The race at 10.30 on Saturday morning started in the dry with Steltner getting a flying start from the front row closely perused by Unissart, Leroy and John Cronshaw on his Goldstar. Ales Sinclair’s run of bad luck continued as he came into the pit lane after the sighting lap to remount his loose carburettor, he finally got away after the race had started supported by a huge cheer from the massive grandstand crowd, unfortunately his race was soon over and he retired again with the same problem after only one lap.
By the time the riders returned on their first lap, the positions had changed with Unissart ahead of Leroy and Cronshaw up into 3rd ahead for Steltner, then came the 2 Patons with Blanckaert having the advantage from Vandriessche, these positions remained fairly constant until it started to rain, hard, but happily without hailstones this time, a number of riders retired as the track got wet and the air temperature dropped to 6 degrees. Those who had practiced in the rain on Friday began to benefit from their experience and Steltner caught and passed Cronshaw who later retired, from that point it was a case of self-preservation and riding to the finish. Steve Parrott on his Aermacchi won the IHRO1 350 class from Jack Scrivener on his Aermacchi by just over a second with Martin Hudson a fine third on his 250 Motobi. Antoine Poiret used his love of wet weather riding to reduce his Ducati’s power deficiency problem to finish an excellent 10th overall in his first major international race to win the Godet Young Rider award. |
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