Venray 31/7-1/8 2004
I just say:
Hell of a weekend!!!
I've come out of races with better results but I have NEVER had more fun on a bike than this weekend. The track of Venray is simply the best there is out there for Supermotard racing. It's wide, really wide all the way around. It has some really fast parts mixed with parts where slow hairpins follow each other and then again sends you out into a highspeed corner where you climb up to 5'th gear aproxing 140km/h. After one of those extremely fast corners where you have your footpeg to the ground for 4-5 seconds you hit a 25-35m jump sending you into the mx-part of the track. After those 3 seconds airborn you land with the throttle put to "Max Power". You continue to accelerate over a highspeed jump and then have to brake down to a stillstand hairpin and directly shoot out from that one to build up speed for a hairy following acceleration back to the tarmac. The last thing you do is jump a tabletop landing out on the tarmac from 4 meters up if overspeeding the slightest hitting that jump. You directly have to make a 140 deg left and a 90 right after this and that is plain scary with dirty tires.
But FUN it is. Nothing beats overtaking by actually doing just that. You can actually OVER take slower riders here by jumping over them.
Well, I just had to write off some of my admiration for this track wich I will never miss a race on again if possible.
Actually the first time I was on Venray was 2000 working for Bertrand as a mechanich in the EC Supermotard and I already then decided to at some point in my life race that track. Now the Championship in Holland took me there and it was with a mixed feeling I came. Was my hopes set too high?
Looking back I'd say that they surely were not.
Leaving home this time we did so with both the race van and the car as we after the race were going to Sweden for our vacation. With us were our cats who had been trained to take the noise that can only be produced by tuned thumpers with Domas etc mounted during some of my training sessions lately but what would happen on a track? I had been in Venray before so my plan was to set up camp as far down as possible in the huge paddock to be as alone as possible. Lines to make sure they didn't run to he horizon as soon as we came there was bought so we were quite sure we would still have 2 cats after the weekend but in what shape would they be?
The bike was in superb shape as far as I knew and my Richa had just come back from the factory after some reparations so it felt quite ok I must say. On top of that I came to Venray as leader in the championship, second really but Ruben Sebrechts who I trailed 4 points was not coming for this race as he had to go to a race in Belgium.
We came to the paddock at around midnight and set up camp on the edge of the big field that formed the paddock and tied up the cats. I just sat down taking in the calm for a while and then went to bed.
The day after I changed a footpeg that was torn and got my bike through the technical and was ready to race.
Sara who natrually was with me still suffered quite badly from a twisted foot and a broken toe still after 2 weeks and got a "Disabeled" sticker to put on our RV 50 so she could drive around the track area even though they for some reason had a ban for such veichels. I walked the track in amasement as it looked even better than I remembered. The mx-part especially with it's huge jumps.
This weekend was organized as a double race over two days so on saturday was a free practise, a qualification and the first race. On sunday was a qualification and 3 races. Race 1 and 2 counted as one race day and race 3 and 4 as a complete different one.
As I entered the track for the free practise I took it easy to start with. For half a lap that is, then I couldn't old back any more. It was 25 degrees and the tires were warm almost directly so why wait. One lap later I was as happy as I've ever been and just hoped it would never end. Ah, the 60m slide into the hairpin after start/finnish, the highspeed corners, the marvelous jumps. I just "Ahhh'd" all the way around every lap. Well, with the odd "Ooops" in the first right hand corner after the mx. There was a problem with my rear tire that was gonna prove to be a bit of a nag but still I didn't know what that was. I just saw that a lot of the other riders shared my problem but strangely not all. Anyway, back at the truck I had acomplished what a training is for and knew the track and wich lines to take. I had tried out where my best overtaking chances where and where my weaknesses were as well. And I knew that there was a big chance of me having an incident in the right hand corner that I told you about. Sooner or later I was probably gonna crash there if I pushed it. What was the problem? Coming out from the mx there were first a very sharp left thet went directly over into a not very sharp right on hard acceleration leading to a very hard braking into a 90 right? The first easy right was the problem. I almost got thrown off the bike there a few times and enjoyed no grip what so ever there. Everywere else it was perfect. Strange? I backed off the bike a bit and watched my rear. Off cource! After checking some other guys tires that I knew had good or bad grip I was sure. The problem was that I had cut my rear as I usually do. Two cuts lenghthwise all around the tire and then across them every 10 cm or so. In the first fast right the bike was exactly on that cut and almost no rubber had contact with the ground. All the mud/durt that was in that cut after the mx had however full acces to tarmac showing me a big red light saying "Highsider Warning" every lap. Fuck! The slick that was on was new and I had no other that was not cut the same. The qualifications was also coming up so I just had to do my best as it was and later try to solve this little problem. The qualification went well. Noone except Smits that is very vary fast outran me what I could see and I had plain fun enjoying every minute of track time I was offered. Checking the lists I was on a slightly disapointing 7'th spot on the grid for the race but it was tight. 3 tenths of a second faster and I would have been 3'rd.
I used the time coming up to the race to try to find another tire but there was only Maxxis and Michelin there selling new tires and I wanted Dunlop new or a good used one to cut myself. Time went and I decided to race the first heat with my "old" one.
Race 1:
Warm, 30 degrees outside and all the riders in the Parc Ferme' were sweating like pigs already before we entered the track. I had already consumed something like 8 liters of water that day + a few power drinks and I now knew that we needed to go shopping or I would surely dehydrate the day after as more than hlaf of our water reserves already was gone. But first things first.
Warmup lap, grid, red flag away, changing blod to adrenaline, aim the Husaberg for the first corner and hit "FIRE". I took some places going into that corner but lost a few coming up and into the next. I came out from the mx as 7'th just as I started. I survived the brutal powerslide in the slight right and got on the brakes for the 90 right with my front glued to the rear tire of the guy in front of me. He lost his front and sat down on his ass doing a hundred. I didn't fully apreciate the prospects of getting blood on my bike or seeing some poor guy beeing brought to the ambulance with my tiremarks over his neck so I braked for all I had and tried to avoid him. I missed him with what can have been nothing more than 2 cm and went off. Bike stalled. Bike started and off I was dead last, well dead second last as the guy that almost got killed by Dunlop still sat on his ass probably wondering why he didn't have a saddle under him and a steer in his hands. I took aim on the guy in front of me and started to play. I always play the best when annoyed and I took the guys that was possible but I had lost half a lap to the first 5-7 guys even before 1 lap was finnished. I ended up 10th. Not overly happy about the incident but at least I knew that I could run fast on this track. The faster parts of the tarmac was mine and my Bergs and the braking into the hairpin revarded me with 10 meters to the guy in front of me every lap who ever it was. Braking into the hairpin on the mx lost me some time and especially the acceleration out from it. The guys with a solid mx background handels corners like that so beautiful that I almost shiver when I see it sometimes. Most riders were really beat up after this and that gave me some hope for the following day because I wanted to go again already 10 minutes after the race but I had to wait. That afternoon we went for more water and some car snacks for the ride to Sweden the day after. The evening was spent checking the bike, having a nice BBQ and loosing to Sara in chess. The cats held out magnificently and that was a nice surprise. The little one, Slide, played as she was home and the big one, Pepsi, just slept all through the weekend.
The morning after I decided enough was enough and went to Michelin for a new tire, I've ridden Michelins a few times but only liked their fronts but this time I tried one of their new Supermoto tires rear already cut. It's a mix of medium and soft rubber and the cut seemed as a much better idea than mine so why not.
For the new qualification everything worked fine. I enjoyed tons of more grip on the tarmac part but much less on the gravel as the factory cut Michelin is cut with tiny cuts to suit all tracks. On dirt or sand you have to cut the cuts a bit wider. The problem with the tons of more grip I got in my new rear was that in front it was still the same. In the braking for the 90 right after the mx I was much faster and my front didn't like that. On the last lap I did the same as a guy did in front of me the day before, I lost the front and sat on the tarmac doing 100km/h +. When I stopped I threw myself to the bike, got the throttle and got the bike up before it stalled and went for the paddock as 6th. Again a bit of a pity but ok.I hurt my knee a bit and got a bit soar here and there but nothing I couldn't live with.
Race 2:
The next race I got HELL of a start and went throuh the first corner as 5'th, took one guy in the first highspeed and another guy in the 35m jump just after it and was third. Coming back into the tarmac we got redflagged as some riders had made a false start, I almost broke my hand against the handle as I hit it in anger. Something nice though, I had now cut my rear wider and had much better grip in the acceleration on the mx. The next start I was 6-7'th after a lap and hunted for all I was worth until I layed the bike down going over the wall in the hairpin on the gravel. Lost 5-6 positions and got a few back. Ended up 9'th.
Race 3:
Most of the guys were getting quite tired now, mostly the slower ones but one or two of the faster ones as well. It was really warm, around 30 deg and waiting to get out on the track was not so pleasant. In the 3'rd race my start was not so good but I fought back a few positions. Then I lost a few after a small mistake but took those backa again. I just love the fighting itself. 10th.
Race 4:
Pretty much the same. But a really nice fight with two riders all the way through. 7'th.
After all this I almost cried when I thought of the fact that I probably can't ride this lovely lovely track again until next year. We packed up everything and started to look for a nearby farmer to see if someone would let us park the truck for 12 days until we came back from Sweden. Otherwise we had to make a 500km detour just to go home and park it. That proved to be no problems what so ever so there is a farmer outside Venray with an Iveco truck in wich a monster lives on his yard. He will recieve something nice from Sweden next week for his kindness. The cats btw is NOT in the truck, they are with us in Sweden. Didn't particulary like the ride but enjoy chasing rabbits at my fathers house.
Now I am in Stockholm sitting in a friends apartement writing this but I will be back for Peruwelz in Belgium next weekend...
Daniel...
www.supermotard-racing.com
(sign guestbook so we know you´ve been there)
I just say:
Hell of a weekend!!!
I've come out of races with better results but I have NEVER had more fun on a bike than this weekend. The track of Venray is simply the best there is out there for Supermotard racing. It's wide, really wide all the way around. It has some really fast parts mixed with parts where slow hairpins follow each other and then again sends you out into a highspeed corner where you climb up to 5'th gear aproxing 140km/h. After one of those extremely fast corners where you have your footpeg to the ground for 4-5 seconds you hit a 25-35m jump sending you into the mx-part of the track. After those 3 seconds airborn you land with the throttle put to "Max Power". You continue to accelerate over a highspeed jump and then have to brake down to a stillstand hairpin and directly shoot out from that one to build up speed for a hairy following acceleration back to the tarmac. The last thing you do is jump a tabletop landing out on the tarmac from 4 meters up if overspeeding the slightest hitting that jump. You directly have to make a 140 deg left and a 90 right after this and that is plain scary with dirty tires.
But FUN it is. Nothing beats overtaking by actually doing just that. You can actually OVER take slower riders here by jumping over them.
Well, I just had to write off some of my admiration for this track wich I will never miss a race on again if possible.
Actually the first time I was on Venray was 2000 working for Bertrand as a mechanich in the EC Supermotard and I already then decided to at some point in my life race that track. Now the Championship in Holland took me there and it was with a mixed feeling I came. Was my hopes set too high?
Looking back I'd say that they surely were not.
Leaving home this time we did so with both the race van and the car as we after the race were going to Sweden for our vacation. With us were our cats who had been trained to take the noise that can only be produced by tuned thumpers with Domas etc mounted during some of my training sessions lately but what would happen on a track? I had been in Venray before so my plan was to set up camp as far down as possible in the huge paddock to be as alone as possible. Lines to make sure they didn't run to he horizon as soon as we came there was bought so we were quite sure we would still have 2 cats after the weekend but in what shape would they be?
The bike was in superb shape as far as I knew and my Richa had just come back from the factory after some reparations so it felt quite ok I must say. On top of that I came to Venray as leader in the championship, second really but Ruben Sebrechts who I trailed 4 points was not coming for this race as he had to go to a race in Belgium.
We came to the paddock at around midnight and set up camp on the edge of the big field that formed the paddock and tied up the cats. I just sat down taking in the calm for a while and then went to bed.
The day after I changed a footpeg that was torn and got my bike through the technical and was ready to race.
Sara who natrually was with me still suffered quite badly from a twisted foot and a broken toe still after 2 weeks and got a "Disabeled" sticker to put on our RV 50 so she could drive around the track area even though they for some reason had a ban for such veichels. I walked the track in amasement as it looked even better than I remembered. The mx-part especially with it's huge jumps.
This weekend was organized as a double race over two days so on saturday was a free practise, a qualification and the first race. On sunday was a qualification and 3 races. Race 1 and 2 counted as one race day and race 3 and 4 as a complete different one.
As I entered the track for the free practise I took it easy to start with. For half a lap that is, then I couldn't old back any more. It was 25 degrees and the tires were warm almost directly so why wait. One lap later I was as happy as I've ever been and just hoped it would never end. Ah, the 60m slide into the hairpin after start/finnish, the highspeed corners, the marvelous jumps. I just "Ahhh'd" all the way around every lap. Well, with the odd "Ooops" in the first right hand corner after the mx. There was a problem with my rear tire that was gonna prove to be a bit of a nag but still I didn't know what that was. I just saw that a lot of the other riders shared my problem but strangely not all. Anyway, back at the truck I had acomplished what a training is for and knew the track and wich lines to take. I had tried out where my best overtaking chances where and where my weaknesses were as well. And I knew that there was a big chance of me having an incident in the right hand corner that I told you about. Sooner or later I was probably gonna crash there if I pushed it. What was the problem? Coming out from the mx there were first a very sharp left thet went directly over into a not very sharp right on hard acceleration leading to a very hard braking into a 90 right? The first easy right was the problem. I almost got thrown off the bike there a few times and enjoyed no grip what so ever there. Everywere else it was perfect. Strange? I backed off the bike a bit and watched my rear. Off cource! After checking some other guys tires that I knew had good or bad grip I was sure. The problem was that I had cut my rear as I usually do. Two cuts lenghthwise all around the tire and then across them every 10 cm or so. In the first fast right the bike was exactly on that cut and almost no rubber had contact with the ground. All the mud/durt that was in that cut after the mx had however full acces to tarmac showing me a big red light saying "Highsider Warning" every lap. Fuck! The slick that was on was new and I had no other that was not cut the same. The qualifications was also coming up so I just had to do my best as it was and later try to solve this little problem. The qualification went well. Noone except Smits that is very vary fast outran me what I could see and I had plain fun enjoying every minute of track time I was offered. Checking the lists I was on a slightly disapointing 7'th spot on the grid for the race but it was tight. 3 tenths of a second faster and I would have been 3'rd.
I used the time coming up to the race to try to find another tire but there was only Maxxis and Michelin there selling new tires and I wanted Dunlop new or a good used one to cut myself. Time went and I decided to race the first heat with my "old" one.
Race 1:
Warm, 30 degrees outside and all the riders in the Parc Ferme' were sweating like pigs already before we entered the track. I had already consumed something like 8 liters of water that day + a few power drinks and I now knew that we needed to go shopping or I would surely dehydrate the day after as more than hlaf of our water reserves already was gone. But first things first.
Warmup lap, grid, red flag away, changing blod to adrenaline, aim the Husaberg for the first corner and hit "FIRE". I took some places going into that corner but lost a few coming up and into the next. I came out from the mx as 7'th just as I started. I survived the brutal powerslide in the slight right and got on the brakes for the 90 right with my front glued to the rear tire of the guy in front of me. He lost his front and sat down on his ass doing a hundred. I didn't fully apreciate the prospects of getting blood on my bike or seeing some poor guy beeing brought to the ambulance with my tiremarks over his neck so I braked for all I had and tried to avoid him. I missed him with what can have been nothing more than 2 cm and went off. Bike stalled. Bike started and off I was dead last, well dead second last as the guy that almost got killed by Dunlop still sat on his ass probably wondering why he didn't have a saddle under him and a steer in his hands. I took aim on the guy in front of me and started to play. I always play the best when annoyed and I took the guys that was possible but I had lost half a lap to the first 5-7 guys even before 1 lap was finnished. I ended up 10th. Not overly happy about the incident but at least I knew that I could run fast on this track. The faster parts of the tarmac was mine and my Bergs and the braking into the hairpin revarded me with 10 meters to the guy in front of me every lap who ever it was. Braking into the hairpin on the mx lost me some time and especially the acceleration out from it. The guys with a solid mx background handels corners like that so beautiful that I almost shiver when I see it sometimes. Most riders were really beat up after this and that gave me some hope for the following day because I wanted to go again already 10 minutes after the race but I had to wait. That afternoon we went for more water and some car snacks for the ride to Sweden the day after. The evening was spent checking the bike, having a nice BBQ and loosing to Sara in chess. The cats held out magnificently and that was a nice surprise. The little one, Slide, played as she was home and the big one, Pepsi, just slept all through the weekend.
The morning after I decided enough was enough and went to Michelin for a new tire, I've ridden Michelins a few times but only liked their fronts but this time I tried one of their new Supermoto tires rear already cut. It's a mix of medium and soft rubber and the cut seemed as a much better idea than mine so why not.
For the new qualification everything worked fine. I enjoyed tons of more grip on the tarmac part but much less on the gravel as the factory cut Michelin is cut with tiny cuts to suit all tracks. On dirt or sand you have to cut the cuts a bit wider. The problem with the tons of more grip I got in my new rear was that in front it was still the same. In the braking for the 90 right after the mx I was much faster and my front didn't like that. On the last lap I did the same as a guy did in front of me the day before, I lost the front and sat on the tarmac doing 100km/h +. When I stopped I threw myself to the bike, got the throttle and got the bike up before it stalled and went for the paddock as 6th. Again a bit of a pity but ok.I hurt my knee a bit and got a bit soar here and there but nothing I couldn't live with.
Race 2:
The next race I got HELL of a start and went throuh the first corner as 5'th, took one guy in the first highspeed and another guy in the 35m jump just after it and was third. Coming back into the tarmac we got redflagged as some riders had made a false start, I almost broke my hand against the handle as I hit it in anger. Something nice though, I had now cut my rear wider and had much better grip in the acceleration on the mx. The next start I was 6-7'th after a lap and hunted for all I was worth until I layed the bike down going over the wall in the hairpin on the gravel. Lost 5-6 positions and got a few back. Ended up 9'th.
Race 3:
Most of the guys were getting quite tired now, mostly the slower ones but one or two of the faster ones as well. It was really warm, around 30 deg and waiting to get out on the track was not so pleasant. In the 3'rd race my start was not so good but I fought back a few positions. Then I lost a few after a small mistake but took those backa again. I just love the fighting itself. 10th.
Race 4:
Pretty much the same. But a really nice fight with two riders all the way through. 7'th.
After all this I almost cried when I thought of the fact that I probably can't ride this lovely lovely track again until next year. We packed up everything and started to look for a nearby farmer to see if someone would let us park the truck for 12 days until we came back from Sweden. Otherwise we had to make a 500km detour just to go home and park it. That proved to be no problems what so ever so there is a farmer outside Venray with an Iveco truck in wich a monster lives on his yard. He will recieve something nice from Sweden next week for his kindness. The cats btw is NOT in the truck, they are with us in Sweden. Didn't particulary like the ride but enjoy chasing rabbits at my fathers house.
Now I am in Stockholm sitting in a friends apartement writing this but I will be back for Peruwelz in Belgium next weekend...
Daniel...
www.supermotard-racing.com
(sign guestbook so we know you´ve been there)
