The Swedish Synsam Trophy and the European Supersport Championship 2001 After Mantorp, we were back to 7th in the Championship.
It is such a tightly contested championship, with such close racing, that the slightest error or "bad day" and poor result is enough to parachute the rider down the standings.
The next race after Mantorp was the third European Championship round at Hungary, on the 27th of May at the Hungaroring near Budapest.
This circuit is like a grand scale Ledenon, but with better facilities and hot showers.
Qualifying was good, with 44° track temperatures and 26° air. Stefan qualified 10th and made a good start, 8th in the first corner, then fought up to 5th place, until, 3 laps before the end, the bike began to misfire, eventually traced to a defective mercury switch for the fuel pump cut-out.
This was a pretty annoying way to D.N.F. Next race, and different type of fuel pump cutout switch, a 7th place at Karlskoga in Sweden on the 3rd of June, made up a little for the disappointment in Hungary.
Karlskoga is a bumpy and very twisty track, not really suited to the Ducati, but Stefan tried as hard as he could to hold on to 7th place in the championship, tough against the more agile R6's.
Then, the long trek down to a very hot and sunny Croatia on the 10th of June, a 6th place by French R6 rider Mathieu Lagrive, and a good 8th place for Stefan after a race long battle with wild sliding Ducati star Gianluca Nanneli, who finished just in front of Stefan.
Michael Schulten, with Corradi 2nd, won the race. Next for me was a Protwin race at Lédenon, with Patrick Portas on good form despite the total lack of riding he has had this year and finished in 10th place with his hybrid 996RS engine housed in a 748RS chassis.
It was great to see Fred Protat in fine form, slipping yet another title of French Superbike Champion into his already impressive portfolio. David Muscat's unusual way of winning the French Supersport Championship (crash !) was complemented by Sebastien Diss's fast and furious 2nd place on the podium and the National supersport title .
Pretty dominant run on the Superbike and Supersport titles in France for Ducati. Assen and the Dutch TT on Saturday the 30th of June was the next round.
Run as support races to the Grand Prix, the race attracts over 100 000 spectators and the atmosphere is terrific. Stefan qualified 12th, not as high as he had hoped, as Assen really suits the Ducati, and he's been on the Podium at Assen in 2000, so hopes were high.
A poor start put us 15th in the first lap, but by mid-course he was closing on the 5th place, when at the chicane before the start finish straight, 3 laps before the end, he ran onto oil or water left from a CBR 600 which had crashed there two laps earlier, and lost the front end, sliding out of the race.
No real damage, but very disappointed at the missed opportunity to mark really big points. Mathieu Lagrive rode a great race to finish third, behind Alessio Corradi and Michael Schulten, winner of the race.
Falkenberg in Sweden on July the 8th was next, with a storming 2nd place, Stefan cutting through the field to his 2nd podium of the season after 11th place in the qualifying. This heartened the team, and brought us up to 4th place in the Championship.