thought Vouks was going to
escape and win the race by a big difference so I told Skider 'don't let
Vouks escape because we won't catch him later'. I didn't know that
Vouks wasn't so fast with race tyres as he was with softs so I was kind
of scared. The race begun, Vouks went ahead and I was fighting with
Skider right from the first corner. After 1 lap Vouks was almost 1
second in front of us but he didn't manage to escape, that gap remained
until lap 5. Until lap 5 Skider tried to put pressure on me, he didn't
pass me when he had the chance, he prefered to stay behind me and show
me his front wheel. I guess he was hoping I would make mistakes or fall
so he can get more points in the standings (mofo). I didn't make major
mistakes and step by step we cought Vouks, in lap 4 I started to show
him my front tyre. In lap 5 I passed him on the straight then he came
back in the first corner. On this track I used different braking lines
from all the rest of the guys because I brake with keyboard and if I
took the perfect line I risked to fall so I had to stay inside corners
while I braked. That means I could brake later but also have a slower
acceleration than them. This was the case in that 5th lap, on the back
straight I was side by side with Vouks but I always stay inside and
brake later there so that was the point where I managed to pass him. In
the same moment, when Vouks saw my pass on the brakes he went a little
on the left side (the corner was on the right side) so he can have a
better acceleration coming out of that corner but he touched the
ripples/kerb and he fell. In the same place SFW fell in his race.
After I passed Vouks I didn't know he fell, I just kept my head down
and finished that lap, then I looked back and I didn't see either of
them so I though 'where the hell did they both go?'
Few corners later I looked back and I saw skider at about 3 seconds
behind me. I knew something must'of happend, Vouks probably fell and
Skid made a mistake.
There were 4 laps to go and I had a 3 seconds advantage, thats when the
stress appeared, my hands and foot (I accelerate with a pedal) were
shaking but thanks to those many many laps of practice I managed to
stay on the bike without major mistakes, just few small ones in the
chicane. In the last lap I saw 1.2 advantage over Skider so I said
'it's all over now, I can relax a bit' so I took it easy in the last
lap and crossed the line 0.8 in front of Skider.
I told Vouks after the race 'it's better to be slower and not to be
stressed than to be very fast but also stressed.' I think this was the
case in this race.
In the past Skider used to beat me in the last laps because I've always
been very stressed but now I found the solution. I do many many laps of
practice and I try to built a state of mind where I can do the same lap
times even if I think of something else. This way in official races I
try to think of something else than gp500 and I won't be thinking about
the standings and races etc so no stress. I also try to focus only on
the next corner and not about lap times, standings etc.
Now I'm only 9 points behind Skider in the standings but I still don't
think about the title. My objective for this season has not changed. I
only want more victories and poles this season, I don't think about the
title. At the start of the season I wanted to be vice-champion and now
I'm 53 points ahead of Vouks so my goal is 90% done. If things will
become even better in the next races then maybe I'll change my goal but
for now I'm happy with what I've done so far and I'll be calm in races,
without too much stress.
Congratulations and thanks to all the participants, mostly to CrazyBoy,
Bradders, Yvos, Jake, TT98, Chriss, Matt46 and Schintilla for their
best results so far this season.
Even after beating Skider 3 times in a row, I can still say 'Skider is
a better rider than Seby'."
Skider Oasics
NoGrip Racing Team (2nd, 15:51.624):
"Congratulations Seby, you are the man in shape right now!
I'm so glad to see my brother and team mate right behind me in the
race, improving their performance race to race, good job mates, 3
suzukis in the top4 is exciting for me! and I'm sad about the riders
who fell during the race, sometimes it happens.
The race was exactly as Seby said but I want to explain my feelings
during that race:
We all did a good start, with Vouks in front, Seby and I. The first lap
was very smooth, everybody right behind the rider in front, but a
couple of corners later Vouks opened a little bit gap between us, we
knew that he had the fastest pace in the race so I just wanted to stay
behind the leader trying to follow him as much as I could, lucky or
unlucky, Vouks couldn't escape from us so I was 3rd all the time
watching the action with 'some relaxation'. Few laps after Seby took
the lead and tried to escape, I wanted to pass Vouks quickly but It was
unnecessary because he fell entering the new chicane, bad luck mate.
After that incident, I closed down the gap to Seby and I 'relaxed' a
little bit, just wanted to be right behind him but... I made a mistake
entering the last chicane going into the gravel and loosing some
seconds (like Melandri in 2004) and I thought 'damn I've lost the race
now'. After that, I tried to close down the gap again to lose less
points possible but I could've ride without taking too much risks
because my 2nd place was sure looking at the race results. Anyway, I
didn't fall and that's the most important.
PS Seby, the best rider is the one who crosses the line first so you
don't have to say those lies. Three wins in a row is not by chance. I
know perfectly you can beat everyone if you want, it's just a question
of practice.
See you all at Sachsenring, good luck!"
Bradders
Yamaha England MotoGP (5th, 16:04.301):
"Wow 5th!
I was hoping for a top 10 at best but never expected quite that high! I
know I was a bit lucky with others crashing but I'm still pleased with
+13 seconds to Seby (well done by the way, got a nice run going
there!). Also needed the B-class win, haven't got one in a while.
Also, I should thank rezist, I've been using his setups all year and he
deserves a mention, cheers mate!
Well done to Jake too, 2nd-4th in the B-class has really closed up now.
And for the first time us two brought in the points for Yamaha England!
Right, I'm going away for a few weeks, see you at Laguna!"
Yvos Arkos
Froggy's Connection (6th, 16:04.539):
"GG Seby!.... Skider, what are u doing?
GG Crazyboy too, nice podium !
I'm happy for that unexpected 6th place: my race was far from perfect,
I was 5 secs slower than in practice, but well, this new track was a
trap for usual top guys héhé.
Well done Bradders who took the opportunity for best result ever!
Half season completed, I stand 20 points behind Dolz...hmmm...
Vouks!!! wake up m8!"
SFW Kawasaki
Racing (8th, 16:07.731):
"Congratulation to Seby with this great win and also well done to
Skider with that strong preformance. I guess the most happy rider after
the finish line is CrazyBoy, wd m8 your first podium and I'm sure it
will leave you hungry for more...
My own race wasn't that good, I raced with Thunder, down and
Gaz&Slide. down went off track on first corner and Thunder got the
best start, after half a lap I realized that Thunder is on soft tyres
and decided to keep up with him on first few laps and then make my move
but on 2nd lap I touched the kerb while braking on the back straight
and lost the front and crashed. After I've picked up my bike I had good
fun chasing Gaz&slide and had a nice duel with him till the end.
In general my team has dome pretty bad and we have to work harder to
please our superiors and fans."
TT98 VLT
Racing TT98 Design (12th, 16:10.154):
"Finally back on the podium after a couple of races, I'm very happy
with my result, I never expected it to be this high up in the rankings
but after all it's my home race. I've settled myself in the thought
that Bradders is beating me this year as this result shows... Very well
done Bradds and well done to Jake, atleast I've beaten one Yamaha UK
bike (Dolz).
Though I didn't win IIm satisfied with the result I have today there
wasn't much more in it for me, I could of done 3 seconds better during
the race but well tough luck!"
Vouks MotoGP
Greece Racing Team (16th, 16:15.992):
"Hi all...
GG again Seby very good last 3 races!
GG to Grazyboy for podium and also to new boys in top places.
Dolz-Yvos = 6-3 and a new statistic.
See you all in Germany"
rezist Rezist
Racing Yamaha Team (32nd, 17:29.584):
"Whoa this championship is really heating up now!!!
Well, I'm basically a spectator! lol
Well done Seby, nice Hat-Trick out of nowhere and the gap is only 9
pts!!!
Still, it is only halfway through the season...
Well done also to TT98 in his home GP, finishing ahead of Dolz! bravo
and a good bag of points.
My results speak for themselves lol especially the hotlap in the
race... I chose a dud setup for the race which I hadn't tested, because
I didn't practice, no time...but at least I turned up lol"
With this third consecutive victory,
Seby managed to escape from Vouks
in the Rider Standings and also to reduce the gap to 9 points to Skider
who is leading with 220 points. Vouks is third, a massive 62 points
behind Skider. Guishermo is 4th with 146 points and SFW 5th with 131
points.
Oasics NoGrip Racing is still first in the Team Standings with a total
of 343 points but only 17 points ahead of Lords Of Shadow and a masive
137 points in front of MotoGP Greece Racing Team. Hurricane Miu Racing
and Nitram Racing complete the top 5.
Thanks to Seby's 3nd victory in a row, Yamaha extended the lead over
Suzuki to 15 points in the Constructors' Standings.
Moriwaki is 3rd, 84 points behind Yamaha with Kawasaki and Honda 4th
and 5th.
In the Qualifying Award, Seby extended his lead over Skider to 1.048,
while Vouks reduced the gap to Seby to 1.246 after taking Pole Position
today.
In the Hot Lap Award Skider extended his lead to 1.567 over Seby after
another Hot Lap today. Vouks is third, a little more than 2 seconds
behind Skider.
Skider is also the leader of the Total Time Award, with Seby second as
he reduced the gap to only two seconds after today's victory at the TT
Assen. Vouks lies third, more than one minute behind the leading pair.
Join us in one week's time for the MotoGP500online Grand Prix of
Germany at Sachsenring.
Report by Seby
|
|
|
|
