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The long-awaited duel at the
Oschersleben 24 Hours between Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and
Team Kawasaki France didn't last longer than four hours. After
a neck and neck start to the race between the two official machines,
the tension eventually took its toll with a fall for the Kawasaki
just after 19:00. By the finish SERT had confirmed its dominance
with the victory, finishing 12 laps ahead of the Kawasaki . The
win means that the Suzuki team has further increased its lead
in the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship classifications.
The Bol d'Or is now on the horizon and promises to be a decisive
race in the Championship, before the final round takes place
in Qatar in November.
In finishing second behind Suzuki, Kawasaki France has earned
valuable points. Delayed by the first fall of Gwen Giabbani and
then by a second from Julian Mazuecos, the Kawasaki nevertheless
did begin to make up the lost time and mount a recovery, before
benefiting from the problems of Yamaha Austria Racing Team at
the end of the race to take second place on the podium.
YART had a two lap lead on Kawasaki France and had looked like
they had done enough to clinch second spot, before an engine
heating problem caused them to loose several minutes at around
14:00. Their misfortune allowed Kawasaki to gain a place with
YART finishing in third, eight laps behind.
Yamaha Phase One Endurance was the most unfortunate team during
this race in Germany. All was going well until 11:00 this morning.
Sitting in third position since the beginning of the race, Phase
One was forced into the pits with what looked like a clutch problem.
A short while later the English Yamaha was forced to abandon
with a broken engine, less than three hours from the finish.
"We had a dream race with Warwick Nowland, Stefan Nebel
and Pedro Vallacaneras", said Russell Benney, team manager
of Phase One. "We were racing well all weekend but had a
horrible result. But we have already put this behind us and our
preparations for the Bol d'Or begin tomorrow."
Bolliger Switzerland , who had started the race from the back
following the fall of Patric Muff, made a great recovery, finishing
in fourth position. The Kawasaki Bolliger finished five
laps ahead of the astonishing BMW entered by BMW Motorrad. Thomas
Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkoffer and Markus Barth finished fifth
on the R1200S which will return to action at the Bol d'Or. The
other BMW Motorrad finished ninth, and having been entered into
the Open class, did not register any points towards the overall
World Championship.
The winners in the Superproduction category, Kawasaki Raffin
Motos, recorded their best results of the season finishing in
sixth place while earning the points for fifth, just ahead of
Kawasaki Diablo 666 Bolliger who were slowed by fuel problems,
and another Kawasaki of Jadoul Motorsport.
Among the other permanent teams who finished in the points, Endurance
Moto 38 looked capable of finishing high up, but a fall lost
them fifth place and they ultimately came in tenth. RMT 21 Racing
made a great start to the race. In seventh position after 22
hours the German Honda also lost time thanks to a fall and finished
in eleventh. Endurance Moto 45 recorded their first points of
the 2007 Championship thanks to its 14th place, earning points
for 12th. Suzuki Superstock lost ground due to a problem with
a wheel axel. Maco Moto Racing had also been well-placed on Saturday
afternoon but two falls and then clutch problems slowed their
progress. Maco Moto ultimately finished in 16th, 13th in the
classifications. Finally, a fall and then a fuel pump failure
saw RT Racing & Moto Virus finish in 14th in the classifications. |
