The IHRO Continental Circus’s first visit to the eastern German circuit of Oschersleben was a series of firsts for many people. It was the first International Classic race at the circuit for 12 years since the race of INCA in 1998, it was the first race with IHRO for a number of riders, plus it was the first time many riders had appeared on an IHRO podium.

The circuit was built only 14 years ago, a new project to rejuvenate a poor area of the old east Germany, and the centre is absolutely fantastic !! I cannot think of a circuit in the UK which even comes remotely close in terms of either on or off track facilities. The circuit event manager is Ralph Bohnhorst, a sidecar GP winner in his earlier days and total racing fanatic, and as a result nothing is ever a problem if it means that a rider can race, a sea change from some other circuits and organisations in Europe. The circuit itself has a small footprint and is a VERY technical, an extremely challenging but entertaining layout, it is not easy to go fast quickly, but once learned, is really enjoyable with a good mix of turns and straights which could have been purpose designed for classic bike racing.

The first practice on Saturday morning was for the combined IHRO1 and IHRO2 classes and was a learning curve for most people as only a handful of riders had ridden at the circuit previously, but Mike Cooper on Tony Dunnell’s Manx set the early pace on his first visit to the track 2 seconds faster than Jan-Frank Bakker who has raced there many times with the Dutch championships. Third was Peter Branton, also a debutant with fellow newcomer Ives Glauser right behind him. Oreste Zaccarelli, riding Alessandro Altinier’s Paton was a newcomer to both riding with IHRO and racing in Germany and showed his potential less than 0.2 seconds behind Glauser to head the IHRO2 class.

The second practice in the afternoon was a repeat of the results from the first session, but with everyone going 2 or 3 seconds quicker as they got to know the circuit and confirmed the grid positions with Cooper on pole, Bakker 1.5 seconds behind him and Branton a mere 0.1 seconds adrift in third. Fastest IHRO2 rider was Zaccarelli with Paul De Doncker second and Mathias Weichel third.

The warm up on Sunday morning changed little, but Ives Glauser was about the only man to go faster than in the qualifying sessions, knocking a second off his time to move to second place behind Cooper.

The first race was a 7 lap sprint and it was Cooper who led from start to finish to win from hard charging Glauser who consistently went faster than Cooper in the second half of the race to close up a 4 second deficit on lap 3 to 0.5 seconds at the finish. Bakker had been in contention early on, but had to settle for 3rd some 3 seconds behind Glauser. The IHRO2 category was won by Zaccarelli by nearly 26 seconds from De Doncker and Weichel some 22 seconds behind him in third. All these 3 riders collected their first IHRO trophies in this race. Newcomer Tony Vian on Alessandro Altinier’s Manx and Reinhard Neumair on his Manx had a good scrap with Vian 0.08 ahead at the chequered flag. Marc Michot and Alan Windsor also had a good race with honours going to Michot by 0.1 second at the line. However in the absence of his habitual playmate Rob Den Tieter, Jos Sassen had a lonely ride to finish 3rd 350 in IHRO1.

The Gold race in the afternoon promised to be a repeat of the morning sprint race but this time it was Ives Glauser who overcame Cooper to take the victory by 0.1 of a second after 10 laps, Bakker was again third. Zaccarelli again won the IHRO2 class from De Doncker with William Van Kooij third on his Hitac Suzuki. Bernd Pollmann on his 450 Aermacchi and Roger Frey on his Arter Matchless had the best fight of the race finishing a mere 0.2 seconds apart at the line while Mick Nash-de-Villiers, now in his Goldstar riding, non works rider mode, just got the better of Ben Mensink on his Petty Manx by 0.1 seconds.

The meeting was a good one and the riders all enjoyed it, yet again we got our races all in the dry weather, in marked contrast to the torrential rain, 8cms in 2 hours !! which arrived at the track shortly after we finished.

The organisers were pleased with our races and have invited us back for a meeting next year, we look forward to that.

Pictures from the event are available from Dennis Witschel Photography www.dennis-witschel.eu to whom thanks are due for providing the pictures used in this report.

Next stop on the IHRO Continental Circus is Gedinne, a circuit in total contrast to Oschersleben, but with the same friendly atmosphere.

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