Taurus, Team Force and Roadrunner have all been ejected from their top 3 positions following a behind closed doors decision by DG Sport. 

All was going so well; second in qualifying; Hugh on form; Peter going like a 25 year old, fastest race lap and the bike on song…. but it couldn’t last, and it didn’t.

In  leg one, on Friday night (16th September) Peter came crashing down on oil. And, he was leading by a couple of seconds, from one of the many post classic bikes. (actually, not post-classic at all; more like anything old ish…up to about 2000 we reckon – certainly not limited to 1991). That being bad enough, he was then skittled back to the ground by two other bikes crashing on the same oil.
Manfully and typically, he got the bike back (without LH handlebar) and the team fixed it and returned in 7 minutes. We had dropped to 32nd, but fought back to 8th by the end.

It could have been a great race, with over 50 starters; but on this occasion it was a bit of a struggle. Roadrunner Suzuki scored another superb first leg win, back to back with their Spa win two months earlier.They were on a roll, and well deserved!

In the second round on Saturday morning, it was much the same from the off. An ignition problem meant starting from the pitlane (tent-lane actually, as fifty tents had been erected to replace the pits occupied of course by the EWC teams) and a resultant stop and go, plus an oil leak, all led towards a decidedly average final 8th position. The overall race was won, for the second year running, by a post classic bike, firmly spelling the end of the “classic” bol as we knew it. Roadrunner were first classic bike in the overall result, in 3rd position.

Hugh Brasher at qualifying

This year the grid was split exactly 75% post classic and 25% classic.  we accept that classic is now finished. If only the organisers would get a grip and hold to their own regulations of the 1991 post classic cut off, it would have a future on its own, but I fear the worst…

What a negative end to a fantastic event… in just 3 years; a credible race with a full grid and the “main event” at Magny Cours, with its own support races, to a support race itself, with two unpoliced and meaningless classes. Shame.

Beringer products in the main paddock

As  a footnote; I hope that the organisers of next year’s Donington 4 hours (6th/7th of May) have noted the demise of the Classic Bol (as a credible event) and the relative success of the ECS series; the former being a properly policed true classic event, rather than an unstructured free for all…

So, foreward to Aragon, we currently lead the championship, with 32 points, with our No. 1 bike, and our No. 4 bike is on 13 points in 8th place. Second is Taurus and tying for third are Force and Roadrunner, each on 25 points. For Aragon, Greg Fastré and Richard Hubin will both be fit.  Let battle commence!

Thanks to all for their invaluable support. Sorry to be negative earlier, its certainly not that way right now; Aragon is there to be won !!

RB

We leave today, Sunday and are on track first thing Thursday AM. Peter Linden and Hugh Brasher will defend the team’s 2015 win (Linden/Dickinson) using the ex-Oschersleben bike. Post Oschersleben the detonation damage was repaired and the engine freshened ready for the back end of the season.

There are some great aspects of this event; notably the circuit and the world championship status of the main 24hrs race. But there are some negatives too; like being in an unsecured paddock with very poor facilities which is also a good distance from the pits!. Anyway, these trials are there there to be overcome – I am sure that we can lock all the valuables in the truck each time we go on track and we can always use the R2CL toilets… and anyway the pushing will do us good..

Another great thing about the Bol d’Or is that it attracts back lots of the old stalwarts, both racers and spectators, so I am looking forward to seeing many old faces again.

The race itself is a hotch -potch of classes, basically anything goes now, up to about 1995, and any capacity. It puts us at a bit of a disadvantage with such an old girl (1981), up against the GSXR1100s of 1990 and the 916s of later, It really is a post classic race with a classic support class.

See you there.  RB

It was a great weekend with a superb outcome, but there was more to it than that. Frankly, the field was thin: not weak, just thin.

Qualifying for instance was fairly hard, with ACR Wobker and Motul Endurance both within 0.9 sec of fastest man Lindén.   Ian Simpson trailed slightly all meeting due to him suffering from a cracked rib following a mountain bike incident.
Qualifying ended with Sweatshop Phase One on pole with 1.39.62. Motul Endurance on 1.40.28 and ACR Wobker on 1.40.47. But there were not many other competitors close to this.
[It was interesting to note that some of the factory EWC bikes were only 11secs faster, with the latest young guns on board!].
The whole meeting was blisteringly hot, with air temperatures between 33-35 C and track temperatures in the 46-48 C region.

Sweatshop Phase One led from the flag, pulling a lead of approx 1 lap per hour over second place finisher Team Segale Classic (Dario Tosselini and Roberto Germann).
The Team’s race was trouble free, with some great pitstops, even one at 18.17 secs, which resulted in the team being 5 laps ahead with 10 minutes to run (the race was between 16.00 – 20.00).
That hard earned margin proved invaluable as Ian Simpson stopped, with 10 minutes to go, at the beginning of the start/finish straight, apparently with a serious top end rattle.
The Team, in consultation with Ian, decided to sit the last 10 minutes out, just before the line, sapping up the margin, and to push over, at 20.00hrs.

The plan worked! The Team won, with just 100 sec to spare!!
It was a close thing, but well deserved after a great effort by all the Team.
Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters. Classic Bol d’Or next, September 18/19.

NB The engine fault was detonation eating a plug thread and loss of a plug

Pictures by Dave Martin

Ochersleben has been a firm favourite with the team since the mid-1990s when the 24hrs race was conceived. Battle after battle was fought there, some absolute epics. Like in 1999, when we broke a cam chain whilst in the top three; pushed in, stripped it, got a new chain from the spare engine, retimed and fitted it, and carried on to a top ten finish. Those were the days; Rees, Bonhuil, Linden. And the marvellous 24hrs race win in 2001, a true race long battle with Zongshens, Jerman, Mertens and Nowland, which we won….true payback for Zongshen buying most of the 2000 Phase One rider line-up after we won the world championship the year before. That was Peter Linden’s last world endurance race too… what a way to bow out of the WEC…. a 24hrs race win.

Anyhow, enough of that…. This weekend’s race will be held at 16.00 on Friday PM. Peter Linden and Ian Simpson will be aboard, supported by a tight little team of five of us. We will be taking all three bikes; overkill really, but one is there just to run-in, and the other as a spare. We are learning all the time about these particular engines, and all are fresh for this latter part of the season.

Next will be the Classic Bol in mid-September (Linden/Brasher); an event that really should be renamed- post classic bol, with some classic bikes in support ! We go there to defend our 2015 classic bike win, in a field that will probably be around 50/50 with post classic….should be interesting….   Despite the absolutely rubbish facilities, remote paddock (no more than a field actually) and tented pits, its difficult to stay away….its still Paul Ricard after all, its still the south of France in September and above all its still the
Bol d Ór…..

Our last race will be the final EWC round at Aragon. We go there as absolute series leaders, but with only a slender margin ahead of Taurus, with Roadrunner and of course Team Force all within striking distance….

Thank you all for your continued support….. More after Osch …RB

Bill Simpson
I am delighted to say that I visited Bill last week, the day after he was discharged from Dumfries Royal Infirmary and over two months after his horrific accident at East Fortune. I found him in good spirits, very thankfull to still be here and looking forward to getting back to fitness. I was so worried that after such a lengthy time in a coma he may have lost some of his wit; but no, Bill was back to full strength mentally…..but there is going to be some hard word ahead physically – he does however expect to make a full recovery…

Bill Simpson in South Africa earlier this year