Luca Nierychlo shows fighting spirit at DM85 in Lugau
Last Sunday the drivers in the 85ccm class went to Lugau in Saxony for the third round of the German Championship. Luca Nierychlo from Hohenahr in Central Hesse also traveled to collect more points.
In free practice, Luca got along well with the track straight away and set consistently good lap times in the strong field of drivers. However, he was not satisfied with sixth place.
After a short break we went straight into qualifying. Luca got directly good laptimes and was in the top five. Unfortunately, during a fast lap he fell very hard on a downhill section and hit his body into the metal post of the safety fence. He was able to pull himself together quickly, but first the motorcycle had to be recovered somehow. With about four minutes of driving time left, he dragged himself into the helper box, where initially only the handlebars were adjusted. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to put in a good lap and we ended up in sixth place again.
During the lunch break, some things had to be repaired on the motorcycle and at the same time Luca recovered from his fall.
The fifth-grader said in the interview: “I’m glad that I got out of the number without any broken bones and I hope that the bruises and abrasions don’t limit me from running.”
The start of the first race was not ideal as the use of the starting blocks was prohibited due to two starting rows. So it was time to make the best of it. After the first corner, Luca was around twelfth place and came out of the first lap in eighth place. With a lot of fighting spirit and a good line choice, he was able to make up a few positions over the course of the very intense race and cross the finish line in third place.
In the second race, the start was again not good, this time the HFM (Hessian Motorsport Association) sponsored driver was in 15th position. He was able to move up to ninth place on the first lap and once again had a lot of hard work ahead of him. The intensity and performance density within the top 10 was extremely high and the fall from qualifying was gradually showing its after-effects, but Luca still moved his Husqvarna from the AK Bouw-Hutten Metaal Junior Team as quickly as he could around the Lugau race track. He initially moved up to sixth place and benefited from fifth-placed Hannes Lorenz’s retirement on the second-to-last lap. A rockfall destroyed his fuel line and unfortunately he was stranded after a very strong race due to a lack of fuel. At the finish line, fifth place in the second race was enough for the third podium in a row at the German Championships.
After a very intense day of racing with many duels and position changes, which the numerous spectators watched with excitement, the day’s victory once again went to championship leader Oliver Jüngling, followed by Raphael Hellmuth. Luca Nierychlo completed the podium with third place in the daily standings. In the championship, the ten-year-old from Central Hesse was able to further consolidate his second place in his rookie year with two solid runs.
