Table of contents
- Yamaha Cup Forward thrust
- It just doesn’t work with the crowbar
- Falling down is not a good idea at all.
- “I threw in an Ibu, it’s okay. “
- Three weeks later at the Schleizer Dreieck
- The head should be on but not in the way
www.aow-fotografie.de
Sports & scene
Motorsport
Yamaha Cup
Yamaha Cup
Forward thrust
Content of
Ambitious speed fanatics swear by the intensive course Yamaha-R6-Dunlop-Cup, which is now in the second half of the season. Right in the middle: PS editor Tobi looking for fast lap times. They are not given for free, as the races in Zolder and Schleiz prove.
Tobias Munchinger
08/09/2016
At most, there are free things like ice cream. I’m sitting in the Medical Center in Zolder, Belgium, eating a cornetto hazelnut. The friendly paramedic gave it to me with a smile as he walks past me towards his colleagues with the family pack under his arm. It doesn’t taste really good because I don’t know exactly how badly my machine is, from which I flew about five minutes earlier – highsider on start / finish. Quasi a classic. The rear wheel leaves the state of a slipper that I can still control, as if in slow motion and I know: you won’t catch it anymore. Moments later I’m lying on my back on the curbs and waiting for my system to start up again. Twenty-one, twenty-two … well, my hard drive’s record seems undamaged. The hardware should be okay with the exception of severe bruises on the left hand and much stronger ones in the area of the right buttock area. Before I am maneuvered into the safety car, I catch a glimpse of my R6. The marshals are leaning against the guardrail. Oh baby hopefully you’re fine! I remember a clever sentence from my buddy Aaron. With wise foresight, he said weeks before today: “You will drive to the limit in the Cup, and at some point you will just find it.”
Buy complete article
Yamaha Cup
Forward thrust
6 pages) as PDF
€ 2.00
Buy now
I never doubted that. That’s the way it is in this sport. Still, I could be angry with me. The plan to put me in a good starting position with a fast lap time in the second qualifying went completely wrong. Driving the Yamaha Cup is just a crazy number. If you manage a decent time in the first qualifying, you can take it easy on the whole field going one better in the second qualifying. Now I’m in 26th place on the grid, far from my own expectations and the long-awaited first points.
It just doesn’t work with the crowbar
In the past, it used to put me on my flap when riding downhill or when skating. The question is always how do you deal with a crash? I don’t mind a fall as long as I know why I got relegated. This makes it easier to continue immediately afterwards. In this case, I know exactly why. The line was wrong and I should have given the new tire one more lap instead of shooting straight away. It just doesn’t work with the crowbar.
Joachim drives up in front of our tent with my R6. For a capital highsider, that looks Yamaha amazingly good. A new throttle cable is required. In addition, the handlebar stub on the right, the brake lever and the footrest have to be replaced. Otherwise the bike only got a few scratches – thanks to the crash pad. Team boss Uli gets the necessary spare parts from the cup truck, while Manni is already rolling over technical drawings to find out how exactly the new gas cable has to be laid. Shortly afterwards Andre manages to fumble through the throttle cable below the airbox. The R6 is ready to go again and I can only say a huge thank you to my Schuller-Racing team. Such commitment and solidarity is priceless.
Falling down is not a good idea at all.
In Zolder we drive two races on one weekend, as Oschersleben is not on the calendar this year. There are some parts of the course that are damn tricky. Several times you have to brake sharply from high speed and then sharply angled. The front wheel lifts off over the so-called sacraments hill, and immediately behind it comes a mean chicane. If you don’t shoot the curbs here, you will lose a second. Falling down is not a good idea at all. In Zolder, the wall comes quickly in some places.
I got off to a mediocre start of the first race, but everything is jammed in the first corner anyway. After the first lap, I made up a few places and attached myself to a group of four who were fighting violently a few meters in front of me. The braking duel in the hairpin in front of the Medical Center ends in a large cloud of dust, two or three drivers are lying in the dirt. Towards the end of the race it gets really exhausting in the hot temperatures and there are a few more retirements. My bruises on my arm and hip hardly bother me, but my concentration drops a lot. How much longer will it go? The black and white checkered flag just doesn’t want to come! Suddenly my right handlebars twist inward and stand completely crooked. Damn it, didn’t we tighten that thing properly? I can no longer brake aggressively and can hardly push the machine into right turns. What now, go out? Absolutely no way! I expect an attack from the pilots behind me at any moment, but it won’t come any more. At the end of the race I’m in my own juice, I’m completely exhausted and really satisfied with 19th place.
“I threw in an Ibu, it’s okay. “
All drivers who suffered a retirement in the first race are back at the start for the second race. Daryl was involved in the crash at the hairpin and says: “The motorcycle works. And I threw in an Ibu, it’s okay. “
Everything fits with me too. This time my handlebars hold. Despite faster lap times than in the first race, I don’t get any further than 22nd place.
Three weeks later at the Schleizer Dreieck
Three weeks later the cards are shuffled again at the Schleizer Dreieck. Schleiz is not a permanent race track. During the week, commuter traffic and commuter traffic roll on the country road. The old paddock is on the green meadow and everything tastes a lot like road racing, which suits me well. There are some notorious places here where you need “eggs”. Down the Buchhubel in the direction of the city it will be tight and extremely fast. And only then does the tricky Seng. An eternally long left downhill, which is taken at full throttle in sixth gear with a sharp lean angle. My wish for the weekend: everything, just no rain, please!
There is still real enthusiasm for motorsport in the East, which is clearly noticeable. 30,000 fans fill the grandstands in Schleiz. It feels great to me to be driving here. Although I don’t know the course so far, I manage a lap time of 1.35.1 minutes in the first qualifying. I’m sure that I can improve the time in second qualifying with new tires. But don’t take it off again now, just feel it.
The head should be on but not in the way
To hell with the feeling that I don’t want to succeed in anything in the second qualifying! At first, I’m stuck in the crowd over several laps and can’t get up to speed. That’s why I drive through the pit lane once and let the pack go. Finally on my personal record lap, the lap timer drops and dangles around somewhere in the pulpit area. Later, I’m stuck behind a slower driver again and can’t get past for ages. Overtaking in Schleiz is not easy. Then a piece of debris from the curb lies on the ideal line. Then the lap timer drops for the second time. At the end I brake myself again at the chicane on start / finish and the turn is over. I’m two tenths slower than in the first qualifying, despite the new tires. Starting position 25. Under my helmet I curse like a pipe sparrow.
If you are not lucky, sometimes you even have bad luck. On the night of race Sunday it rains until six in the morning. It’s not our turn until ten o’clock, so that the slope can dry out except for a few wet spots. Immediately after the start it gets serious on the first left in the direction of Buchhubel, only a narrow strip of asphalt is already dry there. Contrary to all expectations, all drivers get through the first corner safely. The field is pretty close together, with the top with 1.31 times taking no prisoners. It’s just crazy how fast the entire cup goes on this difficult track. I can make up positions in the first few laps. My best lap is 1.34.1 minutes and I notice: boy, this is the limit. The grip on the rear wheel tears off not only once when accelerating out, and the last braking drift would have almost carried me into botany. To be fast, you have to drive just as smartly as you are tough. The head should be on but not in the way. A tight balancing act that Marc Zellhofer, Patrik Kosiniak and Daniel Rubin mastered with places one to three.
After deducting the two guest starters, it will be a hard-fought 18th place for me in Schleiz. The cold beer with team boss Uli and the buddies tastes really great today – especially because it’s free.
Related articles
-
Report on the Yamaha R6 Cup 2016
Felix Wiessmann 13th pictures photographie-andreas-weinand.de 1/13 The 2016 season of the Yamaha R6 Dunlop Cup in Hockenheim came to an end with noise…
-
This is how a horsepower editor is doing at the Yamaha R6 Cup
Andreas Weinand 13th pictures Wiebmann 1/13 Picture gallery, pit lane: A writer in the Yamaha Cup. Wiebmann 2/13 In the final laps of the race, it is…
-
motorcycles 20 years of the Yamaha SR 500 20 years of the Yamaha SR 500 One for all Whether you are a muesli man, a tourist or a handyman, puristic…
-
Yamaha XSR 125 driving report: adult retro bike
Yamaha motorcycles Modern Classic Yamaha XSR 125 driving report: adult retro bike Yamaha XSR 125 in the driving report Adult retro bike Yamaha is now…
-
motorcycles Super athlete Test Yamaha YZF-R 1 Test Yamaha YZF-R 1 The temptation She is simply irresistible. The R1 turns on like no other. How else can…
-
Jahn Sports & scene Motorsport Pitlane: Yamaha R6 Cup Pitlane: Yamaha R6 Cup PS rookie drives R6 Cup Content of The R6-Cup is considered to be a cadre…
-
Development history of the Yamaha BT 1100 Bulldog
motorcycles Development history of the Yamaha BT 1100 Bulldog Development history of the Yamaha BT 1100 Bulldog A fat dog Truly exclusive, this pleasure:…
-
motorcycles Driving report Yamaha TDM 850 Driving report Yamaha TDM 850 Either way Sometimes a tourer, sometimes an athlete. In recent years, many…
-
archive to travel Yamaha Tenere final 1984/2008 Yamaha Tenere final 1984/2008 With the Yamaha Tenere 1984/2008 in Africa At the end of the 1980s,…
-
Comparison test: Yamaha YZF-R6 old against new
Bilski motorcycles Comparison test: Yamaha YZF-R6 old against new Comparison test: Yamaha YZF-R6 old against new R6 ’08 -YCC-I Content of As of 2008, the…