European Championship 65cc, GP of Germany in Vellahn

The journey into a weekend full of highs and lows began at 4.30am on Friday morning… Afterabout 6.5 hours of travelling, we reached the beautiful route in the Vellahner Heide in beautifulMecklenburg-Vorpommern.The journey into a weekend full of highs and lows began at 4.30am on Friday morning… After about 6.5 hours of travelling, we reached the beautiful route in the Vellahner Heide in beautiful
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

After running the course, it was clear that it was going to be a tough weekend. The demanding route willdemand everything from us as a team!
And so it was…

Saturday started very well. I got on really well and was able to put in some fast laps.Place 6 in Group B was great.

The track was completelydifferent to drive in qualifying, where the starting positions for the qualifying race were at stake. There were nasty edges on all the jumps and a few holes, waves and rutswent out. 10th place was ok, but more would have been possible.

The qualifying race started in the late afternoon. I got out of the gate really well and went into the first lap insixth place. I was quickly able to work my way up the field and finished third due to a crash by the Danish rider in front of me, Bertram Thorius.

I was able to maintain third place for a long time with great speed. But a small mistake in the whoopsincluding a ground test threw me straight back to sixth place. On the last lap, I was able topass Doma Paisz from Hungary and finish in a strong fifth place. So theSaturday went perfectly, apart from the slip-up.

The addition of both groups meant that I had ninth place on the grid for Sunday’s racesin my pocket.

Sunday turned out to be a difficult day.

The warm up was anything but good, as the track was extremely waterlogged & somehowI didn’t get into my usual relaxed flow. I was naturally a little disappointed with 25th place in thewarm up. But cheer up, nothing was at stake.

I was highly motivated at the start of the first race. I didn’t get off to the best start, but was able tostay out of the scramble in turn one and start the race in 22nd place out of 40 riders.I couldn’t match my riding performance from Saturday, but I’m an absolutefighter & gave it my all. Unfortunately, there was a fatal crash at the end of lap three in the start-finishpassage. I was in a three-way battle with Doma Paisz from Hungary & Hidde Hutten from the Netherlands.When I tried to overtake Paisz, I had to choose a bad lane. I got a nastyhit in the rear wheel through a deep hole and immediately lost control and rolled over hard.

After a few seconds I was able to crawl to the side of the track. An ambulance was there immediately. I was checked over in themedical centre by the track.

The doctor gave me the green light for another start. There was no discussion for me not to try.

So I tried to achieve my goal of scoring points again in the second run.

However, my parents asked me to stop the race if I felt the consequences of my fall inrace one.

After the start, I was in 17th place and was able to fight for positions with a larger group. In the last three laps, I had to slow down due to a headacheand dropped to 21st place.

We summarise the weekend with a smile and a tear in our eye. Unfortunately we missed the target of scoring points, good speed is there, but the maturity to maintain this intensity over bothriding days is simply not there yet.

The next round of the European Championship65cc will take place in Kaplice in the Czech Republic in a few weeks’ time to gain further experience.

Thanks to all sponsors, supporters and everyone who cheered on the team at home in front of the TV.