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Oschersleben 24hr 10th/11th August 2002 One for the ladies - Peter Linden
Firstly, the gossip - there seem to be 3 different parts to this story: There seems to be a bit of a falling out between Dunlop and SERT Suzuki at Oschersleben. Dunlop are rather upset about SERT lending one of their riders to top French endurance team GMT94, understandably because SERT run Dunlops and GMT94 run Michelins....and why did GMT94 need a rider? Apparently, William Costes' wife was having a baby that weekend - or it could have been that all is not well relationship-wise between William and Team Manager Christophe Guyot - word of an argument reached my ears, along with the suggestion that it's not the first falling-out... Anyway, news had it that Dunlop provided Zongshen with a special qualifying tyre because of this, usually reserved for factory teams - though it couldn't be put to good use because Zongshen had all the 16½ inch wheels that they usually use help up in Anchorage, Alaska, after the Suzuka 8hr the week before. The transport plane broke down and nobody from the (un-named) airline thought of arranging the parts to be shipped on another aircraft - duh! Christophe Guyot has been told that he can't ride for two months, so that rules out Vallelunga - his shoulder is too weak. One of his ankles looks horrible, very swollen - although he said that the main thing was movement and he's ok with that...although he spent a long time sitting down, as well he should. Someone who really didn't like sitting down was Stephane Mertens with a sore backside after his fall at Spa - once again, someone in the pits didn't tighten the rear wheel spindle...which has happened before... QB (Carbon) Phase One had to change the frame on their reserve bike during practice after finding out it was cracked. Team Boss Russell Benny was sporting a HUGE burn on his leg after getting hot water sprayed all over it from the damaged radiator that caused them so many problems on the startline at Suzuka. They were also trying to get Brian Morrison (who was at Oschersleben for the BMW Boxer Cup) to ride for them but that was blocked by Suzuki France. TrackDaze had problems with their bikes' generators, not giving enough power for the lights for the night rides, so they said - although I suspect it was because a rider (or two!) went out for the night practice sessions with DARK VISORS...and THAT'S happened before as well... Finally: THE RACE Start - 3pm to 6pm Sebastian Scarnato got into the lead first, chased by Phase One's Frederick Moreira, Fernando Christobal on the Zongshen No.9 and Warwick Nowland on the Zongshen No.2, then Shäfer No.17 (Herbert Kaufman), PoliceNo.22, Moto38, Bike Promotion No.111 (StockSport class) and Klaus Schultz on the Bergman & Söhne No.34 First bike in the pits...No56 Holtzhauer Racing's VTR1000 - somebody forgot to put fuel in the tank :) The pace cars came out
twice for 2 accidents, first one for 2 laps, the second one for 4 laps and
Phase One got stuck behind slow old pace car number two both times. 6 to 9pm A huge storm broke right on top of the circuit - all the cameramen were pulled from their lofty perches to stop them getting hit by lightning - and with a crash on the far side of the circuit at the fast SS's (entry 250kph) involving No 58 Team Motor Project (Stocksport GSXR1000) and the No.56 Holzhauer racing Honda VTR1000 just before the rain REALLY started to hammer down - and then the Team Phoenix No65 Aprilia RSV1000 going down, splitting it's tank in a fireball with TrackDaze No.55 Yamaha R1 going through the flames (apparently everyone was ok), that brought out the pace cars again as the rain was now absolute stair-rods and visibility close to nil. The pace cars proceeded to travel at about 10mph and as about 20 or 30 riders bunched up behind the pace car at the bottom of the start/finish line, some riders behind came on to the top of the straight at close to 150mph...
Niklas
Carlberg from Sweden on the Team Fagersjol-el No12 (StockSport) Yamaha R1 saw
the bunched riders loom up out of the spray and managed to brake from 170mph - but was hit
from behind by another rider who also crashed... GOOD NEWS...Stefan is OK! He suffered an open fracture of the lower leg and is still in hospital but Team Manager Knut Engels says he's recovering and thanks the powers that be for Stefans Lazer helmet and Daytona boots for saving him from much worse injuries. The race was red-flagged (that last happened at the Bol d'Or in 1990 and 1989 after crashes on the Mistral straight with the 1989 race being declared after 14½ hours) All concerned felt that the race organizers had made the right decision at the correct time and all the bikes that weren't at that time in the pits were parked up at the Parc Fermé...damaged or not, nobody could touch the bikes until the race restarted at 9pm after 2½ hours under the red flag. Surprisingly, both the heavily damaged open-class Engel Racing No.52 GSXR1000 and the fire-ravaged superbike-class Team Phoenix Aprilia RSV1000 restarted the race! 9 to Midnight The race restarted at
9pm with Zongshen No.2 and GMT94 still battling for the lead, Zongshen No.9 in
third and being closed down by QB Phase One in fourth and Endurance Moto38 in
fifth on the Yamaha R1. Coming up to midnight and it was Freddy Moreira's turn - he crashed the QB Phase One No.3 after gaining 3rd place, the crash breaking the exhaust and brake lever - not too bad, but it put the team back to 5th. Midnight to 3am Quite a settled night ride with just a few incidents with the Shäfer No.17 and Police Nationale No.22 bikes having minor get-offs...not much else to report, actually, as I spent 2 hours getting to the hotel and back to collect my bags...apparently we would be flying directly to Rome after the race and, unlike the riders, I wouldn't be getting any sleep... 3am to 6am Through the night the
Zongshen No.2 and GMT94 Suzuki GSXR1000's we at times within 10 seconds of each
other. Because of QB Phase One's earlier problems, Endurance Moto38 were now in
3rd place with the Zongshen No.9 machine dogging their heels. At around 05:30 in
the morning two things happened...the QB Phase One No.3 machine started having
inconsistent braking problems - talk about unsettling, not knowing when you get
to a corner if you'd have brakes or not... GMT94 meanwhile had their
own problems, dramatically losing touch with the leading Zongshen No.2 machine
as their GSXR1000 started going on to three and sometimes two cylinders and
pitting a few times to find out what was wrong. The bike finally came in to to
the pits for a full electrical system change - wiring loom, fuel pump, injection
system, battery...still the same..change the plugs?...still the same. After much
headscratching and playing of mumbletypeg the fault was traced to the little
ignition cut-out for the gear-change, something that's never happened before and
consequently was never thought of... 6am to 9am So, with GMT94 out of the
race for the top spot and languishing in 9th, Zongshen were 6 laps clear in the
lead...and the Endurance Moto38 (still shiny-side up after all this time) was
now in second place with the Zongshen No.9 bike in 3rd. 9am to 12 Midday ...and that's where it stood at the top...(the KFM Team No.41 rider Gerhard Wacker had a crash which ended their race while lying 14th)...until around 11am when news came to the pits that Warwick Nowland had crashed the Zongshen No.2 while leading by 6 laps. Warwick was going into the fastest corner on the track, went to change down and got a false neutral, consequently the engine braking he was expecting didn't happen. He held the bike on the brakes while the front bottomed out again and again but wasn't able to save it...the crash caused the bars to lock against the frame and consequently the front wheel couldn't be steered at all - it was locked in place. ...but the bike had to get back to the pits or it was out of the race... How Warwick managed to ride the bike back to the pits is a story in itself, with him crashing twice more as the bike steadfastly refused to turn at all - but bring it back he did. The pit crew had to lift the front-end off the ground to turn it into the pit garage but with a tenacity all to common among endurance pit crews had the damage to the bike repaired (with liberal application of "bodge" tape on the decidedly skewed fairing and seat) and they were back out with Igor Jerman on board...but the damage had definitely been done to their track position - they had lost ten laps and they were now in 2nd place with the Zongshen No.9 machine 3rd. ...and Endurance Moto38 were leading by 4 laps... Midday to 3pm - Race Finish As if Warwick's crash hadn't done enough damage...after Igor Jerman came in from his ride, the bike was taken over by Stephane Mertens...who crashed on oil half a lap later, dislocating his shoulder. He also managed to get the bike back to the pits and immediately collapsed. Warwick was still trying to get over what he had done earlier but within a few minutes was ready again to go out with a bike now decidedly second-hand and (held together by wishes, tape and prayers) rejoined the race in 3rd. But there was a cunning plan... Team Manager Michel Marqueton wanted both bikes to finish and was worried over "possible minor electrical problems" with the 2nd placed Zongshen No.9 machine. He brought it in to the pits half an hour before the finish of the race...rider Bruno Bohuil stood around wearing his helmet but you didn't want to look into his eyes... Endurance Moto38 won the race, Zongshen No.2 second and Zongshen No.9 3rd with GMT94 in 4th. Whatever happens at the last round in Vallelunga on October 6th - Team Zongshen are World Champions for 2002
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