The first IHRO races of the year held a number of firsts in a lot of ways.
It was the first running of the new IHRO2 class, it was the first time an MV 500cc had raced at Mettet, it was the first time Mick Moreton had a race win on his new Paton.

The first IHRO2 practice was at 0800 on Saturday morning and 14 riders braved the early start, Moreton showed that his new acquisition was good choice by setting the fastest time in a cold session on a drying track, some 0.3 seconds ahead of Reinhard Neumair and just ahead of Phill Sharp on Tony Dunnell’s Manx. Brian Richards giving the Kay 500MV a shakedown prior to the Manx Grand Prix later in the year was a good 4th.

The next session was for IHRO1 and here it was Sharp who set the early pace, nearly 4 seconds ahead of second place Ton Groot with Graham Wade on John Oldfield’s G50 a couple of seconds behind. This was a combined capacity race with Des Wootton being the sole 250cc machine on the track. Fastest 350 was IOM resident Rich Hawkins who made the trip over to enjoy his first IHRO continental event, less than a second ahead of Martin Hudson on his Seeley 7R.

The first race came to a slightly warmer track and it was Brian Richards who led from the start, the MV bellowing out its glorious music across the circuit, he led from start to finish but not without challengers, Sharp was determined to get the best of his former sponsor and newcomer Niek Leeuwis on his Honda was riding very hard if somewhat erratically to try to take the lead, Moreton was also involved in the scrap and it was a fantastic first race for the new class, with only just over a second separating the first 3 at the flag. The fabulous sounding Konig of Hans De Witt was unfortunately side-lined early on lap 3 but Hans is determined to ensure that the bike will live up to its promise this season.

Sharp dominated the IHRO1 race later in the afternoon after an early battle with Ton Groot on his Tickle Manx. However after the third Lap, Sharp piled on the pressure and went away to win comfortably from Groot with Neumair a distant 3rd. Sophie Smith, making a return to the IHRO ranks was an excellent 4th after starting from the back of the grid due to not having a qualifying time from practice, she was only just ahead of the other IHRO lady on the grid, Jose Van Meurs when the flag dropped. The 350 race within the event was a cracker with Hudson just getting the better of Hawkins by 0.04 seconds on the line after a fantastic race long scrap. Jos Sassen, Rob Den Tieter, Eberhard Laible and Alex Siertsma were involved in a race long battle royal which went to Siertsma after some of the group mistook the flagman getting himself ready for the winner as being the end of the race, It just goes to show that you have to race on until you are sure that the flag has dropped.

Sunday’s programme was a repeat of Saturday’s with IHRO2 having the first practice session and this time it was Leeuwis who posted the fastest lap just ahead of Moreton with De Witt having got the Konig to complete a few laps in third.

IHRO1 500cc practice later in the morning was again dominated by Sharp, Groot and Wade with Osmo Partti in fourth. The 350 class was a change round with Hudson this time leading Hawkins.

As the IHRO2 race left the grid, there was a lingering smell of frying clutch, the culprit was soon identified as Richards, who in his desire to emulate his Saturday success had been a bit too enthusiastic from the line. De Witt got a flying start from Leeuwis and the 2 swapped the lead for a couple of laps before Moreton arrived to take over on the last lap, less than 3 seconds covered the first 3 riders, another good race for the new class.

In the remaining race of the day, Groot got a flying start from the grid and lead into the first corner, a position he did not relinquish and won by a comfortable 12 seconds to claim his first IHRO race win for over 20 years. Partti was second with Wade third. The 350 was a copy of the previous day’s race with Hudson beating Hawkins by a comfortable 6 seconds, Den Tieter and Sassen had a good battle down the field with Den Tieter again gain the honours. Des Wotton, as the sole 250, was the victor in that class.

A good start to the year and the IHRO Continental Circus now moves on to Schleiz for the next round of the series where Lucky Mick Nash de Villiers will get the chance to be a ‘works’ Paton rider for the weekend.

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This entry was postedon Saturday, May 15th, 2010 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Competitions, Events, IHRO News, Results.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.