This is the section were You can read about almost all we do..... sometimes before it´s happening, mostly during and sometimes after....

 

2012.05.09

This weekend we took part in the Pro Superbike race together with the Swedish Car Championship at Mantorp Park. This was not our plan from the beginning, as we had a lot to do in the workshop. But when Team Backlund / CaWalli took contact with Fredrik and asked if he could replace Filip Backlund this race, as Filip is still not 100% ok from his shoulder surgery some weeks ago, Freddie thought ok, it´s fun to ride bikes so why not :) So said and done, and this time Fredrik should be riding a new bike for him, Filip´s Kawasaki ZX10, so all new things for him.

There is very short of time out on the circuit these races as they share the track with car racing, so this made it a bit harder for Fredrik. Normally he has no problem jumping from one bike to another, but he is not "superman" so of course he need some time to adjust, and when it is a new bike for him it takes some time. But as there is so short of time on these races he has to learn quickly and some settings there are not time to test, so the only thing is to find something really fast that might work and then do the best of it.

On friday there was a 30-minutes long testing session, valuable time for Fredrik and the team as it is the longest session. It went ok for Fredrik and he was 2nd fastest after the session was over. After this it was some hours brake before the qualification for 20 minutes. After some more laps on this new bike for him he ended up at 4th on the grid for the race later that day, and that one ended with 3rd place over the finish line. Fredrik was not so happy with that, but an ok start for this race as he has not been riding very little for almost one year except last weekend at Anderstorp, so we thought it was a good first race on this bike for him.

Saturday and even less time on the track, strange timeschedule on these events I have to say. Well, anyway, the morning started with a 10 minutes warm up session, a bit cold so not any special laptimes this session.  To the race Freddie was now going to start as 3rd on the grid as they started after laptimes from the race yesterday. Made an ok start, had the 2nd place for some laps but then slipped down to 3rd and that position he held over the finsh line. Ok finish anyway and ok result over the weekend with this new bike. We hope the team is happy anyway, even that we had hoped to give you some better positions :)

Thank you for this oppurtunity for Fredrik to try a different bike, and we have had a nice weekend together with you all, a huge Thank you to all in the Team Backlund / CaWalli.

See you soon again / Watz Racing


2012.05.08

Finally, after a really long time we are back with some reports of what we are doing :) The 2012 season has now started. We do not have any special plans for this year what races we should take part in and so on, we have decided that we are going to take part in the races we think is fun and what we can afford, so that is the plan for 2012. But to the first race in the Swedish Championship at Anderstorp Raceway Fredrik was on the starting grid, first races of the year is always fun and it´s so nice to see everybody again as you have not seen during the winter time. And as it has been almost one year for us without Freddie on a bike (just some small races by the end of last year) this was a race we really would like to take part in. It was here at Anderstorp Raceway for the first race of 2011 as Fredrik crasched during the sighting lap to the 600cc race, and he broke his arm and foot quite bad. His foot he still have some small trouble with, but it should take time the doctor´s said, but its getting better and better :)

Well, it was Anderstorp and the races there this report should be about. I went to the circuit on wednesday evening together with our friend Johnny Rotvik and the family. Johnny took part in the Honda Academy Cup last year, but has now switched to 125cc Junior Racing, so this was going to be his first race in this class so we have promised to help them out a bit during the weekend as it was many new things for them. Anderstorp as always was rainy and windy, is usual for this circuit so no news there :) Thursday is was rain all day, Freddie skiped this days practice and was back home in the workshop making our bikes ready and took care of some other work that had to be done, so he arrived to the circuit on friday morning. This day it did not rain but it was quite cold, the summer is not here yet, that´s for sure. Fredrik went out for some laps on both of our bikes, mostly to see that everything worked and make some laps for him.

Saturday and first raceday started with with the 600vcc qualification session, it ended with 2nd place for Fredrik after our good friend Caroline Olsen from Norway who was riding really nice during the session. During the Superbike qaulification he was 4th fastest. After some lunch and some small fix with the bikes it was time for the first 60cc race of the weekend. Started from 2nd place, stayed behind Caroline for some laps before he overtook 1 st place and increased the gap for evey lap and over the finish line he was about 8 seconds before Caroline on 2nd and Robert Gull on 3rd.

Just before it was time for the weekends first Superbike race the rain started again, so raintyres on and out on the track. Our bus to Superbike is a little to heavy to be a perfect bike in dry conditions, Freddie usually has to struggle a bit then, but in wet conditions is it much easier for him so this looked good for this race. But no, after 3-4 laps he had to retire from the race as he could not see anything. The helmet he had on we had not tested in rain before, and it did not worked you could say, he almost got lost on the straight so that was not good at all. Not the perfect way to end a race, and Fredrik was really disappointed. Later that evening we got a new helmet delivered, so now that problem should be solved anyway. We was happy about the victory in the 600cc race, so quite ok day anyway as Freddie has not been riding for almost a year.

Sunday and last raceday for this first Swedish Championship. All weather forcasts promised some light clouds and no rain. In the morning I was in the tent listening to the rain on the roof at the same time as I looked at the weather on the internet - it di not rain in Anderstorp all the forecast said - well, they was wrong I can tell you! The 600cc qualification was in wet conditions as you can imagine, and there we had some trouble with the tire pressure as it just kept sliding and spinning for Fredrik all the session, and the result from that was that he ended up at 12th place on the grid for the race - very long time ago since Freddie started all the way back there, but not a problem we thought anyway :) To the Superbike qualification it was still rain and cold, so rain tires on that bike also, and the new helmet on so he could se something out there :) The session went really well and Fredrik was on top of the list all time until the last lap as our good finnish friend, Vesa Kallio, took over 1st place and Fredrik ended up at 2nd for the race.

To the 600cc race the rain had finally stopped, so switch to other tires and some lunch before it was time to get out on the grid. Started as 12th rider, after one lap he was up on 4th place and after some more laps he was leading the race, first over the finish line this day was again Fredrik Watz, this time with Robert Gull on 2nd and Alf Georg Joranger on 3rd place :) After some rest it was then time for the last race of this weekend, the Superbike race, and we hoped for a better ending this day - but No, not this day either as he had to retire from the race on lap 10 this time - now it was the gearbox that gave up....! Exactly the same thing happend last year on this track with this bike, but then we had another engine and gearbox back home in our workshop, so then we changed engine during the night. But now we do not have anymore engines so we´ll see what we do with this now.

A huge Thank you to everybody for this weekend, and it was so nice to see everybody after the winter again. Now we had planned a weekend in the workshop, but changed of plans as Fredrik this weekend to come is going to replace Filip Backlund for this Pro Superbike race at Mantorp Park. He is going to ride Filip´s Kawasaki as Filip is still not 100% ok from his shoulder surgery some weeks ago. Report after that race of course.

Thank´s for this time / Fredrik & Linda


2011.10.06

Very long time ago, but now we have been out on some racing again. This weekend we spent at Mantorp Park near our hometown Linkoping, where the final races in the Swedish Championship should take part, and also one round in the Nordic Endurance Challenge 2011. Thursday started with training sessions all day, and as you know Freddie has not been riding so much motorcycle during this season, as he crashed in the beginning of the year. So 40 minutes testing for him on the green Kwasaki that we ride with in the Endurance races, he thought it worked quite ok with his foot, that has been most problem with that one all year as he has not healed correct and he has not been able to use it for a very long time. The thing he thought might cause him most trouble during this race was his arm wrist instead, he broke that one also in the crash, and it has looked ok but he has not been using it so much either, so the muscles has not been in good condition, so he thought that could be a problem for the race, as you drive a lot of laps in a Endurance race. We decided that Fredrik should not be riding so much as he normally do on these races, just to save his body a bit, so Per and Krille had to take the big part of riding. Pontus skipped this race as Fredrik was gonna ride, but he should be taking part in the Swedish Championshio during the weekend so much time on the bike for him anyway.

Friday and time for 6 hours race out on the track. As Pontus skipped this race, he is the one that normally takes the start as he is very fast in the start, and Fredrik don´t run so well at the moment, we decided that Krille should take the start and the first hour in the race. A endurance race start with a so called Le Mans start, that means that the rider is on one side of the track and the bike on the other, and when the flag goes the rider should run over the track as fast as possible, get on the bike, start it and anyway. Krille made an ok start, and then the 6 hours was running.

Krille made stabile lap times during his one hour out there, came in and made a perfect pit stop and left the bike in Freddie´s hands. At this moment we were on 2nd place, Fredrik went out and took us up to the lead and improved for every lap. When it was time for rider change, Fredrik came in and switched to Per and then we had a lead for 990 seconds in the race. Fredrik´s wrist was quite tired at this moment so he needed some rest for a time. Per was making stabile lap times for all his hours out on the track, when he came in we was still leading the race so we switched rider to Krille again, he just came 1 1/2 lap before he crashed, we have no idea why he crashed, but he managed to take the bike back to the pit again. Fredrik is ready and after some check up on the bike he went back out for the race again. Krille was sent to the hospital in Linkoping for some x-rays and check, and lucky for him he just got some crackers in some ribs and just a smashed body, so that was ok and we was glad for him.

After just 40 minutes Freddie came back into the pit, his wrist was not working at all, he loose the grip of the handlebar several times and was about to crash a lot of times and he had no feeling in his hand. Per got his helmet on and took over the bike and went out again, he improved very much and it was good that he could stay out for quite a long time as Freddie needed som time to cool his hand and wrist down, and after that he taped it very hard so it would not had a chance to move. So when he felt he was ready again we called Per into the pit again and Freddie went out for the last 30 minutes of the race. And it was in time, as Per had started to feel a bit dizzy out there the last 10 minutes as he had not been drinking as much water as needed. The outcome of the race did not became what we had planned for before the race, but a 3rd place is quite ok during the circumstances of these 6 hours with a half handicaped Freddie, a Krille that hadto go to hospital and a Per that missed watercontrol =) But anyway very well done of all the team, now we are on 2nd place in the total standings with 7 points up to Carlbarks in the lead, so everything can happen now on Saturday october 8 when we are going to Anderstorp Raceway for the last race in the Nordic Endurance Challenge 2011. We are going all in and hope that will be enough :)

An update after the race at Anderstorp is coming the week after.

Have a great time until then, Ciao Fredrik & Linda


2011.06.20

Now the weekend of the Swedish Championship is over for this time and it´s back to normal monday again. Our rider Pontus Bergsman arrived here at wednesday afternoon, and the evening we spent at Freddie´s home eating dinner and looked at World Superbike races half the night. It did not do anything that it was late before we got home, because on thursday we just had some small things to fix on the bike, collect some tyres and some other stuff in the workshop, so we started thursday with a sleeping morning =) On the afternoon we took the long ride of 2 minutes from our workshop to the circuit to meet up with Micke Rolandsson that we would be sharing place with this weekend. After everything was ready, all stuff out of the bus and the tent was up Fredrik came out to the paddock =) Before wwe went home that evening we took 2 laps on the circuit with Freddie as driver in the car. Pontus has only been at this track once before and that was in 2008  think, so he needed some help to find the way around again, and Fredrik is the best choice then, he has done some laps around this place during all years =)

Friday and practice day with 3 sessions on the circuit. We woke up to rain, summer in Sweden so it´s quite normal with rain =) but it was just to look happy anyway and going back to the circuit. Anyway it was quite good with rain this day for Pontus as he now could take it easy and learn the track, so the first session he spent just doing that. The bad weather did not stop, so session number 2 was wet also, but it went ok for Pontus and he now started to find his way around and improved his lap times for every lap. To the last session of the day the rain finally stopped, and the last 10 minutes the riders was out on dry surface. A quite ok day despite the weather, but Pontus got a lot of laps so that was good.

Saturday and first raceday. We woke up to perfect weather, no rain in sight so it looked liked it would be a great day. Qualification started 09.25 so no sleeping time this morning. This was the first whole session for Pontus on a dry track so he took it quite slow the complete session just to feel how the bike worked and behaved and how the track was in dry condition. He ended the qualification on 13th place in the list, 1.2 second behind Micke Rolandsson who took pole position. Back in the paddock for some refueling, rest and change of tyres and then back out on track for the 2nd qualification. And that one went better now as he had started to find his way around Sviestad circuit.

 

2011.06.15

SWEDISH CHAMPIONSHIP AT OUR HOME TRACK SVIESTAD

This weekend to come it is time for race number 2 and 3 in the Swedish Championship.  And this time on our home track here in Linkoping. Freddie will not be able to take part this weekend, and this is a little sad as we always like to race here if we are home. But he was to the hospital yesterday and got rid of the plaster on the leg and foot, and knock on wood, but the healing looked really good so the doctor said to him that he could start to use his foot small times every day to start get the muscles back - but maybe it would be a little to much to get on the bike to this weekend =)

But we will have things to do this weekend anyway as our rider Pontus Bergsman, who we rides with in the Endurance team, will come up here and take part in the 600cc race, so he should have service of course, and maybe also our rider Per Nilsson will take part in the Superbike races - anyway we will at least have one rider this weekend to serve so it would be as normal =)

Update from this weekend will of course come up here at the beginning of next week.

Have a great weekend / Watz Racing


2011.05.30

The first round in the Nordic Endurance Challenge at Anderstorp Raceway was a very good weekend for the team. Pontus Bergsman and Krille Andersson, who is our fourth rider for this year and he replaced Freddie for this race, arrived to the circuit on Friday so they could take part in the practice on Saturday. Krille has never been riding a Kawasaki before, and also he has not been riding anything for quite a long time as he stopped racing for some year ago, so he wanted as many laps as possible on the bike of course. Pontus thought he only needed some laps on the bike to get the feeling for it so he took his ex-Watz Yamaha 600cc bike with him and practiced on that on Saturday instead. We woke up to a cold and windy Anderstorp as usual on Saturday morning, strange that it is almost always this kind of weather on this track as soon it´s time for race, but warm clothes on and you can manage all kind of weather =) The practice session for both guy´s went really well, Pontus made good lap times almost from the start, Krille needed some more laps before the lap times started to look ok =) So a perfect day with a lot of laps on the circuit.

Sunday and raceday - We woke up at seven o´clock when our rider Per Nilsson and our mechanic Fredrik Andersson arrived to the circuit finally, they have had som trouble with the bus and the sparebike so that is why the came so late. But after we had unloaded the bus, made everything ready and breakfast for the team it was time for the qualification session at 09.30. Per went out first on the bike as he has not been riding anything since we were in Spain in April, and then Pontus and Krille went out for some laps in the end of the session. They managed to get 2nd place on the grid for the race, so that was good. At 11.10 it was then time for 6 hour race at Anderstorp Raceway - it was decided that Pontus should take the start and the first hour. As always an Endurance race starts with Le Mans start, that means that the bike is on one side at the track and the rider on the other, and when you get green flag you should run over the circuit as fast as possible and then the race is on - and this Pontus did perfect, what a start he did and he was the first one of the grid with a gap to the other  teams directly. And then it went on and we was all the time in the top of the list, between 1st and 3rd place depending on the fuelstops and all that. But all our fuelstops, change of rider and tyre stops went absolutely perfect all day, very fast and no mistakes at all so it went on as schedule. Sorry Pontus had to leave before the race was over so he could not join us when Krille who had the last hour crossed the finish line first of all teams after 6 hour - So we won!!! Perfect start of the Endurance season and now we keep it up for the rest of the year =)

Perfect work of all team - our riders Per Nilsson, Pontus Bergsman and Krille Andersson and our mechanics Fredrik, Johan and Mange - You are the best and it has been a very fun weekend as always together with you all. We are a little sorry of course that Freddie did not come down to Anderstorp, but he was not feeling so good so it was better for him to be home and recover, but we all missed him of course, but next time hopefully =)

A huge Thank you for this weekend / Linda

        

        

        


2011.05.27

Small update how things are going here in our small part of the world =) Fredrik is still jumping around with his crutches, he was at the hospital some days ago for a new check up and got a new plaster on his foot and leg. But both the hand and the foot / ancle was not in so good condition, the foot is the part that´s worse and there the muscles and all that are not laying in the right position so they have to fix that. But they could not do that when he was there as the swelling has to go done before they could open the foot again and get everything right. So now he has three more weeks like this before he will be back for the second check at the hospital - so it seems like this is taking a long time, but the only thing important is that Fredrik will be ok. Now he spend some time in our workshop anyway - I think he is a bit tired of being home all the time =)

To this weekend it is also time for the first race in the Nordic Endurance Championship. This we usually take part in together with Pontus Bergsman and Per Nilsson in BRH Racing, but of course Fredrik can not ride this time, so for this 6-hours race they have called in Krille Andersson to replace Freddie on the bike. This race will take part at Anderstorp Raceway, training on Saturday and race on Sunday. We are sure that it will go great for the team, and we say welcome to Krille for joining this crazy group of people =) Update from the race will come up here in the beginning of next week, so please check in then.

Have a nice weekend / Fredrik and Linda


2011.05.03

FIRST RACE IN THE SWEDISH CHAMPIONSHIP - First it goes up and then down...

Anderstorp Raceway was the place for the first round in the Swedish Championship 2011. Freddie was preparing our 1000cc bike and made a lot of changes all Wednesday night to make it ready for race, so therefore we came to Anderstorp on Thursday. But we was in time for the last two practice sessions of the day, the 600cc bike was all clear and worked perfect so we spent most of the afternoon finding a good set up on the 1000cc bike instead.

Friday and 4 testing sessions on each bike for us. But the 600cc bike Fredrik was satisfied with so he just tested for one session on that bike, and the lap times was ok so no more riding on that bike that day. The rest of the day we spent on the 1000cc bike as he was not 100% happy with that one yet, but it became better and better on every session.

Saturday and this day it was time for this weekends first race. This day we only had one Superstock 600 race on the schedule and some testing sessions and qualifications, so a pretty cool day anyway. The first test in the Superbike class went quite ok and he had 3rd fastest lap time, so the bike seemed to work. After this Superbike test it was time for the first qualification on the 600cc bike - and that one went ok. Freddie´s best lap time was 1.35.89 so he took pole position without problem as the next rider in the llist was driving on the time 1.38.10 - so a big gap =) Around two o´clock it was time for the first race this weekend, Fredrik made a good start and made a gap direct, after 4 laps he had a gap of 15 seconds, and whe he crossed the finish line he was 26 seconds before the rider on 2nd place, so quite a lonely race for him. Of course it is always nice to win a race, but it´s more fun if there is tight racing, but victory it was and of course we are happy for that =)

After the race it was time for the first Superbike qualification, and this weekend the Superbike Challenge (that´s the name for the class in the Swedish Championship) was driving together with Pro Superbike (they normally rides together with the Swedish Touring Car Championship) so a lot of riders in this class, I think it was aorund 40 riders in the list. The qualification went quite ok, Fredrik and Filip Backlund was the only riders who had lap times of 1.32-times, Filip was a little, little bit faster so he ended up in pole position and Freddie on 2nd place. But after this session the first 10 riders lap times went down to 0 again, and something called Super qualification took place. So nothing to do for the riders then to reload and back out on the track again. Freddie did not improve his lap time from the first session as the gearbox on the bike was destroyed on this session, so he ended up at 6th place on the grid for the race instead.

So, a broken gearbox was what we spent the rest of the day with. We said like this - if this had happened on our 250cc bike we should have laughed, changed the gearbox in an hour maximum and then spent the rest of the evening with something more fun - but on a four stroke bike this is not possible. It is not a small operation to change a gearbox on these kinds of bikes as you have to take the complete bike in parts, so we are talking a lot of hours here!

As we did not have any pit box to this race, we moved in to Filip Backlund and his crew´s box - so nice to have all these good friends who help us out anytime, our dad Kjell had to load a gearbox that we had back home in the workshop in Linkoping in his car and drive down to Anderstorp with that one in a hurry. We started to take the bike apart in the afternoon and we were ready some hours after midnight on Saturday night - so many hours for the guy´s to be on the floor in the box with the engine. A huge Thank you to our good friends Jorgen Andersson and Krille Andersson who helped us out all these hours - without these two guy´s it would have taken so much longer time. After the bike was put together again, we started it up and everything seemed to work, so we all went to bed for some hours before the Sunday should start.

Sunday, and this was quite a stressful day for us if you looked at the schedule. First we had the first Superbike race, then the last 600cc race and after that the last Superbike race, and between that we should also have a short warm up session on the Superbike and one 600cc qualification - so many things on the agenda this day, but we have done it before as we have raced in two classes for a while now, and sometimes even three classes on one race weekend so we are used to it =)

Well, first out was the Superbike warm up session at 09.00 in the morning on a very cold racetrack as it had been minus degrees the night before. But Fredrik went out of course as we had to see so everything worked on the bike after the gearbox change, and all worked as it should so that was positive.

At 11 o´clock it was time for the first Superbike race of the day. Fredrik started from 6th place on the grid as said before, made not such a good start and was around 10-12th place after the first lap. Overtook some rider during the race but ended up at 8th place over the finish line and this was our own mistake who caused this position as we took a harder rear tire to this race as it was so cold, but this was the wrong solution as it became very slippery with this tire, so Fredrik could not do much more, but he took the flag anyway and that is always good =)

After this race it was some hours resting before the last 600cc race of the weekend. But - Fredrik did not make it to start as he crashed hard during the sighting lap, wwe don´t know why yet but it had started to rain a little so maybe this caused the crash, or maybe something was wrong with the bike but that we do not think because it worked perfectly. Anyway, Freddie do not remember so much of the crash as he hit his head quite hard when he landed. Sunday night he was in surgery for 3-4 hours and the doctors put a lot of screws and nails and iron bits in his left wrist and left foot as they was quite badly broken. Unfortenaly it seems like this is going to take a long time to recover from, not the broken bones maybe but in his foot all the soft parts, likes muscles and so are really damaged and that could take some time to heal, but we have not got any deadline yet so we´ll see what happens. But anyway Freddie is in quite good mood, not happy of course and he has quite a lot of pain but there is nothing to do, just heal a fastest possible. It´s not the first time as you all know, and we hope to be back on track as soon as we can of course.

So, not a good ending of the weekend, but Fredrik is hanging in there and that is the most important thing, the other stuff we can replace and fix but we only have one Fredrik - but soon we´ll backa again =)

A huge Thank you to everybody who has helped us during these days and Thank you also for all phone calls, sms, mails and so on with get well wishes to Fredrik, we are very glad for all your concern =)

I will update this site with some information when we know a little more how long the healing process is and so on, so please check in a little now and then if you are interested.

Have a great time and enjoy summer and Thank you all / Fredrik & Linda


2011.04.26

Now this weekend to come the Swedish Championship starts at Anderstorp Raceway. Fredrik will take part in both the 600cc and the 1000cc class, so same procedure as last year :) To this afternoon and evening we hopefully get the Superbike ready for some testing at our home track Sviestad, Freddie has made some changes and looked over the bike these last days so some testing before the race would be good. The 600cc bike we tested last Sunday and that bike is ready for race now.

Report from the races come as usual after the weekend, so please check in this page in the beginning of next week.

Have a great time in the sun / Watz Racing


2011.04.13

Yesterday, tuesday, it was time for the first practice of the year at our hometrack Sviestad. Very, very cold but anyway quite a lot of riders had found their way to the circuit, and some cold weather do not stop the fact that it is soon kick off for the 2011 season so of course they all would like to do some testing before. We only took the 600cc bike with us this evening, Freddie wanted to test it and see so everything worked and was ok as it has not been out for over one year as we did not go to USA last year at all. But it worked perfect and Fredrik thought it was so much fun to be back on the bike again, so it was a good evening =) And also it was of course so nice to see everybody again, during the winter time you do not see everybody so much, so a lot of updates it was all evening.

Now we are going to try and get the 1000cc bike ready for the season this next week and then we probably go to Anderstorp Raceway last weekend in April to take part in the first Swedish Championship. Not 100% clear yet that Fredrik is going to race, but we talked about it yesterday and it looks like we are going if we gets everything ready. But I will update with some more information before the race.

Take care / Linda, Watz Racing


2011.04.10

New year and new happenings around the corner =) We still do not have any plans of what we are going to do this year, but racing is not easy to quit and we have lived like this all our lives, so racing it will be in some way or another, but what we will update later when the bikes are ready and we are on our way to some track =) During the winter time our bike from USA came home here to Sweden, and we can not manage finacially to have two 600cc bikes and one 1000cc bike up and running this season, so we sold the 600cc bike that Freddie was riding on last year. Pontus Bergsman (one of the riders we race together with in the Endurance Team) bought it and last week we went down to Spain so he could do some testing. We started at Circuito Alcarrás and then went on to Motorland Aragon for three days of testing. A lot of laps for Pontus on the bike and he liked it so perfect start of the season for him. 6 days we spent in Spain and it was nice and warm so not so funny to go back home.

The plans for the nearest days is to try and get the 600cc bike ready, and hopefully we can do the first testing on that bike on Tuesday when the first practice session takes place at our hometrack Sviestad.

Have a nice week / Watz Racing