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Oschersleben Race Report – 13th – 14th August 2005 - Jim Agombar - Fagersio-se #101

I arrived in Oschersleben on Wednesday afternoon to pouring rain and mist and extremely keen security guards who personally escorted me to the Fagersjo-se pit garage before believing I was there to race. Within 20 minutes I was suited and ready to go do some laps.

Practice & Qualifying

All went well with practice and qualifying. All I had to do was run-in a new bike – Suzuki K5 1000 with a quick shift and race change gearbox and re-learn the track after a 2 year absence all in the rain (all of which Team Manager Nik Caulberg told me as I put on my crash helmet and threw my leg over the bike).

Having never raced with a race change gearbox or quick shift – best I learn quick was Nik’s comment.

I was fine while I told myself which way to push/pull the gear lever but not fun when I got it wrong accelerating hard out of a corner – sorry Nik!!!

Anyway, qualifying for me was dry and I only made 1 mistake with the gears. I qualified 23rd in my group 1.37.03 secs

Night qualifying was wet so we did 5 laps each to set the lights and see (or not) where we were going.

The Race

Our bike didn’t start on the line and after what seemed like a lifetime it fired up and Eric went away dead last – 30 seconds behind everyone else.

I was the second rider and when Eric pitted we had made up our start delay and were now 30th (47 starters). I quickly got into the swing of things and only a few mistakes with the gearbox, then handed over to Nik, we were 23rd with my lap times down to a steady 1.36/1.37.

My team-mates on the other Fagersjo-se bike # 12 , Christen Miinin, Paul Young, & Adrian Coates, were in 4th place.

As I pitted for the second time and walked into the garage the no 12 bike was being worked on with Coatsey standing looking miffed!!!!

He told me the bike was only running on 3 cylinders. I think Youngy went too fast and dropped a valve.

Anyway, their race was done and they went for large amounts of beer and dancing in the biggest and noisiest beer tent I have ever seen.

As night fell we were 13th and going strong. Our pit crew were fantastic changing front and rear tyres every 2 hours in 40 secs. The only drama I had was not my doing but resulted in someone hitting a rabbit in the chicane onto the back straight. It was laying just off the racing line so you had to just miss its ears every lap. It must have been keen to get that close to the action.

My lap times were a constant 1.39 – 1.40 seconds which when I only did 1.37.03 during the day in qualifying, shows how little difference the lap times vary between night and day.

As day broke so did the rain. We had made our way into the top 10. Eric was called in early for the wet tyre change and I was sent out. 1 hour and 5 minutes later, freezing cold and very tired I got the in board, I’d made no mistakes with gearbox but the exhaust was making a weird noise arrgh! We were in 9th place.

The Swedish mechanics made various noises, waved their arms and threatened it with a spanner, and sent it out anyway.

As Nik left the pit lane he accelerated onto the track, must have forgotten it was raining and wet and high-sided himself 6 feet in the air.

Thank heavens for crash bobbins. We only knew he had crashed when he pitted an hour and a half later (that’s dedication for you or a guilty conscience) when we saw the tell tail scrapes, bent bar and clutch lever, but again the mechanics used their mystical charms, applied duc tape, fuel and sent Eric out.

Nic went to the medical centre with a damaged wrist. He had not arrived back when I got on the bike so I was told to prepare myself to stay out longer. It was still raining and getting worse. Thanks… Anyway we were in 7th place with only 5 hours to go!!

The rabbit was still there so I think it was more than just shock, and the exhaust noise was getting louder.

Eric and I did the last 5 hours together as Nik’s wrist was finished for the weekend.

We were battling with the Motociclismo Test Aprilla Team for 7th and 8th place. This went right down to the wire, we had to splash and dash with 35 minutes to go, which meant I got to take the chequered flag finishing 51 seconds behind in 8th place completing 794 laps.

After 24 hours of racing,( 17 hours dry, 7 hours wet ), 17 sets of tyres, 465 litres of fuel, 3 sets of brake pads, 1802 miles and a carefully run-in Suzuki K5 1000…..! The German Speedweek was all done for another year…
All I had to do now was get showered, pack up my gear, grab a bite to eat , drive 100 miles back to Berlin Airport and catch the 21.00hrs flight to London Luton ready to look after my 1 year old daughter on Monday…. The joys of motorcycling……… And 6kgs of excess baggage - bloody rain…..

Jim Agombar
 

I have to tell you , that YAMAHA had a great performance ,but  was absolutely unlucky in Oschersleben.

In the practice sessions we checked that our bike was absolutely competitive to the Factory Suzuki. We missed the Pole for just 0.5 seconds and finished all sessions 2^nd  behind Suzuki.
For the start of the race we were pleased because Giabbani was leading for about 7 laps. After Vincent Philippe overtook Giabbani, both riders crashed on oil (SERT and YART), which was lost by a backmarker. Both teams rejoined the race. After 1 hour YART were 2^nd closed up to within 1 second of Phase One , which was leading. But the Suzuki came very fast from the back of the field. So SERT and YART matched the complete race for the lead. Suzuki was 2 laps in front of YART and  Phase 1 was 2 laps behind YART. In the 8^th hour Phase One broke the engine and Bolliger got the 3^rd position 6 laps behind YART. The night sessions were very good for YART and with faster pitstops and an impressive ride from Gwen Giabbani , YART closed on SUZUKI. Only Hinterreiter and Jerman lost some laps compared to Suzuki , but made a big distance on Bolliger. Unfortunately Hinterreiter crashed at 7.30 am in the morning with a highside from the bike. Both wheels of the bike were broken and it was impossible for him to rejoin the race or to push the bike ( we had 10 laps advantage over Bolliger). I had to abandon after 17 hours. So unfortunately we lost the race and the championship. Now we are 4^th in the championship with a big chance to become 3^rd and a very small chance to finish 2^nd. But we left Oschersleben with the positive knowledge, that we are the only team which could put pressure on Suzuki and could go at the speed of Suzuki. ( Compared to last year we finished 2^nd), after 16 hours we were faster than GMT last year, but we had 2 Pace Car Sessions in 2005 ). So the only thing I have to change is that I have to find 2 new (faster) riders for 2005, like Giabbani and I’m sure that we are able to win the Championship for YAMAHA in 2005.

Positives:

• Bike and Pitcrew are absolutely competitive to SERT (Pitstops are faster by YART)
• Gwen Giabbani make same performance as Vincent Philippe
• Presentation of the Team is best in World Endurance
• SUZUKI have only respect for YART
• Team improved a lot in 5 years

Thank you for your support

Best Regards
Mandy Kainz

ANDI NOTMAN - PHASE ONE No.3 RIDER - SPEAKS ABOUT HIMSELF IN THE 3rd PARTY

Yamaha Phase One rider Andi Notman was forced to retire from the Oschersleben 24 hour race last weekend after an engine failure in the 9th hour. This bad luck has quashed any chances of Phase One regaining the world title this year as Suzuki SERT have gained enough points to seal the title with one round to go.

Andi and his team mate Damian Cudlin were in involved in a car crash on the Wednesday when Shell Academy rider Ben Wylie spun and rolled his Wylie and Holland van into a ditch on the way to the circuit on a very dangerous slippery cobbled German road. Ben and Andi escaped uninjured but Damian took a knock to his back, but with intense physio throughout the meeting was fit enough to perform and be the fastest rider for the team.

Practise and Qualifying went smoothly placing the bike in third place for the race, Team manager Russell Benney sticking to his usual plan of using race rubber in practise and qualifying to get an optimal race setting instead of using the super sticky Dunlop qualifying tyres available and used by the two teams placed in front.

The first part of the race was going according to plan with the team’s senior rider Warwick Nowland starting the race, leading for a while after Suzuki’s Vincent Philippe and Yamaha Austria’s Gwen Giabbani came together breaking Philippe’s wrist.
The trio settled into a comfortable third place chasing Yamaha Austria hard for second. All three riders were keeping good pace and all seemed to be fine when the engine let go with no warning in the ninth hour during Andi’s first night stint.
Notman got the bike back to the pits via the service roads but the damage was too much to continue.

The team are looking forward to putting on a good show in the last round at Vallelunga on September 25th where with no championship to fight for all three riders have vowed that nothing less than a win is acceptable.

Andi is also hoping to compete in the final round of the British Superbike championship at Brands Hatch on the Phase One Yamaha Superbike.

CALVIN HOGAN RELOADED - SHELL ACADEMY No.6 RACE REPORT

The weekend couldn't get off to a worse start than it did for both teams Phase One and Shell at Osch. On Wednesday morning on the way from the hotel to the circuit i was following Ben, Andi and Damian in my car whilst the were in Bens company van. We took a wrong turning and ended up going down a small cobbled road and it had just started raining. At no more than 20mph the back end came round on the van and before we knew it, the van was upside down in the ditch with Ben, Andi and Damian upside down as well. Me and Kiel Bryce (reserve rider for Shell) ran over and opened the door to see Ben and Damian in a heap on the roof and Andi strapped in upside down not knowing what to do. Anyway an hour later and a chat with the police and 150 euro down to flip the van back on its wheels with it leaking oil and thick black smoke pouring out of the back we were on our way finally to the circuit.

Practice and qualifying was fairly uneventful compared to our antics getting to the circuit. I was however very pleased with my qualifying time of 1.32.3 which put us 7th on the grid, which was 2 1/2 seconds quicker than what I achieved in testing six weeks ago.

The race got under way at the traditional 3pm Saturday with Marko Rohtlaan starting for us and within 15 minutes the pace car was out with oil spread all over the track. 45 minutes later the race was under way again and almost immediately it was time for the first round of pit stops. My first session was going ok and I soon had Paul Young (Fagersjo-El No.12) in my sights, started gaining on him then his bike started smoking a little. I decided immediately to back off a bit and as the laps went by my screen and visor became increasingly covered in oil before eventually his bike gave up and one of our main rivals were out within 2 hours of the race.

I came into the pits giving Ben the bike in 5th place, which was very comfortable at this point. My second stint was perhaps the best stint of the whole race. On my first flying lap I came across Damian on his out lap and followed him for a good 15 minutes and put what was to be our fastest lap of the race and 4th fastest overall of a 1.32.9. Again a time I was very pleased with.

We remained in 5th for the next couple of hours and as night fell so did I! Coming out of the hairpin before the chicane I ran slightly wide due to not being able to see a thing at night, hit the grass and suddenly that was it - the bike flicked me off so fast and ended up in middle of the track with the water coming out of the radiator. I couldn't pick the bike up because of where it was on the track and 3 people hit the bike including Damian! the safety car came out and i was able to get to the bike but it wouldn't start and I remembered Phase One's rule about crashing, 'Always bring the bike back even if you have to drag it with your teeth!' It wasn't quite that bad but half an hour later and a kilometer round the track I got it back to the pits - apart from the usual crash damage it broke a wire which linked the starter motor to the engine therefore no chance of starting it at the side of the track. All the mechanics did a great job and within 20 minutes we were back on track, allbeit in 23rd place.

We started climbing back through the order and were in 16th place at 4am circulating quicker than most of the bikes we were chasing. I came out of the Shell Esses and must have hit a patch of oil or something because without any warning I suffered my first highside on a superbike - sparks flying from the bike...it was like deja-vu from about 8 hours before with me running after a bike sliding down the track. This time it did start (luckily) and we were back on track within 10 minutes. But again back down to 20th.

All was ok and we were working our way back up the order and at 9am it just started to spit with rain with Ben on track...while I was having a nice massage I heard..."bike!"... Ben had highsided in the damp and although he got the bike back to the garage he had to be carried off the bike. He had hurt his ankle and wrist and whacked his already bruised back from the van incident.

Marko then jumped on the bike and again we were back to 17th with 6 hours to go and the rain had got worse. The chase was on for some points. Marko was riding very well and was lapping 10 seconds faster than the bikes we were chasing and we soon started crawling our way back up through the field. I was able to do the same and we were back in points...Ben did a steady stint and maintained position which was good enough considering he could hardly walk. Then it was back up to me and Marko for the final push to the finish and we overtook a team in the last hour and ended up 12th overall and 9th in class, which was incredible considering what had happened over the last 24 hours.

We had also moved up to 5th in the World Championship 1 point of Phase One who had retired from the race. It could have been a lot better as we should have been 3rd of 4th, but with the problems we had it could have been a lot worse.

Anyway next stop Bol d'Or, another 24 hour race and hopefully a lot less eventful than the previous two 24hour races we've had. A massive thank you to everyone at Phase One and Shell for all the hard work they put in throughout the whole weekend.

Thanks

Calvin Hogan #6

THE BEN WYLIE COLUMN

Well I guess I should start from the beginning as that's when the action started. Wednesday morning on the way to the circuit from our hotel, Damian Cudlin, Andi Notman and I were in the van which Wylie and Holland Motorcycles had lent to us for the meeting when we managed to roll it into a ditch on a slippery country cobbled lane. We were all ok although Damian and I were a bit sore! Needless to say we were late and missed morning practice but got in some valuable wet laps in the afternoon. 

Official Practice started on Thursday morning with first qualifying on Thursday afternoon. This all went well as Calvin, Marko and I all got a good set up on the bike and did some tyre testing for the race. The second qualifying session was on Friday morning and we ended up 7th on the grid which we were pleased with and were confident we could turn this into a podium in the race.

Saturday race day and the weather was warmer and the sun was out. Marko started the race and put in a solid first stint, then Calvin and then myself. We had a really uneventful race which was basically our plan and we were up to 4th chasing down 3rd placed Diablo666. Then around 10 pm when Calvin went out for his first night stint, 3 laps in he crashed the bike badly pretty much as far away from the pits as possible breaking a wire and having to push the bike back. This whole thing cost us an hour and we had dropped to 28th place. I was gutted as I knew my first world championship podium had gone but got out on the bike and had a really strong hour's stint pulling it back to 20th place. Marko pulled us back to 18th in a great solid stint, then Calvin went out again and was back on the pace straight away...then he crashed again although not so bad this time, only costing around 10 minutes. Marko rode like Valentino in the wet and was fastest on track by 4 seconds at one point. We all worked really hard to fight back to 9th in class which was a good result, considering the problems.

We were all gutted not to have got on the podium which was our main aim but accept this as a learning year for myself and Calvin and S**t happens. We have moved to 5th in the championship though, 1 point ahead of the senior team…sorry Russell!! 

Thanks to all the team, sponsors and organisers for making it a great event and working so hard. The team did a great job of fixing the bike up!! I'll be back next year for sure seeing how high of a step I can get on the podium!!

Thanks

Ben Wylie

www.benwylie.com

THE WARWICK NOWLAND STORY

Regardless of the race result, the 2005 Oschersleben 24 Hour race was a great weekend.

I was a bit annoyed out how things worked out but in the heat of the moment, any racer would be. I’m still not sure exactly what went wrong with our bike but I’m sure I will find out this week.
The lead up to any 24 hour race is a nervous time and the more activity, the more nervous it becomes! The spectators in the grandstand along the main straight always do a traditional ‘Mexican Wave’. Add in the Heuluecher Big Brass band beating out rock’n’roll dance music and you can imagine the atmosphere… electrifying!

The start of the race was awesome! As the clock struck 3pm, the entire field resembled an Olympic 100 metres sprint as we hurtled towards the motorcycles. The classic ‘LeMans’ type start is breathtaking and the packed grandstand loved being right near the action. I got away really well, though I could see out of the corner of my eye that Vincent Philippe on the Castrol Suzuki, was not so lucky. Within a few laps he was on my tail and then used his ‘oh so much better brakes then mine’ to pass me! There was a 4 bike breakaway at the front with Philippe leading the way. I settled down in 3rd and started to feel everything was working really well. The tyres, the brakes and all of a sudden I realised, I’m going to pass these guys.

Unfortunately, both riders in front of me crashed on oil. I was lucky not to fall and grabbed the opportunity. The pace car was bought out, however both Philippe and Yamaha Austria’s, Gwen Giabbani re-mounted and re-joined behind the same Safety Car! I didn’t know this until a bit later…

The track was cleaned after great work by the Marshall’s and the circuit organisers. They use a fantastic machine to clean oil from the track. Though it does take a while, it is very effective.

When the pace car left the circuit, I was passed by the Bolliger Kawasaki and another local hotshot! Sorry, (I don’t know who it was!) I just wanted to warm everything up again before I pushed too hard. Within a few laps I took the lead and didn’t look back. After several more laps I could hear a bike with me in every corner. I just kept my head down and tried to do fast laps, but the noise didn’t go away! Then the bike came past me in between the Shell Esses. It was Giabbani on the Yamaha Austria bike. I thought, “What?” “He must have been in the pits!” I passed him back, then he passed me again and I thought I must be a lap ahead of him so I won’t get too aggressive and I was due to for my first pit stop very soon.

When I stopped, I couldn’t believe we were in 2nd place! Then I was told Philippe and Giabbani had re-joined the race behind the same Safety Car!

From then on it was frustrating race. My team mate, Damian Cudlin and I, rode back to back for most of our race trying to make a break. Due to annoying little problems with our pit stops, we started to fall behind. It was really hard to get off the motorcycle after being as fast, or faster than anyone on the track and start seeing the leading 2 bikes, Castrol Suzuki and Yamaha Austria, extend their lead. I couldn’t understand it.

Around 10pm Andi Notman took to the now, night time track, setting a good pace. Almost at the end of his session, Andi rolled into the rear of the pits with a very noisy engine. That was the end.

To be honest, I almost cried. I am so hungry to win and felt we had the bike to beat Castrol Suzuki this time.

I do congratulate the Castrol Suzuki Team. They were well prepared, they had an answer for anything that popped up and they deserve to win.

I’d also like to thank my team for trying very hard. Things go wrong even when they shouldn’t! We are looking forward to the final race next month and having another opportunity to beat ‘that’ Suzuki!

Also a special thank you to the people who work at the Oschersleben Circuit. These people are role models. You won’t find more enthusiastic, passionate professionals than the management of Oschersleben. On Saturday afternoon when oil was on the circuit, it was people like Ralph Bohnhorst (Shell Motorsport Manager) on the scene cleaning the track. And on Sunday night it was the same people at the party dancing in some strange German way!!! On behalf of all the riders, THANK YOU to the medical staff and flag marshals. And an even bigger thanks to my friend Sabrina Gorges who worked non-stop all weekend..

We didn’t win the race but going to the Oschersleben 24 Hour is like a victory.

DIABLO KAWASAKI No.666 RACE REPORT

The young British Kawasaki Team bounce back and how! After the heartache of the DNF at Suzuka, the Oschersleben 24hrs race had to be the ideal race for the Team to bounce back, and fast! With very little time for the bikes to get back to Bolliger’s HQ in Switzerland, a lot of work was going to be needed by Diablo’s mechanics to get the bikes sorted for the race.
The Suzuka race had once again shown that the Diablo 666 Team was a force to be reckoned with, running just behind the Phase One No 1 bike up until the unfortunate spill. The Team has entered Oschersleben for the past two seasons, in 2003, (Diablo’s inaugural year) on a Suzuki GSXR 1000 and last year for the first time on the Kawasaki ZX-10. The Team were aiming to make it third time lucky to complete this arduous race.
The rider line up for this year was to be James Hutchins, Steve Mizera and Russell Baker, who also rode for the Team last year in this same event. Russell has an excellent pedigree of racing in 24hr races at both Le Mans and the Bol D’Or to name but two. Another excellent recruit to the Team!
The plan was for Diablo 666’s mechanics, Geoff and Doug Randall, to attempt to rebuild the new Suzuka race bike ready for qualifying. However a quick look at the bike once out its Suzuka crate confirmed the collision with the wall at Suzuka had been enormous - in fact the frame was a complete write off. Change of plan, the No. 2 bike with standard engine as used at Assen would have to be used for the entire weekend. The Oschersleben race really is a one of the most gruelling 24 hour races on a par with Le Mans and the Bol D’Or, tough on both man and machine. Would the Diablo bike last the 24hrs event? After last year’s oil leak, which ended the team’s chances, a few fingers were well and truly crossed for a more successful outcome.
With only one bike, careful qualifying was order of the day and passed with no major incidents. A combination of James, Steve and Russell had led to the Team qualifying in a strong 13th position with Steve setting the fastest time. The Bolliger Team ended their qualifying up in a fantastic 4th position, again having no major problems. Steve was given the honour of starting the race, after having put in the fastest lap in qualifying and with planned long 75 minutes stints would then hand over to Russell and then on to James.

Steve got a scorcher and came round in 9th place. After only 8 laps the first major incident of the race occurred – a bike crashed and dumped a shed load of oil on the track and the Yamaha Austria No.7 bike and Suzuki No.2 collided on the oil and both went into the gravel trap. Fortunately for both very little damage to the bikes and even luckier still the pace cars were called out allowing them to close back up to the field again. This left Steve in 6th place. After 14 laps the pace cars they were called in and we were up and running again.
After the first complete round of stops Bolliger were in 4th , Diablo 666 were in 7th . What a start! Russell Baker took over from Steve and the relentless schedule of lap after lap continued.
After 2 hours the top 10 leader-board read, No. 2, 7, 3, 8, 12, 6, 666, 5, 10 and 44. After 4 hours the first major panic for the Bolliger pit crew, with David Morillon on board he signalled to the garage he had a problem. Coming into pit lane the bike sounded as though there was a problem with the exhaust blowing. A front header connecting pipe had split costing the No 8 bike, 6 laps. This put Diablo 666 in 4th and relegated the Bolliger 8 bike to 12 th . As the next few hours went by Diablo 666 maintained their position behind the Suzuki No 2, Yamaha Austria No 7 and the Phase 1 Endurance Yamaha. Exalted company indeed.

The Bolliger 8 bike slowly but surely began catching the Diablo 666 machine. After seven hours the partner teams maintained their 4th and 5th places. After 265 laps and 7 hours the gap between the sister Kawasaki’s was down to 25 seconds. It was going to be a long and competitive night for the partner team Kawasakis. So far the Diablo 666 bike had run trouble free, would the Team’s good fortune return after the disappointment of Suzuka?
The team immediately above Diablo in the Championship table, Shell Endurance No.6 had crashed and on lap 269 with Calvin Hogan on board and lost 12 laps to the Diablo Team in one hit. The bike was pushed into the garage where urgent repairs were carried out. By the time it re-entered the race the No.6 machine was 24 laps behind Diablo. It was looking good for Diablo to overtake Shell Academy bike in the points table, put there was still a very, very long way to go through to the finish.
The Bolliger No. 8 bike was catching Diablo 666 and finally on lap 276 the No 8 Bolliger bike overtook the 666 bike. Then on lap 288 after just over 8 hours gone the first retirement of one of the top teams, Phase 1 retired with a major engine problem, possibly a crank problem. This left the Bolliger No. 8 in 3 rd and Diablo 666 bike in 4th . Could the partner teams
maintain this to the end? Only time would tell.
After 9 hours Bolliger held onto 3rd with Diablo 666, one lap down holding 4th with a 4 lap margin over the No Limits No. 44. 6th were X –One No. 4, 7th No. 76, 8th Aprilia No. 9 and 10th Bridgestone Bikers Profi No. 5. Through the night and the laps rolled on and on but our good lap times in the dark pushed both the Kawasaki teams further ahead of the following pack.

At 10 Hours – 2 laps down on Bolliger No.8 - 5 laps ahead of the No Limits No. 44.
At 11 Hours – 3 laps down on Bolliger No.8 – 6 laps ahead of the No Limits No. 44.
At 12 Hours – Diablo 666 had reached this point in 2003 before Kevin Falcke crashed out in 2003.
At 16 Hours – now 10 laps ahead of the No Limits No. 44.
Almost on the news spread that Yamaha Austria had crashed big time and would not be able to get their bike back to the garage. Now Bolliger No. 8 were 2nd and Diablo 666 were 3 rd . Could this be a repeat of the Assen result?
17 Hours and 30 minutes later It was then decided that Bolliger as a precautionary measure would change No 8 bike fork legs, being some seven laps ahead of the 666 machine. In rapid time the forks were changed and Bolliger returned with a four lap lead over Diablo 666.
18 Hours and 10 minutes – it’s spitting! The track with so much rubber down after 18 hours is now very greasy - after a difficult the No. 8, No. 666 and No. 2 decide to pit for full rain tyres and risk another change if it suddenly dries.. Within minutes the choice is proved wise as it pours down. All riders out on circuit are taking it steady, very steady. After this length of time into the race it would be disastrous to throw it down the road with Diablo having a commanding 16 lap lead over the 44 bike. Lap times had increased by over 14 seconds a lap and for the remainder of the race most teams were running at approx the 2 minutes per lap pace. This was the furthest the Diablo 666 Team had been previously gone at Oschersleben.
This was getting scary. Could we run to the end of our first 24hrs race?

N-n-n-nineteen hours and the rain continued to fall but even heavier still. Steve Mizera did a brilliant stint and handed over to Russell Baker. We were now 17 laps ahead of the 44 bike and there was no need to ride the wheels off the Kawasaki. Hold station and ride for the finish. If we could finish 3 rd we would leapfrog Yamaha Austria and Phase 1 and be lying 3 rd going into the last round. Dare we even think it?
Would our luck and that of Bolliger hold? Could this be another double podium for the partner Kawasaki teams?
The pit garage was full of some very nervous people indeed, this was a repeat of the scenes at Assen but this time would last for far, far longer. Into the 23 rd hour and Hanspeter Bolliger and Terry Rymer made the decision to have both bikes call into the pits for their final stops with the riders being given the instructions to locate each other out on track and circulate together as the clock ticked down. What an incredible sight to see the two Kawasaki’s running together and crossing the line together in tandem. Diablo 666 had cracked it!
As Steve crossed the line the pit lane marshals gave up on trying to stop all the surviving team members from climbing onto the fencing and the Team went ballistic. The Dresden based Steve Mizera fan club justifiably showed their clear delight in the Team’s result.
A magnificent 3rd, 22 points on the old scoreboard, pushing us back up to a clear 3rd in the table, ahead of many long, established Endurance Teams and what’s more, Bolliger reclaimed 2nd in the table.

A repeat of the earlier Assen result. Miles Hutchins, Team principle was ecstatic, “It really does make all the hard work worthwhile. What a reward and what a fantastic result for Diablo 666 and Kawasaki! It shows that standard ZX10s can get 2nd and 3rd in both a sprint and fully fledged 24 hour endurance races… what bikes… what teamwork…. what a partnership !!! A big thank you to everyone who had a hand in making this possible”!
Team Manager, Terry Rymer added in true ‘too tall Tel’ fashion, “For such a young Team, they deservedly need now the support of the factory and a major title sponsor to move the Team to the next level in this series”!
Rider James Hutchins, “I’m speechless, what a result, especially after the disappointment of me crashing out at Suzuka”.
Of course this win secures this year’s Championship for Castrol Suzuki. With a 45 point lead and only 25 points available at the last race at Vallelunga, Suzuki take the title from Yamaha, won last year by GMT 94. The sight again of the Bolliger and Diablo riders with Miles Hutchins and Hanspeter Bolliger soaking up the crowds cheers in the pouring rain (and champagne) was almost two much for some. Many a bottle of beer had been cracked open as the magical 3 o’clock had been reached. There were going to be few sore heads in the morning.
The final race of the championship is at Vallelunga, Italy on September 26th . Diablo 666 are really up for this one. Can we achieve our season’s goal of a top ten championship finish, we already have! Can we hold onto 3 rd . It will be a tall order against the factory bikes, but the Team will be really going for it.

UPDATE ON THE NEXT BIG THING - WILLIAM DUNLOP
It's been pretty hectic for William over the last few weeks - he's had meetings at the Southern 100 and Kirkistown - although, unfortunately, he broke his collar bone at Kirkistown in the second 125 race after winning the first one. That meant he had to have his collarbone plated. The upshot of all this was, although he could manage riding a 125, tooling around a Superbike was just asking for trouble. After taking advice from doctors, both William and Rizla decided that he could not realistically ride at Castle Combe for his test. William was understandably gutted!!

However, 3 days after the op, with the help of hyperbaric treatment he won the 2nd 125 race at Kells after coming 2nd in the first race!. He also had a 2nd at Faugheen, both these meetings in Southern Ireland.

Then it was on to the Mid Antrim meeting (his home race) but his 125 seized.

The Ulster Grand Prix is next, 13th August, where William is hoping to race in the 125, 250 and hopefully the 600, if his shoulder is OK.

William is also still looking for a Superbike ride for Macau, so if anyone out there can help, please shout up and EMAIL me!!