Wilbers supports young talents

Joshua Sommer is the name of this promising young talent who, in the top-level team of Dieter Theis, is at the handlebars of a 250th Honda. He already passed his baptism of fire during the Easter-holiday in the Dutch city of Assen with distinction.

Unfortunately he (while being in the lead) had to surrender due to a technical defect just two laps before the finish. A 5 mm piece of rubber got stuck in the Hondas’ carburettor.

Joshua#18: I had a great start. Although I could not prevent a wheelie and almost laterally stroke the pit wall, I really had a good start and was first even before entering the first right-hand bend. I enjoyed leading and to annoy a bit the relevantly faster Aprilias. On the long straight unfortunately I had no longer a chance with my four year old standard Honda. Only on the brake or in the bends I was able to be better! After some fights for position I let the Dutch champion Smees with his extremely fast Aprilia outpace me. Then I stayed in a small group fighting for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th position. Some laps later it seems as if I had the opponents under control. I had the second position when the actual Dutch champion sampled out and I was sure that the victory was mine, however two laps before the finish my bike lost power! To be honest in this moment I really would have liked to have a punch bag in front of me just to get rid of my anger! But I handled my disappointment shortly afterwards because in a whole it was a great racing weekend. I was able to better my lap times and again learn a lot about my Honda 250. I’m looking forward very much to the next test runs and the first EM race in Vallelunga.

Norman Rank / Technikchef: From a technicians point of view the opening race of the Dutch championship for us was a test under competition conditions. Of cause all of us were very disappointed that Joshua lost secure victory because of such a small piece of rubber and therewith the icing on the cake for a perfect racing weekend lacked but now we also know our approximate position for future races. This race proved that we are on the right track. In Assen, Joshua only drove approx. 30 training laps and still he was able to keep up with the best ones of the Dutch riders… In some cases he even was better. As a matter of fact the Dutch riders know their home course in Assen by heart and drove some test labs two weeks ago. So, in a whole the test race for us was a success and very informative. We learned a lot and gathered important data.

Dieter Theis / Manager: The bottom line of this first race in the 250 class for Joshua is very positive. From the very beginning he proved to Assen that he is optimally prepared for the season 2007. His performance was absolutely convincing. He increased his performance with every single training and then he started from the first position. During the race he achieved the maximum possible. He really deserved victory. Joshua is a real fighter with an exceptional will to win! This race was his dress rehearsal for the European championship 2007 and also for the World championship on the Sachsenring. To the best of my believes (from a German point of view) we will have a lot of fun and success with Joshua in the future. Nonetheless we would need some more support in Germany for this young and promising talent – Our goal remains the motorcycle world championship. In this context I once again would like to thank Benny Wilbers (Tolles Fahrwerk) for his spontaneous support in Assen - Thanks a lot!