The part on the left is what wad originally used as a spacer in the engine cage fir the RS92. The spacer was too short and we asked Roland to make a replacement.
This weekend is round 3 and 4 of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies cup. The races take place in Jerez; Saturday and Sunday.
Both Rookies Cup races in Jerez can be seen live on www.redbull.tv. Race 1 is at 16.30 CET on Saturday May 4th and Race 2 is on Sunday at 15.30 CET, the show starts 10 minutes before the race.
Our trip here was pretty long, around 25 hours but we’re finally here. We’ve never been to a European MotoGP round and our jaws dropped when we got here. The atmosphere is already abuzz and it’s only Thursday. The hospitality suites are ridiculous. It’s just crazy. And yes, the Ducati hospitality is the largest by far.
It had been almost six months since Anthony had ridden the RS125. He last rode it at the WERA final in Las Vegas and since then we’d had it stored away.
Early last week we decided to do a trackday and got working on the bike to make it track-ready. Fortunately, during the maintenance we found out there was a damaged bearing. We replaced and got the bike going again.
We left for the trackday early Sunday, around 5am. We arrived around 8am and got on track by 9:20. This was a special trackday, where cars and bikes shared the day. This meant there was only one session for bikes and included a mix of skills. Originally, we thought very few people would show up, and regardless of skill level, if there few-enough people on the track, it would not matter.
Unfortunately that theory didn’t work out. The levels were just too wide. The biggest problem is the 125. That bike MUST be kept spinning in order to go fast. If you are not going as fast as possible, you won’t be going anywhere. If you want to go fast in the 125 you must go fast in the corners and that’s were the problem lied.
Anyway, by the third session we realized our mistake and decided to leave early. If Anthony were on a faster bike, like a 600, I think it would have been a good-enough day. The trackday provider did a great job throughout the day, but their hands were tied regarding sessions for bikes. Hopefully that changes in the future.
Yesterday, while getting the rs125 ready for a track day we changed the oil. When we opened the drain plug we heard a metal sound. There were metal pieces in the oil.
We took the clutch cover off and found nothing. Took the transmission cover off and found the culprit. The countershaft bearing.
We had to replace all of the bearings to make sure there would not be any issues in the future.
Anthony’s race was at the end of the day. This allowed us to go and hang out with Anthony’s longest sponsors, Bud from BayAreaRidersForum.com. He and his buddies had seats at T15 and we got to watch the Moto3 race from there.
For the second race, the qualifying positions from Friday remain, so even though he finished 14th in race #1, he still had to start 21st in race #2.
The race was interrupted by an accident on lap #1. Yui, the lone girl in the series had an accident entering the final corner before the back straight. Recent reports have her as being OK and without major injuries.
The race was cut down from 12 laps to 8 making it a true sprint race. In this race, Anthony improved his lap times and learned a bunch. He’s excited for Jerez, in two-weeks time.
The first race of the season is done. Anthony got off to a tough start after qualifying 21st position in a grid of 24. However, it was important to continue improving and enjoy the race. Anthony did that and though he climbed as high as 13th at one point, he crossed the line in 14th place.
Tomorrow is round #2 of the series. The race will be broadcast live on redbull.tv at 1:30PST.
Anthony had a tough day in practice and qualifying today. The day started with a minor low-side at the top of T1. T1 is an uphill left-hander which at the peak, flattens out. Eager to make time, Anthony held onto the front brakes for too long and lost the front.
There was very little damage to the bike and he was able to pick up the bike and get it started. Before QP1 we went up to T1 and watched the Moto3 guys take the turn and Anthony made a few notes.
For QP1 Anthony improved a bunch, about 4 seconds and tough he qualified 19th, he was close to the pack (minus Hannika who is on fire).
For QP2 we had a choice of tires, basically re-use the tires from FP1, or the tires from QP1. The rear tire from QP1 was pretty beat up, so we chose the FP1 tires which had a little more meat on them.
Unfortunately Anthony was not able to improve on his laptime from QP1, while others were, and he was pushed back farther to 21st position.
