Peruwelz... 040815
I'll try to keep it short this time, again.
For Peruwelz I did'nt have any time to prepaire really as we went to Venray 2 weeks earlier and then direct to Sweden for the time in between races. Our truck was left at a farm outside Venray and picked up thursday on our way back. We went home, slept and packed for the race. Bike was not even out of the van since Venray. Luckily though, nothing was the matter with it so normally I should have a weekend with no bike problems, as usually really. A nagging thing with my gearbox was the exception. 4'th gear doesn't work properly even though no mechanical flaws exists in the bike that I can find. Maybe the selector or the star, gonna check that before next weekend and the race in the championship in Holland.
Entering the paddock in Peruwelz it's obvious that it's already full. This was at 9.30 friday evening. During friday night and saturday 2 other sights were opened as paddocks but I wanted to stay with the gang, of course. Joost, Hans, Koen, Jo, Rube, Hannu, Harmen, Tom, Yves were all staying close to each other and I got squeezed in besides Joost. The adventures of the weekend could start...
Friday night turned into a rain-storm. I just had time to blind-walk the track in the dark before the skies opened. Now, I have raced in Peruwelz before. I was there in 2002 riding prestiege and actually got 3 points for the effort but now the track had moved to another location. The old track was ran on a mix of streets and bicycle roads and was not so good. This at first sight did'nt look so good either, fast like hell but not so good. I was to be proven wrong. The track was really fun to ride as it was.
The track layout was much as another race I attended in Holland in juni, all around an industrial zone. Both long sides broken by a small gravel "chicane", well one on dirt and one on grass. The grass part was the first after the start/finish and started with a drop of 150cm or so down to the grass. The grass continiued for 100m or so and then the 150cm bank formed a jump throwing us back up on the street again at 40kmh or so. Then the second longest straight wich took the Husaberg flat out on 5'th at aprox 145kmh I'd say. This ended with the entry to the real mx-part of the track, a 110 degree left. Nice slide into this one and a overtaking opportunity for those with horsepowers and/or late braking nerves. The mx started directly with a 90 left followed by a 10m straight. Then a really tricky 90 right on hard, hard dirt. Here you needed to directly build up speed for the jump or much time would be lost. For me the time loosing corner of the track compaired to a lot of guys. The jump was not a big one but quite technical if taken to the left where you had to take it if you as me are not that good at going around the inner line on this kinds of corners. After the jump we climbed a big pile of dirt that smelled like old diapers. On the top of this pile of probably old shit it directly turned 45 left. Overspeed here and you would land far outside the track. Coming through this alive we were back out on the tarmac for a brief visit and then into the last off road "chicane" that threw us out onto the long straight. Close to 160kmh into a 120 left wich you could take at maximum 30kmh. 4 gears down in a 60m slide, niiice. Actually, let's say that again:
Niiice...
We now went through the only speedcorner on the track, a 90 right taken on 3rd at aprox 70kmh. Coming back to the start/finish the last thing we had to do was a hairpin that was a bit tricky. 2m on dirt in a very narrow line. The acceleration out on the start/finish was a long powerslide normally as dirt were all over the place.
So, now when you guys who were not there have a mental picture over the battle field we can continiue.
Friday night. We went to bed early, listened to the furious rain all night and hoped for better weather. If not the dirt sections would be murder for me as I am not a good deep mud rider. I woke up to a dead quiet paddock at 6.30 but couldn't sleep anymore so I went up. The weather was unstabil with very dark, low clouds but no rain anymore. Actually there didn't fall anymore rain that weekend at all but that was not what that mornings sky promised. I ran the track two laps to get my restless body to settle a bit and the track was wet but drying up already. At least a bit. The dirt sections were muddy but not so bad.
I made my decision there and then. Slick/slick already from start. Why?
Well, a fact that most people don't know even after a few years in the sport is that you use raintires for wet asphalt not wet (or dry) dirt sections. In the offroads a well cut slick gives you more grip normally than any raintire. I saw already that the tarmac was drying so I went for it even though I knew the offroad would be wet for some hours to come. The chance in this was that if it started to rain mid session I would have a problem. However, the second fact of the day was that there where only one corner on the track on tarmac wich you took at over 30kmh so even if it got a bit wet slicks wouldn't loose me as much as on most other tracks. Back in the paddoc people was waking up and most riders first course of action was to ask everyone they met wich tires they were gonna use. The consensus of the paddoc was rain/rain. I had at least 10 people coming to me saying that I were gonna die if I persisted with my idiotic choise of tires. Yves did the same as me, mostly to get out of the tiresome work of changing tires at this ungodly hour I think.
In the parc fermee we were looked at as outcasts trying to get back into society after a 15 year boose/drug round down town. People looking first at the tires then smiling and making a few comments about it to their neighbour who did the same. The track was still a tiny bit wet on the tarmac straights, the grass was wet and the dirt sections were 5cm deep heavy mud, not loose. I was confident I had the right shoes on my Berg. After the last moped, eh 450, was off the track the lines were dry and we were let out on the track to time practise. This was to decide the grid for the semi. It took me 4 laps to get temperature in my tires I guess only a half for the rest of the bunch on rains. After 4 laps the glue in my slicks were ready to use and I started to ride. After the first fast lap I was 5'th! Ok, good. Lets go for glory. 4'th. Again, 4'th. And again. That continiued for a few laps until I got a 7 on the board. Sgrumpf! I knew I had a bit more in me but the last 2 attempts I made I got blocked and had to settle for 7'th. Still, it was ok. It's a fast bunch of riders here in Belgium but of course I want to do better than that. However after my continious disasters in the Belgian championship this year it felt good to have a fighting chanse at least. In Holland I've had much more luck and haven't been involved in so many crashes but Belgium is my home turf as it is so it would be nice do well here. In Holland they have almost as fast riders as in Belgium but the top segment is much much smaller. There I fight for podiums and in Belgium I'm glad for top 8, at least so far. I'm not putting in 10h/week training for nothing I hope.
My time was 1.18.6... Best time 1.16.8... 1.18.2 had been enough for 4'th.
For the semi I kept my setup as the bike behaved nicely. The only big problem was that I was still on my f****ing silver line Brembo brake cylinder as I did'nt have had the chance to pick up the parts for my Beringer after coming from Sweden. In Venray it was not ok, but ridable. Here it was hard to the edge of dangerous. Going into the 60m slide after the long straight with this pump was hard, hard work. The amount of hand power it took to brake the bike was really exhausting. And that already on the time prectise when you didn't have to ride on top every lap and with the stress of the race. This made me brake early after all the highspeed sections loosing time. Not much to do about that. Ride and have fun.
Semifinal:
I started in second line. Hans was in the line behind me. I made a bad start, he made a good one. Damn, damn. I lost a lot of places the first 20 seconds and had to start to really fight so I wouldn't loose contact with the riders I knew I could take. As fast as possible I started to get rid of the slower riders that had passed me so I as soon as possible could get back in contact with the faster ones. One guy proved to be a problem though as he had a fast 525 and was fast on the mx. Difficult to pass him on the straights as the entry to both straights were from mx were he were a bit faster than me. On tarmac I was much faster however. It took me 4 laps to pass him after a fast run in the highspeed on the tarmac and a furiously late braking into the hairpin entering start/finish. I had lost too much time with this guy but made a push to try to catch up with the rest of the field not quite managing to do it. Finished 6 seconds clear on 9'th 2 seconds after the 8'th guy. I was not overly happy but it was the first semi final this year in wich I hadn't crashed so at least I had a position to fight for points this time around. 9'th giving me the 18'th spot in the first final to work from.
Now, the disasters stared. Not for me for once but for some of the other guys. Hans had blown the engine in my semi and was out, Tom crashed and was out, Yves crashed but went to the repechage were he crashed again I think. Anyway he was out too. A real pity as this guy is getting fast. In the consolidation he lead but lost a few places due to outbraking himself. (Have it on video ) If he would have carried the same speed in the semi without crashing as he did in the consolidation I'm sure he would have qualified. Jo was out also after a crash in the semi I think, he's aways the glad guy in the paddock however and had nice fights in the repechage and consolidation.
Worst I felt for Hans though as a bike braking down is always the worst way of ending a race. He reasoned that the bike had never broken before during two years and sooner or later something has to happen. 2 hours later he was drunk as a skunk and had a nice saturday evening followed by a less nice sunday morning I suspect. Sunday he was checking the races out cheering everyone he knew that was racing wich is most of the guys.
So left of us were:
Me, Harmen, Koen, Joost (nice going man) and Ruben in the moped-class (450). Sad that so many was out but the support around the track was better as more friends and their girlfriends were out there cheering the following day for the finals. That really helps btw, you don't want to loose a position in front of someone ceering you on and if they are here and there around the track it keeps you even a bit more on the edge.
Evening was spent drinking a beer or two, eating some barbequed potatoes with some barbequed animals parts, smoking a few cigarillos (I didn't inhale!!!) and mingle with friends. Fiorentino came buy cursing about the (actually) 19th engine he shot this year at the prestiege practise. In short a nice mix of old friends and new ones.
The day of the finals started for me with checking the bike again. Re-cutting the tires a bit and going to the race, nothing more to it. First race at 10.30 second at 16.30 time in between I had planned for watching nice racing. 50cc supermotard, Prestiege, 125, quads etc is all fun to watch.
The first race started for me reasonably, lost a place or two but got them back quite fastly. A few laps into the race I missed badly in the right on the mx and lost something like 4-5 places and spent the rest of the race fighting those back + a few more. Ended 14'th. A bit disapointing as I knew I could do better than that but still I got points. Finally. My laptime was down to low 1.15's but there were more in me. The problem with the brake cylinder were now getting to be real bad however. The further into the race I got the more power I needed to use and the less I had over. Laptimes dropped a bit as I had to start braking earlier. What to do?
Tom! He was still there and were gonna stay to watch all the races so I asked him if I could borrow his Beringer pump. That I could. After having ridden second race with that I truly know what the difference is on a given day and track. Thanx a million man...
We watched the totally insane shootout between Bertrand, Fiorentino and Debroux in the Prestiege 650 after I had mounted his pump and bleeded the system for air. Bertrand won, and even though I traveled Europe with him for some years as his mechanic I'm still in awe over how beautiful this guy rides. Poetic! A nice and well earned victory it was.
My second race:
This time I started from 14'th and was one line further ahead and this time the start was good. Finnished first lap as 8'th and was in a furious fight for 7'th for awhile until I missed again on the right in the mx and lost contact. The group behind me got in contact with me however and after one of them that was faster than me had passed I lost one or two more in the hairpin out on start/finish after going wide. One of those guys I overtook on the mx the same lap after my problem corner where I had started to use the line of Godfroid that I watched earlier in the Prestiege 450. He only took half the corner and then went to the banking. The problem with the bad jump on the left he solved by taking the jump outside the track more or less and now so did I. Brugnetti was passed in the air there, nice. Another guy highsided in front of me on the grass and I made a one hand wheelie over the finish line as 8'th. Very nice race and for me finally a good result. My time best time was now 1.13.3. My right arm was in good condition after the race and I now could brake much later with better accuracy. I'll never leave home without my Beringer again. If your dealer don't sell them go to www.bike-design.be . More Beringer to the people...
I went home with new hope for the races in Belgium and are now gonna attend Chimay wich was on my maybe list before as it collided with something else that I should do. Not anymore.
Daniel
www.supermotard-racing.com (site will be updated with stuff from Venray, the best track in the world, and Peruwelz asap) Visit and sign guestbook.
Thanx to:
Joramo Your Husky/KTM/Husa problem solver. There isn't a more service minded guy out there.
www.BikeParts.be EVERYTHING concerning bikes will be fixed. Supermotard? No problem.
www.Bike-Design.be Wide range of top of the line stuff for racing and street. I particulary love their rebuilding stuff for Streetfighters as I'm a stunt-junkie.
Putoline A big thanx for the super quality oil, brakefluid, chainspray and cleaning products.
My Princess EVERYTHING gets fixed, but only for me.
I'll try to keep it short this time, again.
For Peruwelz I did'nt have any time to prepaire really as we went to Venray 2 weeks earlier and then direct to Sweden for the time in between races. Our truck was left at a farm outside Venray and picked up thursday on our way back. We went home, slept and packed for the race. Bike was not even out of the van since Venray. Luckily though, nothing was the matter with it so normally I should have a weekend with no bike problems, as usually really. A nagging thing with my gearbox was the exception. 4'th gear doesn't work properly even though no mechanical flaws exists in the bike that I can find. Maybe the selector or the star, gonna check that before next weekend and the race in the championship in Holland.
Entering the paddock in Peruwelz it's obvious that it's already full. This was at 9.30 friday evening. During friday night and saturday 2 other sights were opened as paddocks but I wanted to stay with the gang, of course. Joost, Hans, Koen, Jo, Rube, Hannu, Harmen, Tom, Yves were all staying close to each other and I got squeezed in besides Joost. The adventures of the weekend could start...
Friday night turned into a rain-storm. I just had time to blind-walk the track in the dark before the skies opened. Now, I have raced in Peruwelz before. I was there in 2002 riding prestiege and actually got 3 points for the effort but now the track had moved to another location. The old track was ran on a mix of streets and bicycle roads and was not so good. This at first sight did'nt look so good either, fast like hell but not so good. I was to be proven wrong. The track was really fun to ride as it was.
The track layout was much as another race I attended in Holland in juni, all around an industrial zone. Both long sides broken by a small gravel "chicane", well one on dirt and one on grass. The grass part was the first after the start/finish and started with a drop of 150cm or so down to the grass. The grass continiued for 100m or so and then the 150cm bank formed a jump throwing us back up on the street again at 40kmh or so. Then the second longest straight wich took the Husaberg flat out on 5'th at aprox 145kmh I'd say. This ended with the entry to the real mx-part of the track, a 110 degree left. Nice slide into this one and a overtaking opportunity for those with horsepowers and/or late braking nerves. The mx started directly with a 90 left followed by a 10m straight. Then a really tricky 90 right on hard, hard dirt. Here you needed to directly build up speed for the jump or much time would be lost. For me the time loosing corner of the track compaired to a lot of guys. The jump was not a big one but quite technical if taken to the left where you had to take it if you as me are not that good at going around the inner line on this kinds of corners. After the jump we climbed a big pile of dirt that smelled like old diapers. On the top of this pile of probably old shit it directly turned 45 left. Overspeed here and you would land far outside the track. Coming through this alive we were back out on the tarmac for a brief visit and then into the last off road "chicane" that threw us out onto the long straight. Close to 160kmh into a 120 left wich you could take at maximum 30kmh. 4 gears down in a 60m slide, niiice. Actually, let's say that again:
Niiice...
We now went through the only speedcorner on the track, a 90 right taken on 3rd at aprox 70kmh. Coming back to the start/finish the last thing we had to do was a hairpin that was a bit tricky. 2m on dirt in a very narrow line. The acceleration out on the start/finish was a long powerslide normally as dirt were all over the place.
So, now when you guys who were not there have a mental picture over the battle field we can continiue.
Friday night. We went to bed early, listened to the furious rain all night and hoped for better weather. If not the dirt sections would be murder for me as I am not a good deep mud rider. I woke up to a dead quiet paddock at 6.30 but couldn't sleep anymore so I went up. The weather was unstabil with very dark, low clouds but no rain anymore. Actually there didn't fall anymore rain that weekend at all but that was not what that mornings sky promised. I ran the track two laps to get my restless body to settle a bit and the track was wet but drying up already. At least a bit. The dirt sections were muddy but not so bad.
I made my decision there and then. Slick/slick already from start. Why?
Well, a fact that most people don't know even after a few years in the sport is that you use raintires for wet asphalt not wet (or dry) dirt sections. In the offroads a well cut slick gives you more grip normally than any raintire. I saw already that the tarmac was drying so I went for it even though I knew the offroad would be wet for some hours to come. The chance in this was that if it started to rain mid session I would have a problem. However, the second fact of the day was that there where only one corner on the track on tarmac wich you took at over 30kmh so even if it got a bit wet slicks wouldn't loose me as much as on most other tracks. Back in the paddoc people was waking up and most riders first course of action was to ask everyone they met wich tires they were gonna use. The consensus of the paddoc was rain/rain. I had at least 10 people coming to me saying that I were gonna die if I persisted with my idiotic choise of tires. Yves did the same as me, mostly to get out of the tiresome work of changing tires at this ungodly hour I think.
In the parc fermee we were looked at as outcasts trying to get back into society after a 15 year boose/drug round down town. People looking first at the tires then smiling and making a few comments about it to their neighbour who did the same. The track was still a tiny bit wet on the tarmac straights, the grass was wet and the dirt sections were 5cm deep heavy mud, not loose. I was confident I had the right shoes on my Berg. After the last moped, eh 450, was off the track the lines were dry and we were let out on the track to time practise. This was to decide the grid for the semi. It took me 4 laps to get temperature in my tires I guess only a half for the rest of the bunch on rains. After 4 laps the glue in my slicks were ready to use and I started to ride. After the first fast lap I was 5'th! Ok, good. Lets go for glory. 4'th. Again, 4'th. And again. That continiued for a few laps until I got a 7 on the board. Sgrumpf! I knew I had a bit more in me but the last 2 attempts I made I got blocked and had to settle for 7'th. Still, it was ok. It's a fast bunch of riders here in Belgium but of course I want to do better than that. However after my continious disasters in the Belgian championship this year it felt good to have a fighting chanse at least. In Holland I've had much more luck and haven't been involved in so many crashes but Belgium is my home turf as it is so it would be nice do well here. In Holland they have almost as fast riders as in Belgium but the top segment is much much smaller. There I fight for podiums and in Belgium I'm glad for top 8, at least so far. I'm not putting in 10h/week training for nothing I hope.
My time was 1.18.6... Best time 1.16.8... 1.18.2 had been enough for 4'th.
For the semi I kept my setup as the bike behaved nicely. The only big problem was that I was still on my f****ing silver line Brembo brake cylinder as I did'nt have had the chance to pick up the parts for my Beringer after coming from Sweden. In Venray it was not ok, but ridable. Here it was hard to the edge of dangerous. Going into the 60m slide after the long straight with this pump was hard, hard work. The amount of hand power it took to brake the bike was really exhausting. And that already on the time prectise when you didn't have to ride on top every lap and with the stress of the race. This made me brake early after all the highspeed sections loosing time. Not much to do about that. Ride and have fun.
Semifinal:
I started in second line. Hans was in the line behind me. I made a bad start, he made a good one. Damn, damn. I lost a lot of places the first 20 seconds and had to start to really fight so I wouldn't loose contact with the riders I knew I could take. As fast as possible I started to get rid of the slower riders that had passed me so I as soon as possible could get back in contact with the faster ones. One guy proved to be a problem though as he had a fast 525 and was fast on the mx. Difficult to pass him on the straights as the entry to both straights were from mx were he were a bit faster than me. On tarmac I was much faster however. It took me 4 laps to pass him after a fast run in the highspeed on the tarmac and a furiously late braking into the hairpin entering start/finish. I had lost too much time with this guy but made a push to try to catch up with the rest of the field not quite managing to do it. Finished 6 seconds clear on 9'th 2 seconds after the 8'th guy. I was not overly happy but it was the first semi final this year in wich I hadn't crashed so at least I had a position to fight for points this time around. 9'th giving me the 18'th spot in the first final to work from.
Now, the disasters stared. Not for me for once but for some of the other guys. Hans had blown the engine in my semi and was out, Tom crashed and was out, Yves crashed but went to the repechage were he crashed again I think. Anyway he was out too. A real pity as this guy is getting fast. In the consolidation he lead but lost a few places due to outbraking himself. (Have it on video
) If he would have carried the same speed in the semi without crashing as he did in the consolidation I'm sure he would have qualified. Jo was out also after a crash in the semi I think, he's aways the glad guy in the paddock however and had nice fights in the repechage and consolidation.Worst I felt for Hans though as a bike braking down is always the worst way of ending a race. He reasoned that the bike had never broken before during two years and sooner or later something has to happen. 2 hours later he was drunk as a skunk and had a nice saturday evening followed by a less nice sunday morning I suspect. Sunday he was checking the races out cheering everyone he knew that was racing wich is most of the guys.
So left of us were:
Me, Harmen, Koen, Joost (nice going man) and Ruben in the moped-class (450). Sad that so many was out but the support around the track was better as more friends and their girlfriends were out there cheering the following day for the finals. That really helps btw, you don't want to loose a position in front of someone ceering you on and if they are here and there around the track it keeps you even a bit more on the edge.
Evening was spent drinking a beer or two, eating some barbequed potatoes with some barbequed animals parts, smoking a few cigarillos (I didn't inhale!!!) and mingle with friends. Fiorentino came buy cursing about the (actually) 19th engine he shot this year at the prestiege practise. In short a nice mix of old friends and new ones.
The day of the finals started for me with checking the bike again. Re-cutting the tires a bit and going to the race, nothing more to it. First race at 10.30 second at 16.30 time in between I had planned for watching nice racing. 50cc supermotard, Prestiege, 125, quads etc is all fun to watch.
The first race started for me reasonably, lost a place or two but got them back quite fastly. A few laps into the race I missed badly in the right on the mx and lost something like 4-5 places and spent the rest of the race fighting those back + a few more. Ended 14'th. A bit disapointing as I knew I could do better than that but still I got points. Finally. My laptime was down to low 1.15's but there were more in me. The problem with the brake cylinder were now getting to be real bad however. The further into the race I got the more power I needed to use and the less I had over. Laptimes dropped a bit as I had to start braking earlier. What to do?
Tom! He was still there and were gonna stay to watch all the races so I asked him if I could borrow his Beringer pump. That I could. After having ridden second race with that I truly know what the difference is on a given day and track. Thanx a million man...
We watched the totally insane shootout between Bertrand, Fiorentino and Debroux in the Prestiege 650 after I had mounted his pump and bleeded the system for air. Bertrand won, and even though I traveled Europe with him for some years as his mechanic I'm still in awe over how beautiful this guy rides. Poetic! A nice and well earned victory it was.
My second race:
This time I started from 14'th and was one line further ahead and this time the start was good. Finnished first lap as 8'th and was in a furious fight for 7'th for awhile until I missed again on the right in the mx and lost contact. The group behind me got in contact with me however and after one of them that was faster than me had passed I lost one or two more in the hairpin out on start/finish after going wide. One of those guys I overtook on the mx the same lap after my problem corner where I had started to use the line of Godfroid that I watched earlier in the Prestiege 450. He only took half the corner and then went to the banking. The problem with the bad jump on the left he solved by taking the jump outside the track more or less and now so did I. Brugnetti was passed in the air there, nice. Another guy highsided in front of me on the grass and I made a one hand wheelie over the finish line as 8'th. Very nice race and for me finally a good result. My time best time was now 1.13.3. My right arm was in good condition after the race and I now could brake much later with better accuracy. I'll never leave home without my Beringer again. If your dealer don't sell them go to www.bike-design.be . More Beringer to the people...
I went home with new hope for the races in Belgium and are now gonna attend Chimay wich was on my maybe list before as it collided with something else that I should do. Not anymore.
Daniel
www.supermotard-racing.com (site will be updated with stuff from Venray, the best track in the world, and Peruwelz asap) Visit and sign guestbook.
Thanx to:
Joramo Your Husky/KTM/Husa problem solver. There isn't a more service minded guy out there.
www.BikeParts.be EVERYTHING concerning bikes will be fixed. Supermotard? No problem.
www.Bike-Design.be Wide range of top of the line stuff for racing and street. I particulary love their rebuilding stuff for Streetfighters as I'm a stunt-junkie.
Putoline A big thanx for the super quality oil, brakefluid, chainspray and cleaning products.
My Princess EVERYTHING gets fixed, but only for me.
Last edited:
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