The long-awaited duel at the Oschersleben 24 Hours between Suzuki Endurance Racing Team and Team Kawasaki France didn’t last longer than four hours. After a neck and neck start to the race between the two official machines, the tension eventually took its toll with a fall for the Kawasaki just after 19:00. By the finish SERT had confirmed its dominance with the victory, finishing 12 laps ahead of the Kawasaki. The win means that the Suzuki team has further increased its lead in the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship classifications. The Bol d’Or is now on the horizon and promises to be a decisive race in the Championship, before the final round takes place in Qatar in November. In finishing second behind Suzuki, Kawasaki France has earned valuable points. Delayed by the first fall of Gwen Giabbani and then by a second from Julian Mazuecos, the Kawasaki nevertheless did begin to make up the lost time and mount a recovery, before benefiting from the problems of Yamaha Austria Racing Team at the end of the race to take second place on the podium. YART had a two lap lead on Kawasaki France and had looked like they had done enough to clinch second spot, before an engine heating problem caused them to loose several minutes at around 14:00. Their misfortune allowed Kawasaki to gain a place with YART finishing in third, eight laps behind. Yamaha Phase One Endurance was the most unfortunate team during this race in Germany. All was going well until 11:00 this morning. Sitting in third position since the beginning of the race, Phase One was forced into the pits with what looked like a clutch problem. A short while later the English Yamaha was forced to abandon with a broken engine, less than three hours from the finish. “We had a dream race with Warwick Nowland, Stefan Nebel and Pedro Vallacaneras”, said Russell Benney, team manager of Phase One. “We were racing well all weekend but had a horrible result. But we have already put this behind us and our preparations for the Bol d’Or begin tomorrow.” Bolliger Switzerland, who had started the race from the back following the fall of Patric Muff, made a great recovery, finishing in fourth position. The Kawasaki Bolliger finished five laps ahead of the astonishing BMW entered by BMW Motorrad. Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkoffer and Markus Barth finished fifth on the R1200S which will return to action at the Bol d’Or. The other BMW Motorrad finished ninth, and having been entered into the Open class, did not register any points towards the overall World Championship. The winners in the Superproduction category, Kawasaki Raffin Motos, recorded their best results of the season finishing in sixth place while earning the points for fifth, just ahead of Kawasaki Diablo 666 Bolliger who were slowed by fuel problems, and another Kawasaki of Jadoul Motorsport. Among the other permanent teams who finished in the points, Endurance Moto 38 looked capable of finishing high up, but a fall lost them fifth place and they ultimately came in tenth. RMT 21 Racing made a great start to the race. In seventh position after 22 hours the German Honda also lost time thanks to a fall and finished in eleventh. Endurance Moto 45 recorded their first points of the 2007 Championship thanks to its 15th place, earning points for 13th. Suzuki Superstock lost ground due to a problem with a wheel axel. Maco Moto Racing had also been well-placed on Saturday afternoon but two falls and then clutch problems slowed their progress. Maco Moto ultimately finished in 17th, 14th in the classifications. Finally, a fall and then a fuel pump failure saw RT Racing & Moto Virus finish in 15th in the classifications. The Oschersleben track is very demanding for both riders and machines and there were many retirements. Well-placed at the beginning of the race, Qatar Endurance Racing Team retired in the middle of the night following three falls. Zone Rouge Yamaha Belgique, who had been in firth place over the first few laps, also pulled out after two falls from Olivier Depoorter. In the Amadeus X-One team, Mauro Lucchiari broke his collarbone in a fall and was unable to bring the Yamaha back to the pits. Suzuki Sweden’s machine was too damaged to continue racing following two crashes. After a big fall and a broken selector switch, LTG 57, were relegated to the back of the race and chose to retire. FCC TSR Eurosport Benelux also abandoned after two falls at about 05:00 in the morning. Among the machines entered in the Open category, several were unable to make the full 24 hours of racing. The Triumph Daytona 675 of PS LSL, who had been well-placed at the beginning of the race, abandoned along with the Harley Davidson Racing Bonn. The next race in the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship will take place over 24 hours at the Bol d’Or on the 15th and 16th September at Magny-Cours in France. More, from a press release issued by Amadeus X-One: SERT Suzuki Win Oschersleben 24 Hour Race Team Kawasaki France Second Yamaha Austria Third Amadeus X One forced to retire after 11 hours, while holding 10th overall, 2nd in class The Oschersleben 24 Hour round of the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship has been won by SERT Suzuki, with Team Kawasaki France second and Yamaha Austria third. Suzuki had held a comfortable lead for much of the race, but the battle between Yamaha Austria and Kawasaki France ran for many hours and saw Kawasaki crash twice and Yamaha suffer engine problems in the final hours of the marathon event. La Fortezza Amadeus X One like many other teams gambled on tyre choice at the start of the race and were forced to pit early. After this initial set back they quickly established themselves in tenth place overall and second in the SuperProduction class. They held this position comfortably until around 2:30am on Sunday morning, when Mauro Lucchiari crashed and injured his collarbone, forcing the team to retire from the race. Until then the team had been very pleased with the performance of their Yamaha YZF-R1, and they are now looking forward to the next round of the championship, the Bol d’Or 24 Hour at Magny Cours in France on September 15/16th. More, from a press release issued by Kel Edge Photography: BOXERS PUNCH ABOVE THEIR WEIGHT! FIRST AND SECOND IN THEIR CLASS AND FIFTH AND NINTH OVERALL! Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport recorded superb results in the fourth round of the 2007 QMMF Endurance World Championship at Oschersleben, finishing fifth and ninth overall and first and second in their class. During the twenty-hour marathon, both bikes hardly skipped beat on their way to their best result of the year. The number 17 bike ridden by regulars Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer and Marcus Barth finished fifth, with only a minor problem during 873 tortuous laps, while the number 71 bike ridden by Richard Cooper, Peter Ottl and Jose-Luis Nion went from start to finish without any problems whatsoever. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team of Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa took advantage of a mistake by the Team Kawasaki France of Steve Plater, Gwen Giabbani and Julian Mazuecos on lap one and from then on in were never headed on their way to their second win of the year. Team Kawasaki France suffered two small crashes, but fought their way back up to second place – albeit twelve laps adrift. Third place went to Yamaha Austria (Igor Jerman, Sebastian Scarnato and Steve Martin), with Team Bolliger Switzerland (David Morillon, Patric Muff and Horst Saiger) fourth. Team Manager: Berti Hauser I am absolutely so happy for the whole team. They’ve worked so hard since Barcelona and their will to get a good result has been so strong. To get fifth and ninth overall competing against the best teams and riders in the World Endurance Championship is a fantastic achievement and to get first and second in our class is also pretty special. These results are better then we dreamed about and it’s all down to the way we all worked together as a team – and I’m talking about both bikes. Everybody here pushed hard to get the best possible result for BMW Motorrad and I feel proud to be part of this team. We had hardly any problems at all during the race. Bike number 71 ran like a Swiss clock throughout, whilst bike number 17 had a minor problem with the rear drive. Thomas (Hinterreiter) heard a noise coming from the rear end, so we changed the rear drive, just as a precaution. The mechanics did a superb job, worked very quickly and we were back on the track without losing any places! Overall – it’s been fantastic and I can say no more! Bike No 17 (Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer, Marcus Barth) – 5th overall, 1st in Open Class Thomas: That was a perfect race for us and I must say that I am a bit surprised by the result. I didn’t expect such a good result – especially when you consider that we were fighting against riders from the World Championship. So get get fifth overall against such high-level teams is a fantastic result for us. In the Open Class, I sort of expected us to win – if we had no problems – but fifth overall in the race is amazing. This is only our second world championship race and already we’ve had two great results! Rico: Before the race, I never believed such a result would be possible and I’m almost speechless! I thought tenth would be good! Our overall performance (both our bikes) is more important then any one result this weekend and I want to say thank you to all the mechanics and everybody concerned for doing such a great job. This track is quite technical and physically demanding, but the bike was easy to ride and I really enjoyed myself out there. Marcus: I’m surprised a little about how good our result is, though secretly I thought a top five might have been possible – if it rained. So to get a top five in the dry is great. I’m proud of what we’ve all achieved this weekend against top world championship teams and I want to say that I’ve ridden many endurance races on this track before, but riding this BMW has been the least difficult and the most fun. It’s an easy bike to ride and it changes direction so well. It is a very good package and it was easy following the top guys and keeping up with them. The only place we lost out on was on the fast straights. Bike number 71 (Richard Cooper, Peter Ottl, Jose-Luis Nion) – 9th overall, 2nd in Open Class Richard: I am very happy because all I had expected was a good top fifteenth place. So ninth in a World Championship event is fantastic. This track doesn’t give you much time to rest, but the bike is easy to ride and I didn’t find it tiring at all! In fact, it’s surprising what you can do with it! The team has been perfect to work with and they made my job so much more easy. It’s hard to believe that this is only my first twenty-four race, but now I’m looking forward to the next one! Peter: I’m a bit tired, but very happy! I had a bit of a feeling that we would get a good result – if there were no problems and that’s the way it worked out. I was very confident in the whole team and their experience this year was so valuable this weekend. At the end of the race, our bike was running just like it was at the start. It is an easy bike to ride and that’s important in Endurance racing. It has been a pleasure working with all these BMW guys and I hope to do it again! Jose-luis: I am very happy with our result and it’s been great working with this team. I was a bit nervous at the start, but after a while I began to relax and then I began to enjoy myself. I managed a good rhythm in the night and had no problems throughout the race at all. I didn’t think we’d finish as high as we did, but I’m happy that we got such a great result. Results: 1 SERT 905 laps, 2 Kawasaki France 893 laps, 3 Yamaha Austria 885 laps, 4 Bolliger Switzerland 878 laps, 5 BMW Motorrad Motorsport (Hinterreiter, Penzkofer, Barth) 873 laps, 6 Raffin Motos 871 laps, 7 Diablo 666 Bolliger 870 laps, 8 Jadoul Motosport 868 laps, 9 BMW Motorrad Motorsport (Cooper, Ottl, Nion) 868 laps, 10 Endurance Moto 38 866 laps, 2007 QMMF Endurance FIM World Endurance Oschersleben, Germany August 11-12, 2007 Final Results: 1. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent Philippe/Matthieu Lagrive/Julien Da Costa), Suz GSX-R1000, SBK, 905 laps 2. Team Kawasaki France (Steve Plater/Gwen Giabbani/Julien Mazuecos), Kaw ZX-10R, SBK, 893 laps 3. Yamaha Austria Racing Team (Igor Jerman/Steve Martin/Damien Cudlin), Yam YZF-R1, SBK, 885 laps 4. Bolliger Switzerland (David Morillon/Patric Huff/Horst Saiger), Kaw ZX-10R, SBK, 878 laps 5. BMW Motorrad Motorsport 17 (Thomas Hinterreiter/Rico Penzkofer/Markus Barth), BMW R 1200 S, Open, 873 seconds 6. Raffin Motos (Damien Chene/Stephane Kokes/Pascal Grosjean), Kaw ZX-10R, SPP, 871 laps 7. Diablo 666 Bolliger (James Hutchins/Alexander Cudlin/Dario Giuseppetti), Kaw ZX-10R, SBK, 870 laps 8. Jadoul Motorsport (Didier Jadoul/Gregory Fastre/Denny La Undo), Kaw ZX-10R, SPP, 868 laps 9. BMW Motorrad Motorsport 71 (Peter Ottl/Richard Cooper/Jose-Luis Nion), BMW R 1200 S, Open, 868 laps, 52.935 seconds 10. Endurance Moto 38 (Erwan Nigon/Julien Millet/Joao Contente Fernandes), Yam YZF-R1, SPP, 866 laps