Racing bloggen

Good Evening
Today the timed practise started and I finally got my first free laps of the course. The first lap on my own without any Marshall was a little bit nervous. It took about a half lap to get used to the highspeed of riding a motorcycle around instead of going in 55 mph with a rental car. The bike was shaking all over the track but after a lap you got used to it and rode more relaxed. But on my second lap it started to rain a little bit so I really did not dare to go as qucik as I wanted through some areas. My third lap was even worse because of the rain and I saw 4 riders crashed around the course so I took it really really slowly. But anyway I had a minor moment when I almost highsided out of a corner in a place after Glen Helen section. It reminded me of not being stupied and to be as smoth as possible when riding.
Tomorrow follows an other day of timed practise and we will see if we can make some more adjustments to the bike and get more used to the course.
Good night friends. / Christer

God kväll mina vänner!
Första kvällen är avklarad med tidtagning. Första varvet kändes stelt och kantigt och det tog nästan ett helt varv att acklimatisera sig till de höga hastigheter som det går i. 5 ans och 6 ans växel nästan hela tiden, vilket är viss skillnad mot att tävla på banor hemma i Sverige där jag använder 2 an och 3 an oftast.
Hur som helst så funkade andra varvet bättre och jag började köra mer avslappnat och lät motorcykeln studsa och fara istället för att kämpa emot. Mot slutet av varvet började det regna uppe på berget vilket tog ner tempot något. Till det tredje varvet justerade mekanikerna något på framgaffeln och jag bytte hjälm till klart visir istället för mörkt. Regnet tilltog och nu regnade det nästan runt hela banan. 4 kraschade hojar låg utefter banan i vätan och jag försökte verkligen slå av på tempot för att inte råka ut för olustigheter.
109 mph blev snabbaste varvet för dagen vilket känns bra med tanke på att det inte blev något tränande i lördags då motorcykeln inte gick som den skulle. Värdefulla varv missades då och det tar ett antal varv för att bygga upp farten och samtidigt behålla säkerheten. Men jag räknar med att fortsätta utveckla hoj och bankännedom allteftersom veckan fortlöper.
Nu blir det ett varmt bad för att återfå känslan i kroppen då det är snorkallt hela tiden här på ön.
Vi hörs imorgon kväll igen.
Sov gott och kram. / Christer

Ciao.
Sunday, rain, windy and chilly. No practise today. Have spent the day with training, inlines, watching WSBK on Eurosport. Some hours of walking. And at the moment reading a of James Toselands history. Will probably take an other walk later in the evening if it stops raining.
Regards / Christer

Hej hej.
Jaha, en söndag som hemma i Sverige. Blåsigt, kallt, regnskurar, grått och ruggigt.
Har spenderat dagen med situps, armhävningar, inlines, promenerande och tittande på Superbike VM på Eurosport. Avkoppling med att läsa böcker om James Toseland och om Konspirationer och hemliga sekter.
Igår skrev jag att jag skulle ut med teamet på kvällen på något disco. Var där och lämnade in jackan och gick ett varv innan jag checkade ut igen och tog en promenad i mörkret på ett par timmar istället. Det kändes mer lockande än stimmet och röken i lokalen. Dessutom så är mitt jobb och fokusen på att köra motorcykel och göra det så bra som möjligt, så hjärnan har svårt för att koppla av och hamna i dimma som alla andra kan.
Saknar bil här på ön för att förflytta mig runt och se mig omkring så det blir långa promenader istället vilket är underbart skönt och man somnar gott på kvällarna.
Idag bryr jag mig inte om att stressa mekanikerna i depån, utan låter de fixa till allt på egen hand och förväntar mig att allt skall fungera imorgon måndag när träningarna åter börjar.
Fryser konstant gör jag också. Attans väder. Jag som önskade värme och sol. Måste nog inhandla varmare kläder ikväll.
Imorgon kommer rapporten efter kvällsträningen och då hoppas jag att det är mer inriktat mot racingen och upplevelser på banan.
Ha en bra vilodag.
Kram / Christer

Ciao.
First I will tell about the fantastic things. Yesterday evening I went with my teamboss and one of the riders to Live Interviews on the Radio Manx. Good promotion stuff, but after that we went for see the practise of the Classic RR of Southern 100. Emazing to see them run flatout with old bikes. I am impressed.
Now todays business. My first free practise where just to start. I let the clutch go and came approx 10 meters. The bike died! A new attempt, same thing happened again. Bloody hell. My mechanics worked hard and find two errors. Cables for TPS and the tilt sensor where not properly monted. I had to wait till the final minutes of the practise before I got my lap behind the marshall. Then I found out that the clutch was slippering and that it was raining on the mountain.
Now we need to solve the problems for mondays practise, but tonight we will go out together and have some fun.
Speak to you tomorrow / Christer

Hej hej.
Vilken dag! Säsongen vill verkligen inte komma igång på allvar. Det skall fortsätta att strula med allt. Nu ville inte hojen jag åker på här fungera som den skall. Knappt 10 meter kom jag innan den dog. Mekanikerna rev det mesta och fann två fel och därefter fungerade den skapligt så att jag fick mitt obligatoriska varv bakom föråkare. Men under det varvet började kopplingen slira och sedan kom regnet också på berget vilket gjorde det hela ännu mera spännande. Setupen var stenhård och jag formligen studsade fram över vissa partier. Någon hade tappat bort inställningarna från förra året så vi får börja om med allt igen.
Igår kväll var det skoj för då var vi och tittade på veterantävling på södra delen av ön. Wow vilka entusiaster. Gubbar med lik till bilar och husvagnar och lik till hojar att köra med, men glöden i deras ögon gick inte att ta miste på. Jag log hela kvällen när jag sett detta. Mysigt och underbart att se den livsglädjen som utspelades.
Imorgon mekas det hoj och det har lovats att allt skall fungera på måndag.
Ha en underbar kväll.
Mvh Christer

Ciao.

I have just arrived to the Isle of Man today and are trying to get acclimated as soon as possible. I went directly to the paddock for visiting my team and teammates and also took a look at my bike.
Not a lot other happeneds today, so I am walking around in Douglas, visiting internet cafes and other shops ( no pubs!! )
Later on in the evening I will go for some inlines for an hour or two before going to bed.
Speak to you tomorrow again when the first free practise starts.
Regards
Christer

Hej.
Har idag anlant till on och forsoker acklimatisera mig sa snabbt som mojligt. Traffade teamet i depan och de jobbade for fullt med hojen min och det sag harmoniskt och mysigt ut. Dessutom stod mina VM Endurance vanner Bolliger fran Schweiz bredvid och det gjorde det hela annu mer avslappnat.
Imorgon borjar traningarna for min del som rookie har pa on och jag ser mycket fram emot att fa borja gasa hoj pa riktigt igen.
Vi hors en svang imorgon igen.
Kram pa er alla!!

Ciao!

What a terrible weekend! Everything that could go wrong, went wrong in the second race of the year in the Swedish SBK Championship.
Two days before the race weekend I got a new bike. The bike were not sorted out. The frontfork did not work properly, than the rear shock broke and my mechanics had to work all day and nights to solve the problems for me.
Then in the race, half way through in a disastrous 9th place the right hand handlebar went loose and the race was over.
Luckily I did not crash, but we lost some really important points in the championship.

Now my superb mechanics has to work overtime preparing the bikes till next time I will ride again. All things must be sorted out than!

At this moment I am really disapointed over the weekend and the lost of important points, but I am really impressed over my team!!!
Without guys like Pier, Terje, Mats and Eilert I would not be talking to you anymore. Than I had quit racing and bought my self a fishingboat and went to Atlantic Ocean for a year or two. But these guys brings me hope and they never give up and they are always smiling. Unbeliveble!
Please if you read this, send them a sign in my guestbook, they are the best in the world.

On Friday I will arrive to the Isle of Man for the oncoming TT. Wow, I am really longing for this after all that has happend this season.
It will be nice to meet my team over there and to join them and have some really nice time for a couple of weeks.

Speak to you soon!
Regards / Christer

Ciao.

Sorry for not updating my blogg before at this moment. I am really sorry for that, but this last week has been one of the busiest ever. New apartment, new local for the racingteam etc.

But I can tell you that I took 2.nd place in the opening race of the Swedish SBK Championship held in Knutstorp last weekend.
I am normally not happy with second place, but at this time I was that, because of all the problems we had the weekend.
We were struggeling with all types of problems and my qualifing ended in 9th place!! One of my worst results ever!
So we had to find a plan for the race and the solution was…… Use my old Suzuki K3 which I won with in 2003, 2004, 2005.
Ok, it is a really old bike, but I know it really well and had to do something big in changes, and there were nothing more to do, than to make a chance on this bike instead of my brand new K7.

From the start I had to fight from 7th place into first corner and up through the field. The race was held over 28 laps that suited me well with my endurance experience and my feeling on going quick with well used tyres. The plan worked well and in the last 10 laps I moved up from 6th place to 2.nd, just by keeping on pushing and making consistant laptimes, while the others started to struggle.

What can I say? I will tell you that we must work really hard this coming week to find a solution to the chassieproblems with the new bike.
On wednesday we will be at my hometrack in Karlskoga and make some testing and hopefully we will work in right direction, because next race is 3 days later.

Best Regards
Christer

Ciao.

Glad to be back home again after a 10 day tour around Europe.
Immediately after the cancelled race in Sweden I flew to Jerez in Spain to join the 10th edition of Masterbike. This is the biggest sportbike test of the year where the best 600cc, 750cc and 1000cc bikes will be tested to their limits. And only one bike will be the winner!

I really can not tell you which bike did win the final, but I can tell you some favourites of mine.
Triumph 675 was a small brilliant bike with really nice engine.
The new Yamaha R1 made some impression on me that lasted. But my favourite bike was for sure the new Ducati 1098S. Wow what a nice bike to look at and to ride!

For you guys who do not know about Masterbike I can tell you that 18 journalists from all over the world enticipated.
Names like Randy Mamola ( former 500cc GP rider ), Jurgen Fuchs ( former 250cc GP ) and Stephan Chambon ( VCH in 2001 SSP 600 rider ) + a lot of other well known names made this event to a real race right from the beginning.
You could see that on the first day out on track. There were 4 crashes! A lot of prestige between us riders of course.
But the week was splended and in a short while you will read in your contries motorcycle magazines about the test and the winner.

On Saturday I arrived back to Sweden and went directly to a exhibition in Trollhättan. It was a event called “Bike Dagar” with a lot of fun stuff.
And can you imagine that I had to join a event where I had to set a good lap time on a gocarttrack with a 50cc minibike and people had to try and beat the time set by me.
For me it was a race as everything else in my life and already on my third lap I crashed into the wall and after that even 7 more crashes before I was happy with the time.
At the end of the day with only 20 min left There came a real American boy and beat my time by 0,3 s! Congrats to him and a brand new helmet!

Now there is office stuff to do before next race in the Swedish Champ next weekend.
All my desk is full of invoices, bills, post etc. And the e-mailbox shows 248 new e-mails to check.

Speak to you soon again!
Christer

Hi

At the moment I am really frustrated, due to many reasons.
One is that I am still longing for the raceseason to go off and up to speed. The other reason is….. Hmm, how to say it diplomaticly without getting sued.?? ( Maybe I should contact my lawyer first before wrighting this? )

The first race should be held at Sturup Raceway last weekend. ( That is good news. ) The track has been there for years, but it was the first time for motorcycles to be there racing. So we where 19 riders at the track and we saw something that you really don´t like when you ride motorcycle.
The track it self looked ok. Nice layout and quite twisty track. But with one mayor problem!! The safety for riders!!
For everybody how has never ridden a motorcycle in highspeeds at the limit fighting with a dussin of other racers with all body pumped up with adrenalin, it is not easy to talk about risks at tracks. But for us racers who has been in the business for some years, you really know what can happened and what will happened, when you less expect it to do so.
In that case you need safety around tracks. Run off areas, gravel pits etc, for our protection when misstakes happendes.
This was the problem last weekend at Sturup.
The real problem in this case was that the track was legalised by Svemo ( Swedish Motorcycle Asso. ), but all riders at place refused to race here right from the beginning.
After a lot of meetings due the weekend, all of us riders together with Svemo made a new inspection of the track and told our point of view and after that the track was cancelled for racing due to safety reasons.

There is some other aspects of this.
The track owner has invested a lot of money in safety and belived that his investments were good enough. And that was also the case before all 19 riders had inspected the track themselfs.
I really fell sorry for the owner of the track, I fell sorry for the STCC organisation and I feel sorry for the TV for not having anything to show on TV from motorcycle racing. I also fell sorry for the media and all the people coming to see all of us LIVE at the track.
BUT I WILL NOT PLAY WITH SAFETY!!!
If this must happended for saving lifes or stopping people to get really badly hurt, then there is noting to argue about. SAFETY must be the most important in our sport!!
We are stupied idiots anyway going out crashing and hurting ourselves at moments, but that is calculated risks that you know will be there. And we spend so much money for riding motorcycles and racing, just because it is the best thing in our lifes to do!! All of us can suffer much economicly and in other ways around, just for beeing able to ride motorcycles.
But if you start backing from safety once, than you will have big problems in the future.
Sad But True

Now, I will leave for Jerez in Spain for testing all the new sportbikes of the year.

Best Regards
Christer