Fans all over Europe are mourning the loss of Eurosport Television coverage of the two great 24 hour races of Le Mans and the Bol d'Or. They now join the worldwide fan base that lost any chance of following the Championship when the official coverage was taken over directly by the FIM after turning down the proposal from FGSport, who run the World Superbike Championship.

With the major English-speaking World Endurance websites located in the UK, it's easy to get the impression that the series is slowly fading away - but this is far from true. France continues to massively support Endurance and, even without Europe-wide coverage, will still see massive crowds at their two 24-hour events, ensuring their continued existence. Germany still has the second-biggest fan base, seeing their event move from the Nurburgring after 2001 to Oschersleben, with fans from all over Europe making this an event soon to rival the big two in France. The rise of the local Spanish endurance scene has meant that their big national race at Barcelona (which is NOT a part of the World Championship) is growing year-on-year with extremely strong teams, rivalling the best the rest of the world has to offer.

The Suzuka 8Tai remains the most important motorcycle race in the world to the Japanese manufacturers.

So, what's happening elsewhere? In the UK...nothing. The USA? There was an attempt two years ago to raise the interest there...but after the debacle this year at the World Superbike round in Utah with a circuit commentator who knew absolutely nothing about motorcycle racing, it was always going to be a hard sell. Their strange ideas of endurance racing have left even their biggest international biking event at Daytona totally emasculated. Qatar?...the end of the era of cheap flights (even though it was never really cheap to fly there) will have put paid to any chance of a huge influx of rowdy, hedonistic race fans from around the world to the austere desert kingdom. Zhuhai in China could have been a success in their Olympic year - but 2004 was to early and too expensive for the locals, even with the influx of talent from Hong Kong and a rentacrowd from the Chinese Peoples Army. It's too expensive to go to South Aftrica, Australia or New Zealand...so it seems that Europe must be alone at the moment in trying to drive this hardest of motorcycle events forward.

We need a committed long-term series sponsor and a raft of new ideas to reinvigorate the Championship. We need new tracks...or maybe just the re-introduction of the old traditional tracks...the Bol d'Or back at Le Castellet in the south of France, the re-homologation of Spa in Belgium for World Endurance...but there's already movement at a central European site and a hotbed of World Endurance interest, the former A1 Ring/Österreichring in Austria.

Owned by Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz (who has a 49% stake in the energy drink giants Red Bull), the original grandstands and pits were demolished in 2004 with Mateschitz intending to renovate the site as a dedicated Red Bull F1 testing site. Unable to overcome the strong objections of local residents, this plan came to nothing. After talks in 2007 with KTM and Volkswagen failed, 2008 would have seen a complete rebuild for the tracks' inclusion in the DTM racing series - but the DTM organizers have decided not to include the track in their 2009 calendar...so what's next?

Next will be (we hope) the 1000km of Österreichring in 2010. There are a couple of interesting things pointing to this current bid to restore the Zeltweg track to it's former glory being more successful than the last. The track is now currently being rebuilt, so we assume that local residents have finally come to an arrangement with Red Bull for this to happen. The infrastructure will be completed by October 2009, ready for racing to begin in earnest the next year...and the 1000km is already planned for July 2010. The circuit is easy to get to, the private airstrip at Zeltweg LOXZ is very close to the track, it's easy to get to by road and less than 100km from the international airport in Graz, the country shares borders with Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Hungary...

Then there is the fact that the great power in World Endurance for the past 10 years has undoubtedly been SERT, the French Suzuki Endurance Racing Team...and they won their very first race right here back in 1980 when it was the 1000km of Zeltweg  - so it would be their 30th anniversary. It's already been confirmed that SERT are in for this one.

Of course, YAMAHA AUSTRIA will be heavily involved. YART'S profile in the country has increased massively since their last race there in 2003 - and, with the track owned by Red Bull, it's easy to see where the race sponsor will come from. With marketing studies already completed, it's estimated that the gate for this event will be 40,000 people as a MINIMUM...

More news as and when it arrives.

It's been confirmed...Eurosport does not have the broadcast rights for this years' Bol d'Or. We're still waiting for confirmation of Le Mans for next year...but past experience of these insider rumours has always proved correct so we can't hold out a lot of hope for decent TV coverage from now on.

Talk about the end of an era...it's the end of an EPOCH...

TAKE A LAST FAST LAP OF MAGNY COURS ON AN AN APRILIA

Australia’s Alex Cudlin has just finished competing in Round 4 of the World Endurance Championships held at the Oschersleben race circuit in Germany. After scoring just 2 points from the previous 3 rounds, because of crashes from Alex’s team mate, Alex and Team Diablo 666 were hoping for points to get their championship standings back on track. Qualifying in 12th position on the grid, the team mounted a strong attack at the start of the race. During the race, the team was riding around a clutch problem, but with a few adjustments to their riding techniques, Alex and team mates Michael Weynand and James Hutchins, were able to push all the way until the end.

With the race being reduced from 24 hours to 8 hours this year, it meant that mistakes could be costly in this race. After 6 hours of racing, the daylight began to fade, and mistakes were beginning to arise from other teams. Diablo kept pushing hard and fought all the way to the final lap, head on head against the German factory BMW team, with Cudlin managing to gain the edge over the
German outfit to finish in 9th position. “This year’s race was much shorter than previous years, so we knew we had to
be on the ball as a team. With clutch problems hounding us throughout the race, and the racing being so close, it was great to push past the BMW team and finish where we did. It’s not exactly where we wanted to finish, with the Top 5 being the aim, but 9th place still puts us in the Top 10, and gives us much needed points for the Championship.”

The racing won’t slow down for Alex, as he will now head straight to Belgium for the Spa Francorchamps 8 hour. Alex will be riding at the world famous circuit for the first time, aboard the Herman Verboven 2008 GSXR1000 with the Suzuki Racing Team. “I’m really excited to get on the circuit at Spa. I’ve been told by so many riders that it’s the best track in the world. It has one of the longest straights around and is an extremely high speed circuit. On top of this, most of the race will be at night. I really can’t wait to be racing down the back straight in pitch black darkness, aboard a 200 horse power weapon, hitting
speeds in excess of 300kph”, smiled Cudlin.

There are some strong rumours circulating at the moment regarding the possible loss of the World Endurance Championship coverage from the Eurosport TV channel, with the possibility of Motors TV taking over and also the possibility of the events appearing on another subscription-only channel, maybe even a mobile phone-only service...which sounds prohibitively expensive. This would be a bitter blow coming on the heels of their loss of Moto GP.

In France, the Le Mans and Bol d'Or 24 hour races have a huge following and are very prestigious events for any French broadcaster. At the moment there is no confirmation of what is happening - more news when it arrives.

Damian Cudlin combined his German Supersport duties with his World Endurance commitments at Oschersleben in Germany on the weekend.

Competing in both championships, Cudlin was kept busy over the weekend, constantly swapping from R6 to R1 in a hectic schedule that saw highs and lows for the young Aussie. Starting with Saturday’s first Supersport race, Cudlin made a terrific start on his SKM Bike Promotion R6, surging to 3rd in the opening laps, before making a move on current champion Diss for 2nd. Damian then strung together a series of fast laps, trying to mount pressure on race leader Tode. However Tode proved too strong in the first leg and held his nerve, despite Cudlin’s best efforts, to take the win 2 seconds clear of Cudlin, closely followed by Penzkofer.

“I tried as hard as I could to put the pressure on Tode today but he was just too strong. I rode a good race but finished 2nd. Tode was just a little faster today and he deserved to win. I’ve got some ideas that might help us tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens in race 2. It’s still a great result for our team, made even better with Penz on the podium too.”

Cudlin didn’t have much time to celebrate as his attention turned swiftly to the World Endurance series and the 8 Hour Endurance race for his Phase One Yamaha team. With former YART team mate Sebastian Scarnato and current Spanish Supersport Champion Graeme Gowland, Cudlin led the Phase One charge in the first hour, climbing to 7th despite starting from a low 24th position on the
grid. Gowland took the baton from Cudlin for the team’s second leg and impressed with his speed and consistency. Despite missing most of practice due to other commitments, Scarnato also got on with the job at hand, as the team moved into contention for the podium by the halfway mark. Current World Champions SERT were staging a comeback after a small crash at the halfway point, which pushed the Phase One crew harder to keep their podium chances alive, however the SERT force proved too strong and overcome Phase One in the 7th hour.

Pushing to keep the pressure on, Cudlin raced hard in the final stint before giving all of the Phase One crew a scare with a fall just 15 minutes from the finish. In a gritty display Cudlin picked up the damaged machine with incredible speed and raced on to the finish, losing just 25 seconds on the lap of the crash. “I was trying hard to keep the pressure on SERT and saw my crew signalling with an extra pit board giving me the gap, but it was dark and I couldn’t see the numbers. I just assumed it must have been close, so I pushed as hard as I could, perhaps a little too much. I was passing a slower rider when I missed a gear change on a 3rd gear left hander. Before I knew it I was on my ass. I was just lucky the bike wasn’t too badly damaged and I could carry on. Certainly gave the boys a scare!” Cudlin crossed the line in 4th and secured 16 points towards the World Championship, lifting Phase One to 9th in the standings.

Forced to miss the end of race celebrations, Cudlin enjoyed a few hours sleep before lining up for Sunday’s second Supersport leg. The 600 field was faced with a wet track on Sunday as Cudlin faced his last chance to keep his championship alive. Finishing behind Tode would hand the title to the German, so all eyes were on the battle at hand. Cudlin started strongly in the wet encounter, sitting 4th, closely following Tode’s every move. With 2 laps remaining Tode dragged away on the back straight as Cudlin’s bike slowed to a halt. An electrical fault put an end to Cudlin’s race, as Tode finished 3rd securing the 2008 Supersport Championship.

“It was a real shame we had this problem today but that’s racing. Tode deserved to be champion this year and full credit to him and his crew. We gave it our best shot and I think we can still be proud of everything we’ve accomplished this year already. Now we’ve just got to fight for the runner up spot at Hockenheim.”

Damian will now enjoy a 3 week break before heading to the German Championship final round at Hockenheim on 5/6/7th of September.

After witnessing the accident from the pitlane at Brands Hatch, our worst fears have been realized. Here is the official press release from the FIM:

British rider Craig Jones passed away last night following serious head injuries due to an accident during the FIM Supersport World Championship race held yesterday on the circuit of Brands Hatch, Great Britain. He was 23 years old.

Craig Jones crashed while in second position of the race at Clark Curve and was struck by the rider’s machine who was following him. The race was stopped by red flag. The rider was immediately transferred by helicopter to the Royal London Hospital. But the doctors could not improve his condition.

Born on January 16, 1985 in Northwich, he started his career in 1996 as British Junior Mini Moto Champion (8 wins in 8 races). He became Senior Mini Moto Champion two years later. In 2002 he was British Junior Superstock Champion. He finished 7th of the British Supersport Championship in 2003, 8th in 2004 and runner-up in 2005, and took part in a few races of the World Championship. In 2007, he finished 5th in the FIM Supersport World Championship, with two second places and two third places as best results. He was currently 5th in the 2008 Championship.

On behalf of the FIM, President Vito Ippolito and CEO Guy Maitre present their sincere condolences to his family, friends and his National Federation.