After the Swedish problems and only a short time to prepare the machines for Oscherslerben it was going to be tough to have two race ready machines.

The motor that had blown up was repaired and placed into the old bike; the 450 four speed motor was in the new bike. We were aiming to race the new bike as there was more practice time to set it up.

The old machine would need running in but we were not too worried as the new bike seemed to be running ok.

Oschersleben is a track that suited the minimono’s much better than either Sweden or Snetterton so we were looking forward to a good result. It would still be hard work as Benny’s supermono is so quick and it is his home track.

I was also riding the Yamaha Austria 76 World Endurance bike as reserve to with help setup; the contrast between riding the two machines could not be more different.

For practice on Thursday, I took the new bike out for its first session. I got in the groove and quickly set a hot pace; this was the first time that I was on the new bike at a familiar track.

I could feel it was running wide out of the long 180 degree turns, this would have to be corrected if I was going to make the most of the minimono’s handling advantage in the race.

Things were going well until lap 6 when the machine lost drive completely, at first I thought it was the gear box but after rolling back to the pit lane, we actually found the cush drive had broken.

Unfortunately it had damaged the chain adjuster and the swinging arm so Chris set about repairing it.

I had lapped quickest but the session was technically untimed – with these mechanical problems we would have to ready the old machine for Friday’s two timed sessions (just in case).

On Friday morning I started the old machine with the rebuilt motor and rode up and down the circuit approach road for about 20 minutes.

Enough to run the motor in, just as I was about to stop the engine the slipper clutch started to drag badly then failed!

Not good, as we certainly did not have the time to repair it before the next session.

Chris had been busy looking at the old bike’s clutch and had come to the conclusion that a washer was distorted, so replaced the whole unit with the standard one.

In between the outings on the minimono I had been riding the Yamaha Austria 76 bike to help them with setup. The other riders in the team were all 6 feet tall and over 90kg so it was difficult for me to assess. I did make some suggestions for changes but it was not suitable for the size of the Austrian riders. I was quickest rider managing 1:33.83, over a second quicker than the next of their riders so it gave them confidence that the bike was fast enough, they were grateful for my help.

Thanks to Roger Smith at Hein Gericke in Leeds for the leathers. These are their standard off the peg -HGR brand. Fabulous.

We dropped the forks though, as per Igor’s suggestion for the second and last timed session on the minimono. The machine handled sweeter, turning much tighter – however, another nightmare was lurking, and after only 4 laps the piston broke destroying the top end of the motor. I had gone faster but so had Benny, he was still 0.2 of a second ahead and now we had a blown motor to deal with.

There was no option for the race other than to run the old bike; only problem being that it had not turned a wheel on track all weekend. The two machines are completely different in their set up, so we had to guess the gearing and suspension. There would be no opportunity to test it now, with no warm-up it would be just straight into the race.

Yann poured over the collect data from other events to give us some idea what to try, but at the end of the day, it came down to a good guess.

The race was at 10:45, out of the pit lane and round on the sighting lap I could tell the gearing was not right but it was all too late to do anything about it now.

Off on the warm-up lap and a chance to see how the bike was off the line. It was better than the new bike, as that uses the 4 speed gear box – with first gear much taller thus slower away from the start.

Red lights out and we were off. Sprinting down to the first turn Benny’s machine stomped away from me, this I knew would happen so I tucked in his slip stream, just before the turn another rider crept passed but I out braked him running up behind Benny into the corner.

I knew I could not afford to let him get away. Benny would make progress along the straights but I could close right up in the corners. This went on for a couple of laps, already we were pulling away from the pursuing riders.

Into the last corner before the start/finish straight I had a go up on the inside of Benny, it worked and I led on to the straight.

It would be a chance to see if he could get past me before the line for the last lap manoeuvre I had planned; unfortunately he did. This let me know that I must pass him earlier in the lap for the pass to stick.

But it was not to make any difference in the end, because half way round the 8^th lap, when right up behind Benny the chain slider on the swinging arm broke loose and travelled round with the chain; forcing the chain against the engine casings punching a hole in them.

Oil poured from the hole over the exhaust and into the belly pan, smoke everywhere; I pulled over, out of the race.

It was cruel luck, but the Championship title is now handed to Benny with another DNF.

It was a great race while it lasted and I’m sure the race at Assen 26th Sept. (the last round) will prove to be a cracker, with nothing to loose I’m going for the win. See you there!