Results of the first round of the European Supersport championship at Le Mans, France

Cold weather and poor organisation of the event dampened the spirits of the competitors in the first round of the 2001 European supersport championship , even though most of the riders knew what to expect from the ACO organisation after having braved the winter conditions last year.(the circuit of Le Mans)
At least the track was spared the massive flooding of the surrounding region, under water from the above average rainfall this month.
A full and very fast championship looks in the making , with many experienced riders on well prepared machines and in well supported teams giving a real professional touch to the paddock.
Fast Italian Alessio Corradi on a well sorted Yamaha R6 took pole position with a very fast 1'45"572 in the cold and slippery track conditions. Flying Dane Soren Hole on his rapid R6 was 2nd with 1'45"798 and Italian Gianluca Nannelli, who proved the rapidity of the 2001 748RS Ducati, took the 3rd place on the start grid.
First French rider was Matthieu Lagrive on another R6 in 4th place, 1'46"678, the Norwegian Andersson ,( another R6 ! ) then Sebastian Diss on the second Ducati in the top 10 with a 1'47"144 giving him the 6th spot on the grid. Spanish team RPM Expert's Ducati rider Xavier Rodriguez was close behind with 1'47"285, and, in 16th place, Stefan Folkesson with a 1'48"121.
Not quite as high up on the grill as we would have liked, but our hopes to improve in the second qualifying session with a slightly softer suspension set-up and tyres more suited to the 12° track temperature where thwarted by rain.
Once the qualifying was over with, Krister and myself prepared the bikes for the race. So far the 748's have been totally reliable, and have not missed a beat. ( Although a backfire on overrun had melted one of the air filters in the intake pipes we use in free practice, giving us a few worried moments until we found out what the puff of smoke had been......)
The weather forecast was pretty chaotic, normal for this time of year unfortunately, and we prepared for the worst. Sunday morning was cold and wet, although the feeble winter sun could be seen peeking out from behind the clouds scudding over the circuit in the icy wind. Stefan had slept badly, and had been in quite considerable pain from a bad stomach ulcer, irritated by the cold weather, but had gritted his teeth and ridden through the cramps.
Now however the pain was too much to ignore, and on the insistence of the circuit doctor we took Stefan to the very efficient hospital of Le Mans, which as luck would have it was a training hospital for nurses, soStefan was attended to by some delightful young ladies, and probably would have stayed there quite happily except that the sun had come out and the track had started to dry a little.
The medicine took effect slowly, and Stefan managed to get comfortable on the bike. The start was made with Dunlops new D208's on the mainly dry but cold ( 14° ) track.
We made a bad start, and were quite far down the field, working our way back up when the race was red flagged as the rain began to fall again. We were in 17th place, and changed to full wet tyres as the track was soaked.
Rejoining the start grill, however, the rain stopped falling, and a long, long wait while some spilt oil was cleaned off the track (with a toothbrush...?!!) led to dry patches starting to appear, starting some riders changing to intermediate rear tyres.
Perhaps if the track temperature had been higher we might have tried this, but with only 6 laps left of the race, we felt there was no real advantage to be gained, as the new Dunlop rain tyres are really good in these kind of treacherous conditions. Unfortunately we did another poor start and were last into the first corner!! Cursing, Stefan gave it everything he had and 6 laps latter he crossed the line in 8th place, giving us the 13th place overall. Stefan was disappointed but philosophical, and considering his stomach pain, pleased to have marked those essential points. The bikes ran fine, and all we really need to do now is practice getting our starts perfect.
It was a funny race. On one hand we were really pleased at how well everything worked out in the team, and we had next to no problems at all during the weekend , proof that good preparation is the key , and on the other hand there was the irritation at having to start the season at such a cold and uninteresting racetrack in miserable weather and at such a poorly organised event.
Le Mans in July would be acceptable, but March..........
In all fairness to the organisation, in general the track marshals were very competent, and the staff tried to help as much as possible, but it seems as if one or several key members of the 'organisation' have lost the plot, as much of the chaos was in the administration side of things, and frankly, for a race meeting with pretensions of being " European ", there are a lot of holes to plug.
Still, it's always easy to criticise from a distance. Lets just hope that next year they wake up a bit and smell the cheese.....
( Hopefully Dunlop will have their new snow and ice tyres ready for 2002....!! )

Next round is in warm, sunny Italy at Vallelunga the 29th April