Alpe Adria Championship.General ranking is available here
Onslaught of Rijeka for the second round !
 |
Race report by Mandy Jordan
The 2nd round of the 2013 Championship saw the ICGP circus travel south to the Adriatic coast of Croatia, to race at the former Grand Prix circuit of Rijeka some 150km south of the capital Zagreb. The weather could not have been more contrasting from Rijeka, where we were met with rain, wind and the odd sunray, whereas Rijeka greeted us with 30 degrees and clear blue skies.
The majority of the paddock formed on Thursday in preparation for a free practice Friday afternoon. Saturday would see two qualifying sessions and Sunday would have a warm up session in the morning followed by two races one at midday and the other at 5pm.
In previous years this venue has been the scene of destruction by the local wind known as the Bora, as it swirls it’s way over the surrounding mountains and rips through the paddock tearing down awnings, felling motor-cycles and generally creating wanton damage amongst the paddock inhabitants. It can last for many hours turning the paddock into a river of floating debris.
Ian Simpson was starting his 2013 campaign here as he missed Rijeka due to other committments and we had some guest appearances from local Italian riders.
Most of the riders took advantage of the Friday session to dial themselves and the bikes into the Rijeka track which flows gracefully but fast through the scenic valley with its mountains towering over each end of the track.
 |
 |
 |
 |
The first qualifying session held at 8.55 on Saturday morning, a very early start for the ICGP riders, saw Guy Bertin top the charts from Ian Simpson, then Swiss rider Ives Glauser on Lewis Batty’s TZ350, followed by Richard Peers-Jones on his TZ350, then Italian star Michele Conti on a rapid Kawasaki and Mike Hose on Lea Gourley’s TZ350 rounding out the top six. The riders then had until 1.10pm to re-hydrate and prepare themselves for the 2nd and final session to determine the grid.
By midday the temperature had risen to over 30 degrees so the track surface was much hotter and not many riders improved upon their morning times. The order was much the same except Michele Conti had worked his way to 2nd place, so the grid was formed with Bertin, Conti and Simpson on the front row and Glauser, Peers-Jones and Hose forming the second row.
Race day was again very hot and some riders elected not to go out in the morning warm up. Chris Knight did go out and was seen going down the main straight with steam pouring out of the bike after his back hose had come off eventually seizing the engine. A couple of hours later it was repaired and ready for the race but he just ran out of time and thus had to watch race 1 from the sidelines as did the luckless Dave Cooper.
 |
As the red lights went out immediately Guy Bertin took the lead from quick starting Peers-Jones but soon the order was established as Bertin stretched a lead over a dualing Ian Simpson and Italian Michele Conti with Ives Glauser trying to stay with them followed by Mike Hose and Richard Peers-Jones rounding out the top 6.
In the 250 class Franz Dorfner continued from where he left off last season and headed the way from Stefan Tennstadt and Austrian Werner Reuberger.
On lap 11 of 12, the flying Kawasaki of Michele Conti expired leaving Guy Bertin a clear victory by 11 seconds from Ian Simpson who was 10 seconds clear of Swiss Ives Glauser. Mike Hose continued his good form coming home in 4th with Richard Peers-Jones 5th and ICGP rookie Andy Muggleton 6th. Franz Dorfner took the 250 spoils from Stefan Tennstadt and Werner Reuberger.
 |
There was a high rate of attrition with Chris Rose seizing his TZ350 on lap 4, Eric Quartier also departing on lap 4, Robert Hall splitting his exhaust pipe on lap 1, Peter Howarth going out with gearing problems on lap 2, Scotsman Ewan Hamilton suffering vibration problems on lap 5 and Marc Auboiron going out on lap 6.
Series organizer Eric Saul had an expensive weekend re-building his bike after a practice seizure only to retire with a broken gear linkage on lap 10.
Race 2 was due to start at 4.30 but delays in the day saw the ICGP riders line up at 5pm still in glorious sunshine.
A repeat of race one saw Guy Bertin lead into the first corner from Richard Peers-Jones with Glauser, Conti, Simpson, and Hose all eager to be involved in the first lap dash.
Soon the race settled into a great scrap between Conti, Bertin and the hard charging Glauser who was determined not to let the green Kawasakis get away.
A small mistake from Bertin allowed Glauser through into 2nd place but then disaster struck for Glauser as he made his way downhill towards the lowest part of the circuit he touched the grass on a left hander and lost control and he and the bike went grass tracking. Fortunately Glauser was unhurt but his Lew Batty prepared Yamaha was not, as it caught fire and did a lot of damage before the marshals could extinguish it.
In the meantime Conti stretched his lead as Bertin’s Kawasaki failed again for the second meeting running. This promoted Ian Simpson to second and a well deserved 3rd for Andy Muggleton who got the better of Mike Hose. Chris Knight ended his run of bad luck with a good ride to 5th and Robert Hall 6th.
 |
 |
 |
The 250 race was a clear win for Werner Reuberger from Stefan Tennstadt and Frenchman Bernard Taberly bringing his Armstrong home in 3rd. Sadly the failure rate continued, Richard Peers-Jones lasted half a lap as he realized his front tyre was not fit for purpose and pulled out before the inevitable crash.
Dave Cooper, Chris Rose, Michael Wild, Franz Dorfner, Ewan Hamilton and Eric Saul were all missing from the start.
Eric Saul’s bad luck continuing as fuel found its way into his crankcase.
Peter Howarth had carburetor problems on lap 3, Frenchman Bernard Fau had an engine failure on lap 1, Leif Nielson lasted till lap 5 and Peter Thorne exited on lap 9.
In four weeks time the circus will form again in Spain at the venue of Navarra, but in the meantime there will be much activity in garages around Europe to bring these wonderful Grand Prix machines back to their former glory so that they can put on a good show in the Spanish sunshine.
July 12/13/14 ICGP circus will be in Spain on Navarre circuit witch will be the mid-season race.
All results on www.icgpracing.com and on www.facebook.com/icgpracing
 350cc Race 1 |
350cc Race 1 :
350cc Race 2 :
|
250cc Race 1 :
250cc Race 2 :
|
Master Race 1 :
Master Race 2 :
|
 250cc Race 2 |
 350cc Race 2 |