Successful comeback at the EMX65 in Lommel
Last weekend, the first race of the European 65cc Championship in Lommel was on the agenda for me.After my knee injury had healed, I had to travel to Lommel with a considerable training deficit compared to my competitors.
In the days leading up to the race, we took advantage of the holidays and trained again on the track in Lommel so that we could have ridden in the sand at all this year.
I got on well straight away on the Saturday of the race and was able to improve throughout the day so that I was able to achieve a strong eighth position in the qualifying race.
The race Sunday started with the warm-up in the morning. I was in the leading group at the start and was able to keep up with the pace for a few laps and learn a few things.
In the first race, I didn’t get out of the gate very well and had to settle in around 30th position after the first bend. It was going to be a difficult race. During my race to catch up, I crashed and a little later had to brake to a standstill to avoid running over a rider who had crashed in front of me, which meant that several riders were able to pass me again. I suffered minor injuries to my arm and shoulder from the previous crash, as the bike landed on top of me.
Nevertheless, I showed a strong fighting spirit and still managed to get up to 14th position, which is not so easy in this field of riders.
The start of the second race was again not ideal. Once again, I had problems getting out of the gate without wheelspin and ended up around 25th place. I was able to overtake a few drivers on the first lap and crossed the time loop in 19th place. With a flawless race, I was able to work my way up to eleventh place with good lap times.
As a result, we were able to achieve our goal of tenth place in the daily classification and at the same time finish tenth in the championship.
In view of the lack of preparation due to my knee injury, it was a very strong performance that gives me hope for more.
The second round of the European 65cc Championship continues next weekend in Slagelse, Denmark.