Mike Betz, founder of the German Scooter Forum, participates in class 5 races of the European Scooter Challenge (ESC) as a member of the SIP Scootershop racing team since this season.
After participating in largeframe classes for years, he is now into his first racing season on a smallframe and it certainly begins to pay off despite the rather enormous task of adjusting to the new scooter.
As expected, the season start proved to be unspectacular as there was literally no time to get used to the new scooter. Nevertheless, Mike was already able to achieve a mid-range position.
The second race at Wackersdorf already gave a hint at the trend that would characterize the rest of the season. While he was still positioned in the mid-range during the qualifying, Michael worked his way all up to 3rd position right at the beginning of the first run. Too bad he had to give up the chase towards the end of the run due to a blown tire. Despite starting the second run from the last row of the grid, Michael still made his way up to 4th position.
The positive trend culminated in the third ESC run at Emsbüren. Once again, Mike started from a mid-range position in the first run as the qualifying had to be stopped because of oil on the track which prevented any further attempts on satisfying lap times. During the first run, Mike was finally able to get to 1st position after a couple of thrilling duels. He maintained the leader position all the way to the finishing line. In the second run, Mike started from 1st position and was able to gain a comfortable lead during the race. When rain suddenly set in and the track turned pretty slippery, Mike crashed during the penultimate lap. However, he was able to take home another victory effortlessly thanks to his lead.
We are looking forward to a continued successful season for Mike and the SIP racing team!
More information on the ESC:
http://eurochallenge.vs2052049.vserver.de/
Video of the race at Emsbüren:
Posted
Aug 18 2009, 02:15
by
Ralf