Monday 29 August 2016

A lucky win at Osch

It was a great weekend with a superb outcome, but there was more to it than that. Frankly, the field was thin: not weak, just thin.










Qualifying for instance was fairly hard, with ACR Wobker and Motul Endurance both within 0.9 sec of fastest man Lindén.   Ian Simpson trailed slightly all meeting due to him suffering from a cracked rib following a mountain bike incident.
Qualifying ended with Sweatshop Phase One on pole with 1.39.62. Motul Endurance on 1.40.28 and ACR Wobker on 1.40.47. But there were not many other competitors close to this.
[It was interesting to note that some of the factory EWC bikes were only 11secs faster, with the latest young guns on board!].
The whole meeting was blisteringly hot, with air temperatures between 33-35 C and track temperatures in the 46-48 C region.















Sweatshop Phase One led from the flag, pulling a lead of approx 1 lap per hour over second place finisher Team Segale Classic (Dario Tosselini and Roberto Germann).
The Team's race was trouble free, with some great pitstops, even one at 18.17 secs, which resulted in the team being 5 laps ahead with 10 minutes to run (the race was between 16.00 - 20.00).
That hard earned margin proved invaluable as Ian Simpson stopped, with 10 minutes to go, at the beginning of the start/finish straight, apparently with a serious top end rattle.
The Team, in consultation with Ian, decided to sit the last 10 minutes out, just before the line, sapping up the margin, and to push over, at 20.00hrs.














The plan worked! The Team won, with just 100 sec to spare!!
It was a close thing, but well deserved after a great effort by all the Team.
Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters. Classic Bol d'Or next, September 18/19.

NB The engine fault was detonation eating a plug thread and loss of a plug

Pictures by Dave Martin

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