The IHRO Continental Circus moved on from Germany to England for the CRMC Donington Classic Revival meeting at the end of June.

The interest in the meeting was high, with much talk about the return to the famous GP circuit, however on the day it transpired that the club had opted to use the short circuit to enable all the entrants to get a ride. The decision was a good one as most classic riders prefer the short circuit which is much more flowing and does not have the two brake killing hairpins of the longer Grand Prix track.

There were two combined class races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday and although it was fairly sure that Lea Gourlay would continue his dominance of the series, the combined classes meant that there was the possibility of a different victor in one class.

Gourlay opted to ride the Paton in the 500 class so the way was open for a battle with Mike Edwards on the Vanni Jensen Molnar Manx to take up the challenge of the so far unbeatable Gourlay / Paton combination. In the event, it was Gourlay who lead Edwards from the flag to win by a comfortable 10 seconds after 10 laps. But as is often the case, the real battle was behind the leader. Ives Glauser, on his first visit to Donington Park, and with only 5 laps of practice under his belt, was in determined style, and from his 6th place on the first lap, he set about the riders in front of him, the riders concerned are amongst the best in Classic racing, John Cronshaw, who was having his first outing of the year on his faithful Goldstar, Duncan Fitchett on his Manx and Vernon Glashier on his Seeley. The group fought hard with many changes of position, but it was the determined Glauser who won through and set off in pursuit of Edwards, sadly there were not sufficient laps left for him to catch up and join battle.

Vanni Jensen on his 350 Manx was the victor in the 350 class from Mike Hose on Paul Wilkinson’s 350TSS Bultaco who had opted for a pusher from the back of the grid as he was suffering from a motocross sustained injury to his foot, Franz Glauser completed the family podium celebrations with a fine 3rd on his Aermacchi to equal his son’s ride in the 500 class. The winner of the 250 class was Mick Nash de Villiers who had a lonely ride on his Bultaco to clinch his second win of the season.

It was lucky that Sunday’s race was held just before lunch, as over lunch time there was the beginning of the rain which was to play havoc with the afternoon’s events. Gourlay and Edwards were joking on the line about the likelihood of the Paton not starting, but in the event it was Edwards who fluffed the push start, allowing Gourlay to disappear off from the start. This time Glauser had had a better start from his 3rd place on the grid and set off in pursuit, he maintained a fine second place with his aggressive riding but could not catch the flying Gourlay, Edwards in the meanwhile had fought his way through to 3rd from his initial 10th place, he was lucky to be classed as a finisher however, as he retired into the pit lane with a dead engine just as the race was red flagged, as the results were then announced at the end of the previous lap, he was lucky to profit from the stoppage which was caused when Jean-Pierre Capel crashed his Aermacchi, J-P was beaten and bruised but after treatment was allowed to travel home for Belgium, where he hopes to be fit for Chimay.

Vanni Jensen had another 350 class win from Gordon Russell on his Aermacchi in 2nd and Franz Glauser again 3rd just ahead of Marc Michot. The 250 class was won by Bob Millinship on his Ducati from Nash de Villiers.

Not to detract from Lea Gourlay’s riding in any way, but it was certainly Ives Glauser who was the star of the two races, to come to a very technical track and do so well after so few laps was a sterling effort, his riding was noticed by a number of sponsors however, and Ives has been signed up for test races on a couple of machines for different sponsors before the end of the year.

After two consecutive weekends of hard racing and many kilometres of travel, the IHRO Continental Circus moves on to Chimay in Belgium, for the running of the 15th Anniversary Classic meeting on the fantastic long circuit on 18 - 21 June.