Central Coast’s own Glenn Scott, has continued his world championship campaign at one of the oldest tracks on the calendar, the TT Circuit Assen, in the Netherlands. The weekend was nothing short of eventful but Scott managed to hold his head high whilst improving and pushing though the field to secure a 25th placing finish at the popularly named ‘Cathedral of Speed’.
“Assen is a great circuit to race at, and the racing there is always a spectacle for the fans. A home race for my team and team mate made it all the more special”.
What is usually a rainy race weekend, sunshine managed to cover the Assen circuit all weekend. The only hindrance being the cold early mornings trying to get the bike out on track – but that was managed carefully by Glenn and his Agro-on Benjan Kawasaki racing team. Fridays practice sessions were the coldest of the weekend, being only between 6-10 degrees. In the morning it was only the last 10 minutes that the team were able to get out on track, but with only the very few laps they had, they managed to secure a 1.45.3, putting Scott in 17th. This was a solid and promising base for Scott and the team to work with for the rest of the weekend. Scott continued improving nearly 3 seconds every session over the course of the weekend whilst ironing out weaknesses in himself and the bike.
Scott and the Agro-on team had their eyes set on a 1.39 for qualifying and they managed to do just that with a 1.39.7. Although his grid position of 30th may not have been what he hoped for with that time, he was only sitting 3 seconds off pole sitter, factory Yamaha rider Florian Marino. This just shows the depth in talent and competitiveness within the class, as there is only 4 seconds separating first and last on the grid.
“Our improvements over the weekend, we’re something to be proud of. We had a few niggles with the bike that followed us all weekend and it wasn’t until after the race that we realised we had been chasing the wrong problem and there were also still a few issues within myself that I had to work on. Nevertheless, the team and myself improved nearly 7 seconds over the 2 days in the four practice sessions and we were pretty happy with that”.
Scott managed to get a great start for the race, for it then to be red-flagged after only just one lap due to a serious crash between 3 of the riders. The race was then restarted 30 minutes later for a 9 lap dash to the finish. Glenn made his way to 26th on the 8th lap and on the 9th lap he managed to pip the rider in front of him on the finish line to finish 25th for the Assen round.
Glenn and his team send their best wishes and for a speedy recovery to Marvin Fritz who was seriously injured in the crash.
“Another race finished and more experience gained. Being three seconds from the front is a great feeling and a huge improvement from round 1. Unfortunately, we struggled to improve in the race, but sometimes that just happens and we have to build on that and take what we’ve learnt, both positive and negative, into the next round at Imola in 10 days’ time. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with my team to enhance my riding and the bike in the next race”.
“Big thankyou to my team and sponsors for their continuous support and hard work”.
Round 3 of the STK1000 championship continues in Imola, Italy from 12th-14th May.
