RACE REPORT "ZUERA 1" 21./22. May 2011
Zuera was the first race for me after 25 years pause from racing. Before that race I had only 4 houres practice with the quad on the Karting track in Fortuna. It was very difficult for me to find a set up for my riding style, because I don´t like nervious vehicles. On Friday evening when we arived Zuera it was very good to see all the guy´s from 2008 after a long time. We are sitting together in the paddock in our tent the whole night and talking very long. Specially Eduard Puigdevall and Jordi Garcia are helping me on saturday with the set up. They tell me exactlly what configuaration will fit and after 5 training turns (a´10 min.). I feel much more comfortable on the quad. All the riders from the championship 2008 are much quicker as two years ago. Time does not stand still. In training for me it was impossible to follow the first 10 riders, they are to far away for my basic speed. They closing the gas much later than I and they brake very, very late before the corners. All top 5 riders sliding into the corners to destroy speed. So, at qualifing I finished at 14th and I was a bit disapointed, but this was the reality. At the first heat on sunday I missed a good start, because I was to carefull. By more rounds I found more speed and I could overtake 6 other riders. Finally I finished at 7th position and I was happy that it was over. In the last 3 laps I was very tired and busy to control the distance to the following riders.
In the secound heat my start was not really better and in the second corner I was at the end of the field. Now I remember on my years of race experience! I speed up lap by lap and my cornerspeed was getting better. My fastet round was 1 sec. quicker as in the first heat and my overtakings are really perfect. I feel like 25 years in the past and I had a lot of fun. Only in the last 2 rounds I feel tired again, but that does no matter. I had again 6 overtaking manovers and finished also at 7th position. Not bad after a long brake (25 years) for an old man (56 years)! So, now it´s time to get more practice on the quad and get more trust for later braking. We will see by the next race, what happens. See you ...
RACE REPORT "CINTRUENIGO" 18. June 2011
This was my first race on a street track in the middle of a city. It was unbelievable!! The track runs around the center in town and on official roads. The track had a very long straight line for start/finish and some difficult small corners. There was no space for mistakes. If you do only one mistake you will get a damage on the quad or you will get hurt. We had 18 riders on the grid but we get some accidents in the training session, qualifying and in both heats. For the second heat we had only 14 riders left. I was satisfied with my result in qualifying, because I save 7th position. The difference to the leader was not so big (3 sec.) as in the first race.
In the second heat, I think my quad was one of the quickest in the field and in both heats I try to stay absolute concentrated and I could finish in 5thposition, not so far away from the leading group. I was able to follow them for 4-5 rounds, but not more. For the complete distance they are too fast for me – at the moment. In the second heat I was so tiered (because we had a very short pause, only 20 min.) in my underarms, but I had a nice fight with rider No. 33 (Javier) for more than 10 laps. On a short straight line between two corners I was not concentrated for a moment and so he past me before next corner. I was not able to catch him again, because I was to tiered. After the jacket flag we shake hands for that fair fight. In this race the quad was again nervious and was shaking hard by braking. I have to find out what the problem will be and I try to sort it out by the next training sessions.
Enjoy the pictures. See you at next race in July ...
RACE REPORT "CACERES" 23.July 2011
I ride my first night race (Extremadura). Both heats are between 20.30 - 23.00 h p.m. We had 34 degrees at this time and it was very exhausting. I finished the first heat in pos. 4th. It was a sheer will power to finish and finally I was absolutly pumped. When I was back in the paddock I see that me left boot was full with engine oil. For the second heat I could not fix the leak and I have to view the second heat. See you ...
RACE REPORT "ALCANIZ" 30./31.08.2011 (broken engine)
Alcaniz was finished for me after the training on Saturday afternoon, because my engine case was broken on the left side near the generator/ignition tap. In the last training session the engine pumped out engine oil at the crack. On Monday I send back the engine to our tuner to look at the problem. For the next race we put in the standard engine. See you ...
RACE REPORT "ZAFRA" 27.08.2011 (night race)
Zafra is the biggest event of CIS in the south (near Portuagal) of spain. It is a night race on an urban track in the middle of the city in Zafra with 5000 !!! spectators this year. We had 3 heats this year and 22 riders (some riders coming from Quad Cross) for superquad. Urban tracks are all very dangerious so we had some acciedents but nobody ended in the hospital. For me I can say that I invest max. 80% of driving because I want to stay in one piece after the race. Finally ending on 8th place was o.k. for me. The quad run´s good with the standard engine and the set-up was the best in that season. I had some hard contacts with any other Quad Cross riders, but that does not disturb me. See you next race ...
RACE REPORT "MIRANDA DE EBRO" 03.09.2011
Miranda de Ebro is in the north (Communidad Burgos) of Spain close to France. Here we find a fantastic permanent track with a lot of up´s and down´s. The track is at the end of an industrial area close to the town. On Saturday we had hard rain and no training. So we start on Saturday afternoon (without rain) with 20 min. Qualyfing incl. training. I had no time to change my rain set up and so I finished in dry conditions on 10th place. On Sunday morning we had the chance for 8 min. warm up and then starts the first heat. With my standard set-up I could finish on 8th position because I had no chance to speed up more. In the second heat it was a little better and after some fights I could also finish on 8tn again. We are all happy that we get no rain on Sunday. See you ...
RACE REPORT " TORREMOCHA /Teruel " 25.09.2011
Torremocha is a small karting track close to Teruel. For that race I could not use the training time because we are late there at saturday evening. So my first contact with the track was on Sunday by the qualyfing. I finished at 10th pos. The track is very small (max.5m) and overtaking monovers are very difficult. In the first heat I overtake 2 other riders and finished at 8th pos. In the second heat the same. More was not possible for me on this weekend. See you last race in Zuera ...
RACE REPORT " ZUERA 2 " 09.10.2011
Zuera was the last race in this Season. Finally we had 15 Riders on the grid by sunny weather. Everybody was sure that Ivan will get the championship titel, but in the last heat by the last 3 rounds his SX engine blow off and the title was gone. Big disappointment for all and tears everywhere. My both heats are o.k. I had some nice fights with other riders and finished on 7th and 6th place. More important for me was to see that my speed was 2 seconds faster (with the standard 525 EXC engine) per round as in the beginning of the season on the same track. Inclusive this race I was 25 hours riding on Superquad and feel very well. In my first season I finished on 7th place in the championship. Not so bad for an old man. See you next season ...
