Good speed but not the results for EAB Racing Team and Glenn van Straalen in Indonesia

The second race weekend was on the programm in the weekend from 3 to 5 March. This time the venue was the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit in Indonesia. Glenn was up to speed but was unable to convert this into the wanted results. He leaves Indonesia with an eleventh and a DNF.

In tropical conditions with temperatures around thirty degrees, it was a tough weekend for rider and machine. A well-known problem on the circuit in Mandalika is the grip. So the EAB Racing Team is also affected by this, there was a lot of dust on the track and the racing line was quite narrow.

During the first free practice session on Friday morning, Glenn and the team decided to skip the first part of the session due to the grip problem. The last part of practice Glenn went out and was happy with the feeling on the Yamaha YZF-R6. He took this feeling to the second free practice. He had small problems but showed a great pace. After the training sessions, we see the Dutchman back in ninth place on the timesheet.

Conditions on Saturday morning were much better. During Superpole, Glenn manages to improve his lap time from the previous day by one second. With a seventh place in qualifying, he was able to start from the third row during the two races.

Saturday afternoon, 12:00 local time, the lights turned green for the first race of the weekend. It was a strong race but was not rewarded in the end. The 22-year-old rider soon got into a good rhythm and showed himself strongly in the group fighting for fifth place. In the penultimate lap he came into contact with another rider, resulting in a crash. Despite the crash, Glenn was able to pick up the bike and eventually finished in eleventh place.

Sunday’s race was very unfortunate. During the start the Yamaha rider was pushed out wide in the first corner, so Glenn end up on the dirty part of the track. Because of this he lost a lot of time and places. The Dutchman was in the midfield, between the drivers who do not drive the same pace. A mistake in the second round resulted in a crash and a zero score.

Glenn van Staalen: “We show that we have the right pace, but the two races this weekend were very unlucky. During the free practice sessions we immediately got up to speed and we were able to take a seventh starting position during Superpole. The first race was good. I felt strong and managed to ride a good rhythm fighting for fifth place in the race. On the penultimate lap we were hit by another rider, resulting in a crash. I was able to pick up the bike and eventually finished in eleventh place. In race two I got in contact with a rider in the first corner and lost a lot of time. An mistake in the second lap resulted in a crash resulting in a zero score. Not the weekend we had hoped for.”

The back-to-back races in Australia and Indonesia are done. We will be back on European soil in a month and a half. Then our home race in Assen is scheduled. In the weekend from 21 to 23 April, the WorldSBK will be at the TT Circuit in Assen for the third round of the championship.