Birchall Brothers on top spot again. But Reeves Still Leads Championship

2 hours before the 22 lap race was about to start there was a terrible storm with gale force winds and heavy rain, all the teams were franticly getting tyres and set up for a wet race, but as soon as the storm started it stopped, and this led to a great sunny dry race.

As the lights went out it was the pairing of Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker,Hock Racing, LCR, Suzuki, who got the hole shot into the first corner followed by the Birchall Brothers,Ben and Tom, Mitchells of Mansfield,LCR, Yamaha, right beside them was Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni, Team Suzuki Finland, LCR, Suzuki then Jorg Steinhausen and Gregory Cluze, Steinhausen Racing, LCR, BMW, along side them and getting a bit wide on track was Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes, ‘The Relocator’ LCR, Suzuki, after them there was a bit of a gap and the rest of the field scrabbled for their places led by Markus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer, Team Schlosser, LCR, Suzuki..

Hock and Becker followed by the Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom started to get a bit of a gap between them and the pursuing group of  Paivarinta, Steinhausen, and Reeves, who started to battle between themselves, this also let Schlosser catch them.  The next group of Bennie Streuer and Kees Endeveld, Team Streuer, LCR, Suzuki, Petri Makkula and Harri Asumaniemi, Team Makkula, LCR Suzuki, Michael Grabmuller and Ueli Wafler, Delta Racing, LCR, Kawasaki, had a great battle all the way through the race but Grabmuller was to lose touch with Makkula and Streuer then Makkula went wide and clipped the grass coming onto the start finish straight letting Streuer get the break he needed and Team Steuer crossed the line in seventh place, Grabmuller managed to overhaul Makkula and they crossed the line in eighth just in front of Makkula in ninth.

Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni were passed by Schlosser and Hoffer and Team Suzuki Finland would have to be content with sixth place but they still sit second in the championship table, Schlosser and Hofer had mixed thoughts about their race result, “it was going to be a struggle starting from sixth on the grid and not getting away with the leading group but we got good points for the championship.

Crossing the line in fourth place was Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes who got passed by Steinhausen in the later stages of the race.  Reeves was lucky to even start the race, he had to go to the medical centre first thing in the morning, saying” when I woke up, I must have been bitten by an insect, as my right foot was all swollen, and this is my gear change foot witch was going to make the race hard for me, but I also had to go for a fitness test 2 hours before the race, so I was not sure if they would let me start, so getting a fourth place and still leading the championship is great for the team”

Steinhausen and Cluze crossed the line in third place, witch was great for them as it is six years since Steinhausen raced here, they had some work to do to their machine over the weekend getting the setup just right for them, but are really pleased to be on the podium again, and sitting in fourth in the championship.

The final top places on the podium went to Hock and Becker in second and the Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom in first place.  The two teams had a great race with Hock leading onto the last lap but with two corners to go the two teams were catching a slower team and it was Ben who took the advantage and got by Hock and Becker to cross the line only 0.411 of a second  in front of them, both teams congratulated each other on a great race, and look forward to the next round in two weeks time at Schlitz, Germany.