Scotsman Ian Simpson moved to the top of the ICGP 350cc Championship, but only by a single point after a hard fought second round of the series at the Automotodrom Grobnik at Rijeka, Croatia on Sunday.

Rijeka race report by Chris Carter

Guy Bertin (Kawasaki KR 350), the 57-year-old Frenchman, dominated the meeting, winning both championship races to take his tally of victories for the season to three from four starts. But Simpson, the 42-year-old former British Supersport 600 champion, riding the Bill Simpson Racing Yamaha TZ 350, was second home in both outings to take his points’ total to 76, one more than the Kawasaki rider. Another Frenchman, Jean-Paul Lacointe, gave the meeting a miss and slipped from the championship lead to third in the 350cc standings on 45 points. Bertin, with Grand Prix experience at the circuit on the factory Motobecane in the past, qualified on pole with a lap seven tenths of a second quicker than Simpson.

Simpson and Bertin battled for much of the first 12-lap race, till Bertin broke clear and opened up a winning margin of 4.5 seconds over the British racer. Unlucky Swiss Ives Glauser (Yamaha TZ 350) was battling up front for a while, before being troubled with fuel starvation and slipping back. He was then forced to stop for a short time in a successful attempt to cure the problem, losing ten places. The 32-year-old racer, making his debut on a two-stroke after over ten years successfully racing big Classic machines, quickly charged back through the field, but time ran out before he could pass third-placed German, Wolfgang Volk (Yamaha TZ 350), who finished 1.3 seconds ahead of him. Frenchman Eric Saul, the man who started the ICGP series in 1999, was out of luck in the race. Fifth fastest overall in qualifying and best 250, Saul, on Alain Chevallier’s quick machine, after a sluggish start, was up to fourth, right behind another Frenchman, Yves Hecq (Armstrong 250). Hecq’s machine seized, flicking him off and spraining his ankle and soon after Saul’s machine suffered a major mechanical problem. Both riders were out for the rest of the day. Bertin was in fine form in race two, later in the afternoon.

Simpson led on the opening lap of the ten-lap event, but Bertin soon blasted past and pulled away. That left Simpson and Glauser to fight it out for second spot. It was a good scrap, with the wily Scotsman nipping past his rival on the last lap to take runner-up spot, 8.5 seconds behind the winner. Simon Denshaw (Yamaha TZ 350) continued his good form, finishing fifth in his class in race one and seventh in the second outing stay firmly in fourth place on 42 points.

Another British racer, Peter Howarth, also on a Yamaha TZ 350, had a silencer go in the first race, preventing him doing better than eighth. That was replaced with a new one in race two and this time his lap times came down and he finished sixth, just three tenths of a second down on Frenchman Daniel Levieux (Harris 350). Those results took Howarth’s tally for the season to 27, lifting him from 12th in the rankings to sixth, two points behind Levieux. Glyn Williams had a lucky escape. He finished down in 11th place in the first race, concerned with the poor handling of his Spondon 350 and discovered that the frame had broken at the headstock. He was unable to repair the machine and was a non-starter in race two.

The Austrian Franz Patrick Dorfner (Nico Bakker Rotax 250) won both 250cc races, making it three wins and a second in two meetings, giving him 95 points. The double enabled him to stretch his lead over Frenchman Andre Gouin (Yamaha TZ 250) from 17 to 35.

The third round of the six meeting series will be at Brands Hatch on July 22.