The IHRO 2009 season opened at a dry and sunny Mettet with an inauspicious start for Lea Gourlay who managed to over brake Roger Winfield’s Aermacchi at the chicane on the first lap. Picking himself up, it was a determined Gourlay who continued on only to fall again at the chicane, this time half way round it, a few laps later, the machine damage was so severe from this second accident as to make the machine unusable for the weekend, this was to prove to be a real shame as Gourlay was the only rider remotely close to the very ‘on form’ Luke Notton on his Seeley 7R. Notton dominated the practice session, which set a pattern for the weekend’s races. Fastest 250 was Mick Nash De Villiers some 10 seconds faster than second place Bernie Chequer on his Ducati.

The 500 cc practice was a Gourlay benefit with a time 5 seconds faster than second place Bart Crauwels also Paton mounted who was nearly 3 seconds up on Ton Groot who was debuting his new Somerfield engine in his original Tickle Manx chassis. There were a number of debutant riders and new machines at Mettet, Colin Sleigh on Dick Linton’s Aermacchis was making the change form riding Yamahas in ICGP, Peter Cook was having first outing on the Seeley G50 and Eberhard Laible brought out his new 450 Aermacchi for the first time.

The first 250/350 race on the Saturday afternoon saw Notton disappear into the distance, winning by 14 seconds from Ives Glauser who rode his Aermacchi hard to catch and pass Phil Sharp on Brian Richards’ Norton on the last lap. Martin Hudson had a lonely 4th place ahead of Colin Sleigh who despite failing to start his Aermacchi on his first attempt at a push start and getting away 28 seconds late rode really well to come through to 5th place at the flag. Rob Den Tieter and Jos Sassen started the season as they had finished last year by battling throughout the race. Mick Nash De Villiers was the leading 250 on his Bultaco ahead of Bernie Chequer.

The Saturday 500cc race saw Gourlay and Sharp, this time on Tony Dunnell’s Manx, battling for the lead, Sharp rode hard but the superior pace of the Paton told at the flag as Gourlay led by 5 seconds. Jarno Jonker on the Beck’s BMW was a distant third nearly 30 seconds behind the leading duo. Jose Van Meurs came from 15th through to 6th with a fine ride behind ‘on form’ John Jones and finished just ahead of Peter Cook on his Seeley G50. Bart Crauwels had come through from a pusher assisted start to 5th place on lap 2 before the Paton expired with mechanical problem which was to finish Bart’s weekend of racing.

Sunday morning saw a practice session for each class, with riders going out largely to ensure that they had a grid position for the Sunday race, Notton again dominated the 350 cc class but Colin Sleigh gave notice of his increased familiarity with the Linton Aermacchi by knocking some 10 seconds off his Saturday time. 4 seconds separated the 2nd to 6th place and less than 3 seconds split the next 10 riders, promising a good race later in the day.

The 350 race was again dominated by Notton, who won by a 26 second margin from a hard fighting group of Sharp, Ives Glauser and Sleigh who were separated by 1.5 seconds at the flag. Sassen and Den Tieter rejoined battle with this time honours going to Sassen. Mick Nash De Villiers had a lonely race to win the 250 class.

Glauser got a lightening start and lead at the end of the first lap but it was Gourlay who won the 500cc race beating Ives into second place with Sharp in third, Jonker was a lonely fourth. Van Meurs and Paul De Doncker fought hard throughout the race for 8th place with the honours going to De Doncker by 0.4 of a second. Just behind them, No Scholl and Martin Stoop, who was standing in for his flu ridden brother, had another close scrap with Scholl on his beautiful Seeley G50 just gaining the verdict. Leo Poot turned out on his beautifully refurbished Seeley Goldstar to finish 14th.

At the end of the day the Paton Owner Rider Competition has joint leaders of Luke Notton and Mick Nash De Villiers both on 50 points having both won both of their races, with Franz Glauser just behind on 45 points.

The Paton – Transferry Polo shirts for the overall class winners were won by Gourlay for the 500cc multicylinder, Sharp for the 500cc single cylinder, Notton for the 350cc class and De Villiers for the 250cc class. De Villiers also leads the 250 challenge.

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