14 August 2004
Round 6 – Oschersleben Germany
Due to the lack of funding of the Team, no attempt was made to enter the fourth round of the 2004 World Endurance Racing Championship held at Suzuka in Japan.

Only the very top well-funded teams can afford the cost of transporting bikes, equipment and personnel to this event. Also the Japanese manufacturers also consider winning the Suzuka 8 hr race a major advertising exercise and therefore many works teams enter the championship for a one off showing. Big, big names such as Valentino Rossi have been engraved on trophies for this event.

The next round for the Diablo 666 Bolliger Kawasaki Team for the 2004 season is therefore the Oschersleben 24hrs in Germany. Having entered the round in 2003 both riders James Hutchins and Kevin Falcke had gained valuable experience the year before.

With Nick Pilborough having now decided to run in BSB for the remainder of the year, Miles Hutchins again opened his address book and plucked out the name of Russell Baker to join the Team and ride alongside James Hutchins and Kevin Falcke. Russell has an excellent pedigree of racing in 24hr races at both Le Mans and the Bol D'Or to name but two. An excellent recruit to the Team or what!

After three fantastic results in the WEC races so far in the 2004 season would the Teams luck hold? Unfortunately not would be the answer.

During free practice on his return to the Team, Kevin Falcke was spat off the Kawasaki at high speed and broke a bone in his ankle requiring a visit to the circuit medical centre and later a visit to the local hospital.

The bike was not seriously damaged and for a successive year at the Oschersleben 24hrs race Diablo were on the lookout for a replacement rider!

With the tie up with Bolliger Kawasaki who had come to the meeting with four riders, including reserve rider Steve Mizera, a very experienced German rider who should no problems be encountered with the three man riders of Bolliger Kawasaki, could be drafted into the Diablo squad.

Qualifying passed with no further major incidents. The combination of James and Russell had led to the Team qualifying in a brilliant 12th position. The Bolliger Team ended their qualifying up in a fantastic 5th position, again having no major problems.

Steve Mizera was therefore drafted into the Diablo 666 Kawasaki team, and was really looking forward to being part of the Diablo Team for the next 24hrs or so!

The Oschersleben 24hrs race really is a gruelling event on a par with Le Mans and the Bol D'Or, tough on both man and machine. Would the bike last its first 24hrs event? After last years crash which ended the teams chances a few fingers were well and truly crossed for a more successful outcome.

Russell was given the honour of starting the race, who would then hand over to James and then on to S

After the lead up to the start the lights turned green and Russell made an incredible start picking up places wherever possible. During the early stages of the race the Team were running as high as 6th at one stage.

The first six hours seemed to fly past when disaster struck. James suffered a minor spill but as usual at Oschersleben trying to get information from Race Control via the marshals took an age. Finally the Team learned that James had crashed at the far side of the circuit and was pushing in. James' father Miles was relieved as were the rest of the Team.

It took James a full 30 minutes to get back to the pits. Following the crash the bike just would not start! He pushed the bike for a full twenty minutes; exhausted he stopped and tried again to start the bike on the starter. Heh! presto and he was able to ride the bike back the remaining distance to the garage. Geoff and the Bolliger mechanics sped into action, the Bolliger Kawasaki having had to withdraw from the race earlier with mechanical problems.

Back in the race albeit now having dropped from 6th to 32nd place. As the hours went pass the bike once again ran faultlessly, and Diablo 666 continued its push back up the leader board.

As James did yet another stint the Team had got back up to 18th place disaster struck again. James went missing for a second time. When he eventually arrived back in the pits, this time minus the bike the Team realised the race was over. James was covered in oil and it appeared that perhaps the engine had let go. This in fairness had been after 18hrs though!

The bike was marooned on the inside of the track in one of the few places it could not be recovered from so once again the Diablo 666 luck had run out.

The Team decided in typical Diablo fashion to have a swift beer or two and took solace in a job well done albeit six hours short of the full 24 hrs period.

On recovering the bike after the race, it became clear that the problem could not have been simpler. A 5p piece of tying wire holding the oil filter in position had broken allowing the oil filter to loosen and hence the quantity of oil being spewed out of the engine.

What a pain! But the Teams mood on hearing this news was again upbeat. The Teams first thought was "wait until Vallelunga".

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