06/27/08 - 06/29/08 Motorsport Arena Oschersleben Race Report:

Motorsport Arena Oschersleben was the place of round #3 (Festival Italia) of the DMSB Art-Motor series.

We showed up late Thursday night/early Friday morning for a few hours sleep in the Jacobsberg Hotel before heading over to the track for the morning training sessions. This was the first time I would see the track. The Motorsports Arena has some awesome facilities and rightly so as it played host to a few World Superbike rounds back in the day.

Morning sign-ins went smoothly as Mr. Wolf and company got things started on schedule. The gearing seemed to be fairly close. I went out for a few laps following Jason to get an idea for where the track goes. The spotty rain showers and large number of trackday participants made it a slightly less than productive day. I was not able to really get a feel for suspension changes. All in all a good day having lots of fun and a great BBQ at the end.

Saturday Training session 1 went pretty well following Jason for a bit faster circuits while breaking in my new BT003s. We managed to fall into a few good gaps giving us some open track to play with. The new tires gave me more confidence to push the corner speeds up. Still had plenty to learn, but was happy with the progress.

Saturday Training session 2 wasn't as productive. I ended up circulating mostly on my own trying to keep pace by myself. I wasn't able to hold the same pace without a tow, but still had fun learning the track and trying to figure out shift and braking points. I only managed to qualify 14th with a 1'42".

Saturday SuperSport B race was scheduled at the end of the day. So after a bit of waiting around, we all head to the pre-grid and then out to the starting grid. I lined up on the outside of row 4 in 14th. Everyone finds their spots and the lights switch on as the flag man runs off the track. The engines start reving in anticipation of the lights going out. The lights dim and away we go! The CBR600RR pulls hard off the line and I first see a gap to my right moving to the outside of the track. Next a new gap opens up more toward the middle of the track so I head that way. I find myself even with the row 2 guys and am still pulling slightly into Turn 1. I was still finding gaps and trying to continue my way toward the inside of T1. I manage to pull slightly ahead of the row 2 guys and begin braking for T1. As I make my turn-in trying to squeeze one more position out of the start, I get bullied back into 4th. I manage to hold 4th exiting turn 2. All in all not a bad start from 14th place!

The top 3 guys checked out quickly and I was left to fend for myself while a pack of very fast and frustrated racers begin setting me up for passes. Trying to learn the track while in the middle of the race probably wasn't the best of times, but you do what you have to do. After making a few early mistakes two guys slip by and I struggle to get back on track. I hold off the pack for a few more laps before another mistake allows one more guy by. I get shown a wheel by Jason on more than a few occassions and he puts down a number of good passes but I manage to hang on for a few more laps. Coming down to the last lap Jason brakes late and turns in early in front of me into the final turn. I manage to hold a good drive and tuck into Jason's draft. I'm able to just barely sneak by at the line as Jason makes a great move to break my draft. It was one of the best dog-fights I've had on track in a long time. It was a great time and I'm really happy it was such a battle between a good friend! It will be a good memory to hang onto while we lay low in the coming months after our baby RocketJockey arrives.

Many thanks to Yasuyo for carrying baby RocketJockey around all weekend snapping pictures and taking care of me throughout the weekend. My wife ROCKS!!! Thanks to all my American racer compatriots for helping me once again to learn another track and making another great weekend of racing.

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