Duet...
Last weekend the motor-racing circuit in Mjachkovo hosted the third race of The Russian Cup. The competitions took place on the same day with car-racing series and traditionally made motorcyclists worry a little because of oil stains on the track left after the car-races. The technical track maintenance service did it best to bring the circuit in order and the motor-races went off well.
The team “Yakhnich Motorsport” decided to take part in two classes last weekend: on Saturday they had the qualification and the race in Superstock women and the qualification in STK 600 immediately after that. On Sunday they were to participate in the race (STK 600) together with men.
During the first training laps all the pilots were exploring the track like sappers with the object of detecting the oil stains. That was why they didn’t record very good time. But in the qualification it was possible to ride at full speed. In the joint race of STK women and SSP 400 the girls of the team “Yakhnich Motorsport” took the first positions on the start grid: Natalya Lubimova took the pole position with her time 1;53.136, Nadezhda Yakhnich – the second position (1:54.469). The third position was occupied by Ludmila Korkina (1:55.830), the fourth – by Tatjana Semenova (1:57.294). Svetlana Matjushkina got the eighth position (2:02.232) and Ekaterina Rutskova – the eleventh position (2:11.008).
Natalya Lubimova did well at the start and took the lead of the race being followed by Nadezhda Yakhnich. In the first turn Tatjana Semenova won back the third position. The pilots of YM set high pace of the race and left all the pilots behind.
Natasha: “I was as nervous before the start as never before, for it was my first pole in life! I sat a goal to win the start and ride steadily all the race. It was also my first experience of holding the lead in the race. I felt very uncomfortable. All race long I realized that Nadja was behind my back, so I had constantly to defend myself. I thank Nadja for the interesting race! We congratulate all the girls on the Finish!”
Results of the race (STK women):
- Lubimova Natalya (1:50.095)
- Yakhnich Nadezhda (1:51.267)
- Semenova Tatjana (1:53.538)
- Korkina Ludmila (1:54.130)
- Matjushkina Svetlana (2:00:300)
- Rutskova Ekaterina (2:06.465)
After the award ceremony the girls took part in the qualification STK 600. Having slackened her pace, Natalya Lubimova got the ninth position on the start grid (1:53.299). Nadja Yakhnich got the tenth position (1:53.383) having yielded 4 seconds to her rivals.
The first day of the eventful weekend was successful. What is in store for our team on Sunday?