Mauriche is with freinds, Jake the dog is spending a long weekend chasing chickens on a farm up the road. I am chillin' out before strapping my stuff on the bike and having a lazy ride across to Harwich (in the evening sunshine). Looking forward to a good weekends racing and party, party, party, with the dutch mob.

Would have been nice to have stayed over a few days longer and gone to Lauwe (B day) and then home, but can't turn work down a the moment. So back Monday only to return to Belgium the next weekend, shit it's a hard life

ps Goldly, I assume someone has brought you in a laptop, so will post pic's asap get well sone fella

_________________
xxxx

Bikes packed, unfortunately I haven't got a leisurely cruise across the North Sea
It's a 5am start and a dash to Calais for me

Then the same again next weekend at Lauwe

We had a brilliant weekend in Assen. It was everything we hoped it would be - and more. For us, as Buell and Italian motorcycle enthusiasts, this was one of the best track based events we've ever been to.

Imagine an event were 90% of the bikes on the track are either European or American, and a good proportion of those are V-twins -

This event will become a regular 'must do' feature in the UKBEG events diary. As soon as next years Dutch Ducati Club Assen event is announced we will plan everything else around it.

Jane and I would like to thank Ronnie for suggesting this event and for his hospitality and kindness, and also UKBEG members, Richie and John, for sharing the weekend with us.

Our thanks also go to Jens Krüper of the German Buell Pegasus Race Team for sparing the time to talk to us. Jens passion and enthusiasm for Erik Buell's race bikes was clearly evident. Their rider, Harald Kitsch, certainly looked the business on both the 1125RR and 1190RR.

To make the weekend complete, Ronnie had pole position in qualifying for the Thunderbikes race and finished a very creditable 3rd in the race itself. With Buell 1125R's finishing 1st and 3rd in the Thunderbikes race and the Pegasus Buell 1125RR finishing 1st in the Sound of Thunder race 1, it made for exciting racing. Unfortunately we had to leave Assen before SOT race 2 so we don't know what the result was. I expect the Pegasus Twitter site will be updated in due course with that result.

We enjoyed good weather on both Friday and Saturday but Sunday's forecast showers arrived with a vengeance. Heavy downpours blighted the day and we rode through very bad weather between Amersfoort and Gorinchem, on the way back to Rotterdam. Still, it didn't dampen our spirits, we were still buzzing from the whole Assen experience.

Friday morning @ Twin Motorcycles, IJsselstein. We met Richie here and were shown around by Martin (Bud). A very professional business dedicated to the service, repair and tuning of Buell motorcycles.

Classic Buell models in their showroom...



Twinmotorcycles are main agents for Wakan - 160NM at the rear wheel...

Workshop...

Hi-tech Dyno room...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday afternoon @ Teo Lamers in Nijmegen - we visited our good friends at one of Europe's premier Moto Guzzi dealers.


Their 'as new' MK1 Le Mans - price on application...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our original intention was to camp in the paddock with Richie and John but a few weeks before setting off we decided to book a room in Assen. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel De Jonge. Superb food and Dutch hospitality - highly recommended.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday - we spent the full day at the TT Circuit, Assen....

Ronnie with his 1125R...

Saturday's qualifying resulted in pole position for Sunday's race...

Sunday's Thunderbike race, Buell 1125R's finish 1st (588 Bas Leek) and 3rd (71 Ronnie Kreeft)....

UKBEG sponsor names on Ronnie's 1125R...

Buell 1125R line-up...

Thunderbike race podium: 1st: Bas Leek (Buell 1125R), 2nd: Klaas Jan Bijkerk (Aprilia RSV Mille R), 3rd: Ronnie Kreeft (Buell 1125R)...


Pegasus Race Team EBR Buells...










Pit Box 11 contained 4 Buell 1125R's. Number 393 was ridden by Gilbert Backx and 119 by Jean-Claude Luijcx...



Dutch registered Buell spotted in the bike park...



Various Vyrus, fitted with Ducati 984 engines. The race versions were entered in the Sound of Thunder series....












And finally, two short videos by Jane ....



Sunday, 11.35 am, Thunderbikes race, Ronnie makes a flying start from pole position....

_________________
Chris & Jane Jessop
Founders of UKBEG April 1998

www.ukbuellgroup.co.uk

UKBEG thanks for the support,great weekend!!!

_________________
www.RocketRon.nl

Sounds like great time had by all well done Ronnie, sorry couldnt be there but plan to make it upto you ....to help you race more bit of a secret yet only me and GB in the know but if it works GREAT.......

PS GB is sworn to keeping his mouth ZIPPED

_________________
A12 XBS, B 15 OUT !!

Yep, great weekend, me (dickhead) left camara at home so only got a few snaps on my phone, but it looks like John, Chris and Jane took enough. Stayed up in Groningen with friends Sunday night to avoid the rain storms in the south. Looking forward to next weekend

_________________
xxxx

Rain! Plus hail & lightning for me as well on the way to Calais!!

Cleared up in Belgium, hopefully a good sign for next weekend

my first date withe a umbrellagirl

_________________
www.RocketRon.nl

start

_________________
www.RocketRon.nl

saturday freepractice

_________________
www.RocketRon.nl

mandeveen corner

_________________
www.RocketRon.nl

Wish i could have been there my friend that picture of you in the gravel reminded me of Croix

Back in hospital Friday so wont be at Lauwe now either

CJ, Bud and Dris's set it is awesome,me and Mo had a great time we we went there a couple of years ago.

it will have to be the BBQ now, but some of us are planning a trip to Bethune in August.


PS. Nice colours

_________________
I don't own a car.

you ok GB

_________________
xxxx

@ that time I thought about you @ croix graham

_________________
www.RocketRon.nl

Ok, here's a short summary for you guys.
Assen is actually the most important race worldwide for Twins - as long as Daytona does not offer e separate Twin-class.
For us it's the most important race of the year as the best European drivers meet there - and most of them are supported with factory-bikes (example the KTM RC8, the Ducati 1198)
As there are more strict noise limits in Assen than in our German series we had to prepare a special muffler setup - you've seen the picture in one of the posts above. We mapped the bike with this setup and went for a test-weekend to Oschersleben one week before Assen race. There we did the best laptime a Buell ever did - and I don't think an other Twin has reached this time ever in Oschersleben - it's been very promising and we had dry and warm conditions there.
But still we have problems with the head-gasket of the 1190 - it's ok for 1 Qualifying and a race - but not more. We have already spent a lot of time on this detail - and also Erik with his guys is working on this problem - but actually we don's have a lasting solution. So our plan was to got with the 1190 and the bastard-bike (partially 1125RR-B) to Assen and try to reach the podium in one of the races.
Assen welcomed us with dry conditions an we wanted to the technical inspection ASAP - but surprise - they tried to refuse the use of t-bikes. We had the luck that one of our competitors already got all the necessary stickers on race AND t-bike - and so we did. Noise has not been a problem with our pragmatic setup - it's just an added XB-muffler at the tail....
Ready for practice - but Harald did not show up - he called us that he will arrive on Friday due to a lumbago he had on Thursday morning - emergency had to show up as he could not move.
It's been quite a shock for us - because the best bike is nothing without a driver! But Harald did it, he showed up Friday morning,his teeth tightly pressed together. He had not a lot of experience on the track and we tried some changes in the setup to adapt the bike to the track. In one of the free practices Harald came in for a tire change when we thought the bike starts to burn - heavy smoke in the rear section - but it's been only Harald's boot which caught fire when he pressed it too tight to the connection tube of the second muffler.
Everything went well, we had a very good setup for dry-racing - but still no experience with the 1190 in the rain. And weather forecast announced rain for both races!
Then we went to Q1
http://www.raceresults.nu/uitslagen/2010/TT-Circuit/Int%20Ducati%20Clubraces/Q1%20Sound%20of%20Thunder.pdf
What an relieve - Harald did it, the 1190 was as competitive as we hoped! Motivation in the team went up!
But there has been a chance for the competitors to go for pole in Q2
http://www.raceresults.nu/uitslagen/2010/TT-Circuit/Int%20Ducati%20Clubraces/Q2%20%201%20Sound%20of%20Thunder.pdf
Haralds laptimes remained the quickest ones of the weekend - because we got the rain we feared for both races!
The 1190 had a too hard setup for rain conditions and Harald had no chance to get the power to the track. This allowed Paul Mooijman to pass him on the works KTM RC8R - because he had a very soft setup. It's been a very tight race because Gerald Perdon on his Ducati 1198 has always been in close contact to Harald and Paul. The race ended with Paul coming in in front of Harald and Gerald. The marshals called the first 10 bikes to the parc fermee for some inspections - and then we got the race result - Harald has been the winner as Paul did a jumpstart and got a penalty of 20 seconds which moved him to P3.
Race 1 results
http://www.raceresults.nu/uitslagen/2010/TT-Circuit/Int%20Ducati%20Clubraces/Race%20%201%20Sound%20of%20Thunder.pdf
We waited for the second race and changed to the bastard bike. Also there we had rain and after the start, Paul got in fron, followed by Gerald and Harald. Harald missed the additional hp's of the 1190 but he's a fighter and stayed in contact with the 2 guys in front of him until the race ended. Again the first 10 bikes were directly directed to the parc fermee and the marshals did their work. They proised to finish within 10 minutes - but it lasted more than 1 hour! they recognized, that most of the bikes exceeded the noise restrictions - except the bloody EBR 1190! Finally they decided not to apply the noise rule to keep the result as it's been.
Race 2 results
http://www.raceresults.nu/uitslagen/2010/TT-Circuit/Int%20Ducati%20Clubraces/Race%20%202%20Sound%20of%20Thunder.pdf
So we ended with one victory and one P3 in Assen - much more than we expected - but a result we dreamed about! As we've been the best bike of the race series in both races we got the full 25 points for each race and actually lead the Sound of Thunder series with 100 out of 100 possible points.
But after the race is ahead the race - we've to prepare new gaskets for the 1190, try to get it more reliable, prepare everything for the next races June 24.-27. in Oschersleben at the Festival Italia - and in between there is the famous Midsummernight-Meeting of the German Buellowners where the team displays some bikes.
Pictures and Videos will be available soon on the Team-webpage - as I've been not in Assen (someone has to work and earn the funds for the team) I did no pics and vids this time and have to wait until the DVD's are supplied by mail
Stay tuned - and ask for details if you're interested in something specific...