Hey look—it’s an update from Dan Kruger! Kruger, a Canadian ex-pat who’s seen considerable racing success over in China’s Pan Delta series, saw his riding opportunities shut down when COVID-19 hit the world. So what’s he been up to since?
With Pan Delta racing closed down, as well as the IRRC street racing series, Kruger’s been stuck at his current home base, in Georgia (the state, not the country). Sooooo, while he’s there, Kruger has been racing locally.
He was rear-ended at a track day last summer, with a broken ankle keeping him out of the end of the riding season. He’s bounced back strong, though; most recently, he’s been getting into WERA events, earning a string of podiums, although some mechanical issues have hassled him along the way.
Looking ahead, Kruger hopes to race the Frohburg event in Germany this fall, followed by Macau, if the rules allow. More deets below:
Press release
WHERE IN THE WORLD HAS DAN KRUGER BEEN?
It has been a minute since we have heard from Canadian International Racer Dan Kruger. Covid might had derailed his International Race plans for the past 2 years but it has definitely not slowed him down. The China Superbike Championship has yet to resume, the IRRC Real Road Racing Championship has also been cancelled for the 2nd year. Macau was cancelled in 2020 and as of now, is set to go for 2021 but with the recent resurgence of the Delta Variant (Covid), it is now looking less likely that it will happen.
It didn’t take but 45 days of lockdown and Dan realized he needed to get back on a motorbike and burn up some Pirelli’s Stateside on some circuits he had never ridden. First step was to get some track bikes and a call to Motoamerica rider Stefano Mesa solved that problem. Dan picked up his 2020 Kawasaki ZX10R that Mesa podiumed earlier in 2020 in a Motoamerica round and then a spare ZX10R at the same time. Dan Kruger Racing reached out to their loyal sponsors and before they knew it, Bikes were built, spares were arranged and they were off to the races… literally.
Based near Atlanta, GA, Dan finally got a chance to ride some tracks he had only ever heard of like Road Atlanta, Barber, Roebling, Homestead, Palm Beach, and Jennings. Between organized track days and some private tests, the team was back on track at least twice a month and Dan was training hard in the gym as well. Back in August 2020, Dan got “collected” at Road Atlanta from behind and had a fast crash breaking his ankle and a few other injuries. That put him out for 6 weeks while he recovered from surgery but was back riding that October and quickly learned to ride a little more cautiously when at open track days!
When racing continued to get cancelled as we headed into 2021 with the Northwest 200 getting cancelled and them the Imatra GP in Finland also getting cancelled, Dan realized he needed to do some actual racing. As of this update, the team has competed in 2 WERA rounds (Road Atlanta and more recently Barber Motorsport). “The races are really short so the starts are critical and the first lap as well. There is no strategy or tyre management since I think the races only last about 12 minutes!” However, there are 8 races over 2 days so you keep very busy staying on top of the schedule, changing tyres and unfortunately burning through clutches. Aside from one DNF from a thrown chain, and another technical issue due to a failing clutch, the team has been on the podium in all races Dan has entered which is 14 and counting. “The first few races were rough since they usually grid you based on your points in the series. Therefore, we had to start out on the 11th or 12th row initially and work our way through the pack. It was hectic making our way to the front in 6 laps. We now sit in the Top 6 with points in all the race classes, so we are gridded up front and that makes things much easier and safer!”
The plan is to continue testing regularly, racing some more WERA races, possibly Daytona, and then head over to Europe for the Frohburg, Germany Real Road Race in September followed by the Macau Grand Prix in November. The team would like to give a massive thanks to all of our loyal sponsors including Maxima Racing Oils, EBC, Mototron, Xlite, PSI, Hindle, Ktech, Zero Gravity, HEL, Kinetik, and Nature Power. Stay up to date on the team news at www.facebook.com/dankrugerracingteam
Fingers crossed that 2022 will have racing back to normal as Dan has a little left in him but time is running out!
