Red Bull Rookies Cup
I put my head down and pushed through and was able to make my way up to the pack of 4 riders ahead
We are not quite as detailed this weekend on the blog, mainly because I’ve been concentrating on the weekend whereas when Mum or Dad are here they can catch me at the end of each day and we talk through the day’s activities. Then they can type it up and I can review it and get it sent off for pictures to be added. In their absence I’m working with Karl and as you will know we have our specific areas of focus and they are not always just to get images and narrative. We’re talking bikes, track, strategies and opportunities to improve even though the media stuff is important, it gets knocked down the priority list at times.
OK We’re Off
It’s Wednesday I’m leaving for my weekend in Assen which was a much different start compared to Mugello as I only had an hour-long flight to Amsterdam where I hooked up with Karl as he was flying in from Bristol. This time it was his flight that was a little delayed but nothing serious.
We collected the hire car (big thanks to Goodridge for sorting this all out) which all went smoothly and we set off on a 2-hour journey to our hotel. It was such a better start than the experience from our last trip out at Mugello, obviously, the race weekend in Mugello was awesome but getting there was a bit of a nightmare as you’ll know from the previous blog.
When we got to the hotel and got our room key, we headed straight up and just jumped on our beds. It felt like a luxury and exactly how it should be which was great. Dad had been on the phone and double-checked everything beforehand so we were both chilled.
On Thursday we had a very relaxed start to the day. We were able to relax for most of the morning and at 1200hrs we headed off to the track to get set up for Friday. I had Track Walk and Briefings and Karl had bike prep to do. Once all of that was completed we had dinner in the amazing Red Bull Energy Station Hospitality which is staffed by such an enthusiastic and great bunch of people it’s such a pleasure every time we go there. Food is top quality too. I caught a photo of the sunset on our journey back to the hotel, it was stunning.
After reaching the hotel we had a nice cold shower as it’s been so hot. We put our heads down and got an early night. However, we were interrupted by the mosquitos which were on a mission to turn us into dinner so with that and the heat (the room had no aircon) we ended up having very broken sleep that night, there’s always something!
When we arrived at Assen for the first day of riding, whilst comparing the track to Mugello it is obviously extremely flat by comparison as there are no real elevation changes but there are similarities in its sweeping corners.
FP1
This was a good and positive session for me. I got out there, spun laps and got back to grips with my bike and the track. The track still felt new and unique, most tracks so far have been either fast or stop/start. However, this track had a variation of both with turn 5 and the final chicane being the only real slow parts of the track and the rest being proper fast. I ended up P14 in this session and 1.9 off the leader.
FP2
It was a much different story because I found myself in a group of riders who weren’t pushing me on as much as I would have hoped so I ended up doing my fastest time on my own without a slipstream. The positive I took from this session is I had much more pace than I was able to show and I knew I could have gone faster, but of course, this is a judge-by-results environment.
Qually
Qualifying was a weird session for me. When I went out, there weren’t many riders with me, so I waited for some faster riders so could tag on the back, it’s a bit risky but sometimes you need a marker. I put a decent lap time down at 1.45.8 however I felt I had much more in the tank. Unfortunately, every time I was on a fast lap with or without a slipstream I got caught in traffic and this kept me from improving on my time. Nearer the end of the session I tried to reposition myself in the pack for the following laps to try for a better time. On the last lap, I was in a good position, I didn’t have a tow but I had a marker in front of me and then a clear track in front of them. On my lap I was doing very well, 0.34 up in sector 1, however, when I rounded turn 5 there was a rider cruising on the racing line. This is a key corner for drive so kept it pinned and tried to pull a bit tighter to avoid him but I high-sided basically because I was asking a bit much of the tyre with the lean angle and 100% throttle but I had to risk it to make or break the lap. As it went I lost that lap so ended P18 but that 0.34 would have seen me up to P13 so that wasn’t lost on me. Although Qually didn’t get any better as I was notified after that I had a long lap penalty for too many slow sectors, it’s a tough business this qualifying!
Race 1
On Saturday as soon as the race got underway I waited for the message on my dashboard or the long lap board and when my long lap came up at the end of lap 1 I took it. I hoped there would be other riders that had taken it as well but no one else took their long lap then. This was a learning curve because I was then put back from P17 all the way to last place and 2-3 seconds off the next guy, but I put my head down and pushed through and was able to make my way up to the pack of 4 riders ahead.
I didn’t stop there and I kept on working and I managed to catch up to the second group and battle for the final point, P15. I couldn’t manage to shake the guys behind though and they kept dive-bombing me or I made a mistake and on the last lap, I got mugged back from P15 to P18.
No one likes to lose a battle and I put this down to my race craft which I need to work on. I just haven’t had as much experience of having close battles in large groups like this before really. I can see how other riders in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup benefit from having developed their race craft in the Spanish championships. Close-quarter battling at this level is challenging and becoming victorious comes from experience. I know what I need but I just need to keep fighting and learning and improving until an opportunity arises.
Race 2
Assen Race 2 and I was long lap free but straight away I got swarmed into Turn 1 this caused me to come out of Turn 1 in P18 which wasn’t ideal when I was trying to go with the front group, arrrrrrrrrrr! By the time I got through the group, it was already too late as the rider at the front of the second pack had lost the tow to the front group. This is not how I planned my race but I had to make the most of it.
So I battled it out again for P15 but I didn’t come out on top as I made the mistake of trying to go on the outside in Turn 12 to be on the inside for Turn 13 but I lost all my drive from to leaning the bike over to much and getting wheelspin. I dropped back to P20 whereas in the lap before I was P15, and going into the last corner I came out in P19. Then to add insult to disappointment I got nudged on the inside which caused me to cut the chicane and lose a position so I ended up in P20. But then it was determined that wasn’t a big enough hit or obvious contact so I got a 0.5-second penalty on top, sometimes it’s just one of those things.
Post-race
Well, it’s not how I pictured my Assen weekend ending, we came here with much higher aspirations. I believe I could have done much better and I also felt I had much more pace than that which I showed but not every weekend goes to plan, as is evident.
For the highs to feel amazing you must experience some lows so I am going in chin up and driving on with my fitness training and any time I can get on a bike. LET’S DO THIS and roll on to an amazing weekend in Austria after the summer break.
I’d also like to add a very special thank you to Karl, his wife Kate and son Jack. Karl’s away from his family for some long periods to help me at the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. My mum, dad and I just want to say we recognise the sacrifice and are so grateful for the support. It’s a people business racing, here’s 5 years of the Karl factor.
To the Upsher family 🙏
Sully #4
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