Harz GP 2012

What would you usually do on a 35 degree summer weekend? Go for a swim in the lake? Have some icecream? No way! We prefer getting stuck in a hughe traffic jam on our way to the East. Once arrived, we instantly peel into long underwear and racing leathers. For unknown reasons we are increadibly keen on taking our scooters for a spin (and another and another) on the karting track - until we nearly collaps from heat and dehydration. For likewise unknown reasons, 70 registered riders and many visitors decided to join the insane fun at the Harz GP in Falkenstein.

When we get up, it seems as if Saturday would get just as unbearably hot as the first training day of the weekend had been and we are almost relieved to notice some wind in the morning. To be on the safe side, the clever organising team (who had obviously already gained some experience with the unpredictable weather in the Harz region) had decided to keep the schedule tight on racing day. The plan was to combine the tracktime of classes 3, 4 and 7. Ladies and largeframes on the track together. May work out well... may as well not. With mixed feelings the riders start with the first trainig. In the end everything goes smoothly, and no unpleasant on-track-encounters happen during the races. So far so good. We still don't manage to avoid the rain and it's already drizzling during the first race of the mixed class. But by now we're all professional tyre lottery players anyway.

One should think. But only shortly afterwards some of the C2 top players fail to tick the right boxes. While Markus had been able to burn an incredible time of 59.923 into the tarmac and win the first race, he finishes only 5th in the second race, due to ill-chosen tyres. The situation looks quite different for his SIP teammate Robert who had suffered from severe technical problems in the morning and had to borrow an exchange engine from Achim in the end. The tinkering action is finished punctual to the second and Robert starts in the first race... when the scooter conks out only a couple of laps later due to a removed ignition cable (!). In the second race he starts from the second to last position and takes the lead in no time. The spectators are cheering enthusiastically. What a race! The victory doesn't get Robert on the podium, though. It remains firmly in Austrian hands this time.

At a certain point nobody seems to care about the weather any longer and after the races not only a best-of-all, but also an endurance race is taking place. Nine teams still have something to prove, and race (quite untypical for the day not after a false, but after a LeMans start) for the decisive points. At times in the pouring rain. In the end Bene and Tobi win in the lead of RWRT and LTH.

Check out the ESC website for detailed results. Here's the short and sweet version of the weekend:

C1: 1.Maik, 2.Bene, 3.Karoo
C2: 1.Ulf, 2.Rapf, 3.Markus
C3a:1.Andi, 2.Toni, 3.Marco
C4: 1.Brosche, 2.Stoffi 3.Grete
C5a: 1.Stoffi, 2.Patrick, 3. Achim
C5b: 1.Dome, 2.Volker, 3.Dorner
C7: 1.Isa, 2.Sylvie, 3.Nicole

Best of all: 1.Büttner, 2.Hömmes, 3.Schott
Endurance: 1.T(eam).Schott, 2.Persch, 3.LTH

Organising team and track operators were happy to find a crowded and ambitious C8/endurance starting field ready to register at the bar. Right from the start in the early afternoon Dani Bumera held onto her first position and scores a spectacular start-finish victory, shortly followed by Team Ermstal.

The marshals and paramedics had it pretty cushy this time. The ambulance vehicle didn't have to move an inch. Great! That's exactly how we want it to be in the future!

Many thanks to the organising team, to all the Wotox SC volunteers, the pilots and visitors who helped to make this a thorougly phantastic weekend. We hope to see you all again in two weeks at the Blechkampf in Belleben.

Check out the rest of our pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sipscootershop/sets/72157630816777068/