UEM Pro Stock Bike

Jesper Thiel was a win waiting to happen all last year having qualified on pole at half of the meetings on the UEM tour. The wait was ended in pretty emphatic fashion at the season opener, and was perhaps on the cards from the moment the ultra professional Sovereign Pro Stock Bike team rolled into the pits. With two G2 Buells, the second ridden by Rasmus Olesen, a Suzuki for Hungarian rider László Papp, and pre-event testing with Star Racing’s George Bryce in attendance, a low qualifying 7.174 for Thiel set the tone for the rest of the weekend. Eliminations appeared to be a breeze, a Euro record threatening 7.087/186 in the first round being numbers that we’re pretty sure no one expected from the Kunmadaras track, and to prove it was no fluke, a sweet 7.097 in the final underlined the championship favourite tag that the Dane will carry for the rest of the season.

Runner-up to Thiel, Karl Lyrén is also in his second season in UEM Pro Stock Bike competition, and the Veidec rider had a weekend to remember with a string of 7.2s placing him second on the qualifying ladder (a 7.230 being his best). Lyren defeated local racer Andrea Matuzik and Brit Martin Bishop (another setting PBs over the weekend – it was a good track for the stockers) on his way to the final, and a quarter final bye produced the Swedish racer’s best pass yet with a 7.213. Problems with the clutch pin just prior to the final caused a bit of a thrash to turn the bike around in time, but needing to get an advantage off the startline against Thiel, Lyrén took a shot at the tree and just missed by 11 thousands of a second. A new bike beckons for Lyrén and he’ll head to the later rounds on an upbeat note.