Northern Talent Cup returns to Oschersleben
JRP ACADEMY look back on a mixed bag of results on their return to Oschersleben.
With constant improvements throughout the weekend, technical issues that forced a bike change between Friday’s FP1 and FP2 sessions, an ideal lap time that could have put us on pole, a sofar best race finish, followed by a technical retirement, the last race meeting had a bit of everything.
Despite a few teething issues, the team is extremely pleased about all the progress rider and bike are making and the clear steps we are taking towards the front of the grid.
Anakin: “The free practice session went well and I felt comfortable on the bike. In QP1 I could qualify in 6th position but in QP2 I didn’t get a clean lap in and had to start the race from P9. I had a good start in the first race, managed to overtake two riders off the line and settled into a 4 rider group and ended up coming across the line in 7th. The team managed to find some improvements in setup for the second race giving me an even better feeling on the bike, allowing me to fight through the field into 4th at one point. Sadly, a faulty chain forced me to enter the pits towards the end of the race. My team fixed the problem allowing me to rejoin the race, but it was only enough for P19 in the end. We look ahead to round 4 with optimism as I am feeling more and more confident on the bike and Sachsenring is one of my favorite tracks. A massive thanks to my team and all my supporters!”
Alex: “We had a mixed weekend in Oschersleben. On the one hand we can be very pleased as we are really making progress with the bike and the base setting for Anakin, and Anakin himself is making massive progress compared to the lead group of riders. On the other hand we just can’t seem to shake this spell of bad luck that has been following us since hitting that patch of oil in round 1 in Assen. We were making steady improvements in the two free practice session, but made a real jump forward into P6 in first quali on Friday. We had great pace in second quali as well and our ideal lap time would have put us in pole position for both races, but we couldn't get a clean lap in so only qualified in 9th overall. Saturday afternoon rolled around and Anakin showed again what great racecraft he already possesses, overtaking two riders straight off the line, fighting to keep a group of three riders behind him and bringing home a 7th position. We made a small setup change going into race 2 that proved to be another step forward, giving Anakin that little extra feeling he needed to fight up into P4 by the end of the second or third lap. Again, he had a great race and stayed towards the front of that lead group until the chain came loose and jumped the sprocket. We managed to get him back out to collect some extra experience and gather up any remains from others crashing, but sadly only came away with a P19.”
Both the NTC and MiniGP teams are out again in two weeks time. Whilst the MiniGP’s have their second race meeting at Rechnitz in Austria, the NTC returns to the Sachsenring, where they will be joining MotoGP for round four of the 2023 season. Stay tuned for more news and follow both their journeys on our social media pages and web pages.
