It's on the Oschersleben circuit during the German Speedweek in Germany hosted the fourth round of ICGP championship.

Round 4 of the Championship during the 13th German Speedweek at Oschersleben in Germany will have 2 races, which is unusual for ICGP, but would make up for the lack of points at the Rijeka meeting.

Arriving Thursday at 10:30 am with free practice scheduled for 4:15 in the afternoon, we spent the next hour or so setting up camp and catching up with the other riders and their companions.

Richard Parker had a brand new girly coloured tent, after losing his previous one to the bora wind and torrential rain in Rijeka at the previous round of the championship.

Wolfgang Volk was there, but had sold the Armstrong that he rode so well at Rijeka as he was finding sourcing parts becoming increasingly difficult and was offered a price he could not turn down.

He was debating purchasing a bike from one of the other ICGP riders, but after the engine failed to start, he decided against, and returned home after watching the first practice laps. He assured us that he would be returning for the whole series next year and was going to spend his time during the winter building a bike.

The weather remained dry for the set up of camp, but by the time the free practice time came round, the rain had started to threaten, and started to fall just as the riders lined up in the pit lane.

Alberto Peruzzi managed to blow up his engine after just two laps of the free practice, but was kindly lent an engine by Colin Sleigh who had returned to the ICGP racing for the first time for a year or so.
Alberto worked late into the night on Thursday to replace his engine, only to go out on Friday morning for the qualifier and promptly blow up Colin’s engine after just 4 laps! Missing qualifier 2 completely, he did however manage to cobble together a working engine from the parts of the two, and have an extremely successful couple of races during the weekend.

Friday morning dawned sunny and dry, not sure about the bikes, but some of the people were not firing on all cylinders after a late evening of beers, wine and jocularity had been enjoyed by several of the teams.

During the first Qualifier Guy Bertin’s primary gears broke on his engine, and it looked like he would not be able to repair it before the race.

Indeed he was not able to make it to the 2nd qualifier, so ended up on row 2, position 7 on the grid, but with no useable bike on Friday afternoon. RPJ only put in 5 laps before deciding that was enough and to rest the bike (and body!).

As the rest of the ICGP riders were making their way out onto the track for the 1st qualifier, Richard Parker and his sponsor Mr Jones were seen grinding their nuts on a defective rear wheel spindle where the thread had stripped, sparks were flying and not just from the grinder !

They completed the task just in time for Parker to do 2 speedy laps, bringing him to 5th position at the end of the qualifier.

During the 2nd qualifier Marc Auboiron (TZ 250 H) was uninjured when he lost control on Lap 8 at the right-hander after the chicane. Enquiring afterwards with him as to the cause he said that the new swinging arm had hit the tyre when the tyre became hot and expanded. A problem that was resolved by working late into Friday evening.

Richard Parker encountered suspension problems, and upon returning to the paddock after the session, he discovered that he also had a puncture in his rear tyre.

Steve Clark who missed out on the pre-practice on Thursday blew up an engine and spent Friday night repairing it only to have his gear lever break on the first lap of the race.

an hour before the race with ominous grey clouds overhead, the riders were glancing frequently at the sky debating a tyre change, but when they went out on their sighting lap warm, dry conditions greeted them, and upon returning from the warm up lap Simpson, Parker, Peers-Jones and Hoffman formed the front row.

After qualifying here is the starting grid :

As the red lights went out, Ian Simpson (BSR 350) immediately headed the field, and after completion of lap 1 the front men came round in their grid positions.

Steve Clark (TZ 250) only made it to the first corner before his gear lever broke, and with much fuming within his helmet, he came off and headed back to the paddock.

As the race went on, Ian Simpson and Richard Parker (Yamaha/Mr Jones) were gradually breaking clear from Peers-Jones (TZ 350 G) lap by lap, and a slowly closing in Guy Bertin (Kawasaki KR 350), who had managed to source new parts just in time for the race.

Local rider Walter Hoffman (Yamaha 350), having a one-off ride with ICGP was slowly losing ground on Peers-Jones.

A pumped-up Parker, after all his woes in the practice sessions, made his move on Simpson during lap 5, and took the helm.
Speaking to him later he said “I thought I had made my move too early, as Simpson came back past me again in Lap 6, but then I took him again on Lap 7 and retained the lead”

At three quarter distance Guy Bertin went past a tiring Peers-Jones and inched ahead.

At the culmination of Lap 8 Richard Parker took a narrow win over Ian Simpson by just half a second, and Guy Bertin claimed third ahead of Peers-Jones by just over a second.

Simpson quoted afterwards that his own bike was running just too rich and that Richard Parker’s bike was that much faster on the straight

Meanwhile, the 250 class was no less competitive with Colin Sleigh (TZ 250 H), Eric Saul (TZ 250 L), and Alberto Peruzzi (TZ 250 L) fighting for the premier positions.

Colin Sleigh took a commanding win from Eric Saul, narrowly followed by Alberto Peruzzi, with 2nd and 3rd positions separated by less than a second.The OAP section was once again headed up by the ever-greying Peers-Jones, with 2nd position going to Bernard Tabarly and a consistent Roger (TT) Timms rounding up the top 3.

The second race of the weekend is due to be held on the Sunday at 1pm, this time over 12 laps. Saturday night the rain turned up again and by the time Sunday dawned the track was wet and slippery, and with solid grey clouds overhead it did not look likely that much drying of the track was going to happen. The riders lined up in the same grid positions as for Race 1. After a cautious sighting lap the riders were aware that the track was slippery and had standing water in places and that there would be limited grip during the race.

Here are results of the first race.

350cc Class

1. Richard Parker (GB)
2. Ian Simpson (GB)
3. Guy Bertin (FR)

250cc Class

1. Colin Sleigh (GB)
2. Eric Saul (FR)
3. Alberto Peruzzi (IT)

Master class

1. Richard Peers Jones (GB)
2. Walter Hoffmann (GB)
3. Bernard Tabarly (FR)

The race started and so did more of the rain – coming down as a mist, and ensuring the track became wetter and more slippery as the race went on. Steve Clark’s run of bad luck continued and he lost grip on the first left hander and down he went.

Speaking to him after the race, I could see that his leathers had taken a battering, but his good humour had returned and he was negotiating his way round the paddock on a bicycle at a more sedate pace!

Guy Bertin pulled ahead of Simpson, and slowly lengthened his lead lap by lap.
Parker in third position said he did not know where the grip was coming from when he was behind Peers-Jones, but clearly found it from somewhere, as he pulled round and ahead of him, only to lose it on Lap 7 at the first left-hand bend after the home straight, and for him the race was over, exactly the same bend that took Steve Clark down in the first lap.

Most of the riders were finding their bikes losing grip on the bends and were battling to keep them from sliding away from under them on each and every corner.

Peers-Jones and Walter Hoffman were fighting for fourth position continuously, both men making their moves and then finding the other coming back past, but finally Peers-Jones pulled ahead and lengthened his lead.

He spotted Parker stood at the side of the track in the mud and was instantly aware that third position was in his sights. Bertin pulled ever ahead of Simpson who was riding more cautiously than usual due to the wet conditions.

Bertin crossed over the finish line a full 20 seconds ahead of Simpson, with Peers-Jones attaining third, 16 seconds later. Walter Hoffman came fourth 3 seconds after that.

Congratulation Guy !!!

In the 250 class Alberto Peruzzi with his combination engine crossed the finish line 21 seconds ahead of his benefactor Colin Sleigh, with third place going to Yves Roger Hecq and Eric Saul finishing 4th.
The 250 overall results after the meeting have vastly changed with Eric Saul now leading the way on 58 points, taking over from the much beleaguered Steve Clarke who failed to achieve any points over the weekend, and has now dropped to equal fourth in the overall running.

Bernard Taberly defended his overall 2nd position with 52 points in total, after two good point scoring races. Colin Sleigh with his first and second position results now stands in third position with 45 points, just ahead of Alberto Peruzzi and Steve Clarke on equal standings for 4th with 41 points apiece.

All could change though during the Cadwell meeting, although Alberto Peruzzi will not be attending due to the distance from Italy.

The Masters section of the championship looks to be sewn up by Richard Peers-Jones, with 100 points under his belt after winning full championship points at each of the meetings, he is now over 25 points ahead of Bernard Taberly lying second, and Roger (TT) Timms currently in third position.

Text from Mandy Jordan.

Bravissimo Alberto !!!

Jan Postmus, who was a mecanic for Yamaha factory for Phil Read, was visiting us on sunday with his son Erwin who will probably come to race with us next year !

Rendez-vous on 28th and 29th of August for the Cadwell Park race !!

General results are avalaible here

Here are the results of the 2nd race.

350cc Class

1. Guy Bertin (FR)
2. Ian Simpson (GB)
3. Richard Peers Jones (GB)

250cc Class

1. Alberto Peruzzi (IT)
2. Colin Sleigh (GB)
3. Yves Roger Hecq (BE)

Master class

1. Richard Peers Jones (GB)
2. Walter Hoffmann (GB)
3. Bernard Tabarly (FR)

Printed screen of the RSTime software available on www.raceresults.nu.

Analyses, details and results of testings, and races :

Free testing, general:
Free testing, per class:
Free testing, laptime:

Qualifs 1, general :
Qualifs 1, per class:
Qualifs 1, laptime:

Qualifs 2, general:
Qualifs 2, classement par categories:
Qualifs 2, laptime:

cumulation of qualifs:
Starting grid:

Race 1, general :
Race 1, per class:
Race 1, laptime:

Race 2, general :
Race 2, per class:
Race 2, laptime:

Pictures from Mandy Jordan and Jan Postmus.