Dutch GP: TSR Race first qualifying notes

TSR Race
World Championship Grand Prix Rd. 7
125cc #50 Andrea "Ballero" BALLERINI

GAULOISES DUTCH TT
Day 1 Thu 27th June 2002

We come here to Assen, situated 200kms North of Amsterdam, for round seven of this year's World Championship. After the good results made at both Mugello and Catalunya we are looking to improve our performance and score a result in the Top Ten.

For this year Assen has been modified to accommodate a larger paddock area resulting in the circuit becoming slightly shorter and faster.

FREE PRACTICE -1
Position: 28th
Time: 2.17.980
No. of Laps 15
Best Lap 15

With heavy overnight rain, this Free Practice session started with a damp track making the first 15 minutes slow as the track was drying out. With scattered clouds in the sky the track was soon dry and the lap times started to fall.

One problem was strong winds and this affected Andrea badly as he did not feel comfortable and could not push hard and we ended the session in the lowly position of 28th. The session was a disappointment but as Andrea admitted the problem was with him and not the machine, we can hope for a better session this afternoon.

QUALIFYING PRACTICE -- 1
Position: 17th
Time: 2.13.792
No. of Laps 13
Best Lap 11

With slight rain coming just before the session started, the weather could have made problems for this session but luckily no more rain came and the session was completed in full dry conditions. The wind had also dropped and so the problem for Andrea had disappeared and rightly he improved by a staggering 4.2 seconds from this morning.

Having started the session on Machine B he was soon into the pits to make a change, while this was being done he took machine A, but this was his last visit to the pits as he stayed out on machine A to the end of the session. Lap by lap his times came down posting his best lap on lap 11, with signs of improving on his last lap while running behind Kallio and Poggiali only to have a front end slide half way round the lap spoiling the chance.

Andrea was now happy with the machine, but suffered small tyre problems now his pace had dramatically improved. With changes being made for tomorrow, he is confident to improve his times again to climb up the grid.

-tsr-