Last weekend the EAB Racing Team and Glenn van Straalen rode his fifth race of the season in the World Supersport Championship on the spectacular circuit of Donington Park. The EAB Racing Team rider showed good speed all weekend but the results were disappointing.
Two free practice sessions were scheduled on Friday. Temperature around twenty degrees with sun and clouds there were perfect conditions. During the first free practice there were some problems but they were solved during the second practice. Glenn immediately had good speed and we saw him back in second place in the ranking.
The Superpole was excellent from the rider from Hoogkarspel who rode several fast laps and worked his way up to third place. He was even on provisional Pole Position but eventually dropped back to third place. On his last lap, where Glenn was on his way to improve his time, he crashed in the last corner before the start and finish. Nevertheless, he managed to qualify on the front row of the grid.
The first race on Saturday afternoon started half an hour later after some delay due a red flag situation. Glenn started from third position and had a good start. It was a hectic first lap, but Glenn managed it. He passed the first lap in seventh place. From here on he began his advance forward. He overtook some riders and battled it out for third position in the race. Going into the last lap Glenn was in fourth place but when attempting to overtake in the Fogarty Esses it went wrong, he lost control of the machine and was thrown off his bike resulting in a nasty crash. But luckily he was unhurt.
The start of the second race was good, Glenn came through in sixth place during the first lap. He had the right pace and was able to keep up, unfortunately when braking at the Melbourne Hairpin he crashed. Which unfortunately means another zero score
Glenn: “We have shown that the speed is good but with two zero scores we cannot be satisfied at all. The free practice sessions went well and were in good shape after Friday. During Superpole we were able to make some improvements and I qualified third for the two races. The first race was good and I was consistently in the top five, but unfortunately I crashed on the last lap. Race two was short, I braked to late in, which again brought the race to an early end. I want to thank the EAB Racing Team for their hard work. Now the focus is on Most.”
In two weeks’ time Glenn and the EAB Racing team will be back. Then they settle in the Czech Republic. Then we will race at Autodrom Most in the weekend of 29 to 31 July. Glenn recently raced here with a wildcard in the IDM Championship.
