First day in Schleiz

Free practice and qualifying one, saw nineteen teams take to a dry track and the sun trying to break through. A few teams were bedding refurbished motors in on free practice so the times were not really anything to go by, all teams finished free practice with no problems. Qualifying one saw Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni, Team Suzuki Finland, LCR,Suzuki back on top form setting a fastest time of 1:29.967, Pekka said after, "No problems, we do some small adjustments to the suspension and I hope we will go faster tomorrow" The next four places are all in the 1:30 bracket, with Ben and Tom Birchall, Mitchells of Mansfield, LCR Yamaha, second place on a time of 1:30.135, Ben said "we had a bit of a problem getting a clear track at times, but we are happy with the way things have gone today". Third place is Jorg Steinhausen and Gregory Cluze, Steinhausen Racing, LCR, BMW, with a time of 1:30.350, "the team is very happy with the way things went today and look forward to tomorrow" said Jorg. Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes sit in fourth place on a time of 1:30.578 on their "The Relocator" LCR, Suzuki, after Tim said " Ashley has not been here before so we took things steady, we are happy with the way the bike is going, and look forward to tomorrow" Slotting into fifth place is Markus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer on a time of 1:30.969 with their Team Schlosser, LCR Suzuki, Marcus and Thomas were happy and hope fitting new tyres for tomorrow will better their time.Tomorrow will see the teams have a second qualifying session in the morning and an 11 lap race in the afternoon with full championship points to be had. So let's hope the weather holds! Text and pictures Mark Walters

Source: http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1342800749-first-day-in-schleiz/

Fabio Biliotti Wilf Billington