Smallest bike, biggest heart
Round 2, Catalunya Cup, Circuit Osona
The weather was a big factor as Catalunya Cup Race weekend #2 got underway. With pouring rain for Saturday practice and expected dry conditions on Sunday for qualifying and racing, decisions around which tires to run as well as balancing the risks and benefits of wet practice were the primary strategic concern as we prepared our three riders.
We ultimately skipped the Saturday practice as one of the challenges with younger racers is that their confidence can be fragile. The traction and lines in the wet are different than in the dry, so the team made the decision to avoid the Saturday practice so as not to both risk injury training for conditions that weren’t going to be present the next day during the races.
The PromoRACC-1 Race at the Circuit Osona.
Sunday morning had a wet track that was beginning to dry. Sebastian stayed with rain tires and since we are borrowing a bike for Sofi, she only had mixed Dunlops that were less than ideal. Qualifying wasn’t bad, but the mixed traction on an already slick track made getting fast times especially difficult. Sofi had two low-sides but she was able to remount and get a qualifying time on the board. Sebastian was consistent and only a few seconds behind the leader. The Q1 lap times were very close — All of the positions were separated by tenths of a second.
Unfortunately Osona is a relatively narrow track so the grids were two riders per row. This was a significant disadvantage for Sebastian as his 8th grid position put him on near the back. The 190cc race was combined with the 160 race, so he was even further from the front. By contrast, last round’s race at Móra d’Ebre had 4 riders per row. This low grid position caused Sebastian to be stuck in traffic for both races and despite some strong attempts at overtaking, he couldn’t get enough track to get around the slightly slower riders ahead of him. However, Sebastian had a good race, he stayed with his group and was making some bold attempts, but coming back from so far at the back is difficult even under the best circumstances!
We must improve our qualifying!
Sofi Dear was simply amazing in her first race ever in Spain. While in Race 1 of the weekend she only got fifth, in Race 2 she was fighting for the podium. She had consistently faster lap times than the 3rd place rider, but she couldn’t get the overtake she needed. She was 0.2s faster than the third place rider on her best lap, but it wasn’t enough to grab the podium. For a first race, it was an incredible performance!
Sofia Dear getting ready to take the track.
Zoë is racing on the smallest bike, but she definitely had the biggest heart! In the first race, she got 3rd place after a late overtake by the 2nd place rider. She lost 2nd place by barely 1 second. However, she took her revenge in the main race with a bold overtake in the final corner to end up getting 2nd place by over 2.5 seconds. It was an outstanding performance from Dear Racing’s smallest rider.
Oliver Dear isn’t yet racing in this championship — he’ll make his 110cc debut in the Mir Racing Cup in April. He’s looking forward to getting in the mix and hopefully chasing podiums like his brother and sisters.