Chris' Stuff: Terreblanche is looking forward to this coming weekend's GP of Limburg with a fair measure of anticipation.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Terreblanche is looking forward to this coming weekend's GP of Limburg with a fair measure of anticipation.

TERREBLANCHE RARING TO GO AT GP OF LIMBURG

29 JULY 2009

Shannon Terreblanche has completed countless training laps during his European sojourn, but it would be fair to say that far and away the most of these laps were clicked off in the deep sands of Lommel in Belgium. It is there fore no wonder that the South African is looking forward to this coming weekend's GP of Limburg at the selfsame venue with a fair measure of anticipation.

Shanter's final race preparation for the Belgian event involved an outing to the fifth round of the ADAC MX masters series in Tensfeld, Germany. The terrain at Tensfeld is rough and sandy, which should under normal circumstances have played right into his hands, but fortune did not favour the Sturm Kawasaki rider on the weekend, and he was unable to turn this to his advantage.

Despite being totally unfamiliar with the track, Shanter started his race weekend of well. In a quality field, which most notably included the factory Suzuki pairing of Ken de Dycker and Steve Ramon, he qualified sixth fastest, one of his best ever qualifying results in the series. He barged his way straight into a top 10 position at the start of race 1 on Sunday, and for the first few laps raised quite a number of eyebrows with his ride, forging ever forward. After a few laps, though, he started slowing markedly, and it was clear that something was amiss. ALthough he was clearly experiencing difficulties, he kept plugging away, and finally crossed the line in 14th position.

Back in the pits, Shannon revealed that the bike was spluttering intermittently, and at unpredictable intervals. This led t him being fearful of committing to some of the bigger jumps on the track, lest the bike lost power at a critical moment, which held every possibility of depositing him on his conk - not a prospect to relish. The problem was traced to the fuel injection system on the bike which had, on a few occasions during the season, provided the team mechanics with some cause to vent their spleens, and without the benefit of a full replacement system in the spares kit, they did as best they could to rebuild the system by borrowing from the spare bike.

A worse start in race 2 gave Shannon a bit of work, and again he charged into the top 10 like a man on a mission. It was not long, though, before the problems resurfaced. If anything, the symptoms were now worse, and in the interests of safety, he retired from the race. He was naturally bitterly disappointed at not having been able to prove his mettle on a surface that suits him, and the nineteenth overall on the day did not give him much reason for cheer either. The only ray of light is that, despite his problems, he had still collected enough points in the first race to advance a few positions to 21st in the championship standings.

The team have gone all out to resolve the technical problems once and for all, and the anticipation is high that the South African will have a trouble-free GP on his "home" track in Belgium.