14 August 2005
Round 4– Oschersleben, Germany
After the heartache of the DNF at Suzuka, the Oschersleben 24hrs race was the ideal race for the Team to bounce back, and fast! With very little time for the bikes to get back to Bolliger’s HQ in Switzerland, a lot of work was going to be needed by Diablo’s mechanics to get the bikes sorted for the race.

The Suzuka race had once again shown that the Diablo 666 Team was a force to be reckoned with, running just behind the Phase 1 Number 1 bike up until James Hutchin’s unfortunate spill. The Team has entered this race for the past two seasons, in 2003, Diablo’s inaugural year, Suzuki GSXR 1000 mounted and last year for the first time on the Kawasaki ZX-10. The Team were aiming to make it third time lucky to complete this arduous race.

The rider line up for this year was to be James Hutchins, Steve Mizera and Russell Baker, who also rode for the Team last year in this same event. Russell has an excellent pedigree of racing in 24hr races at both Le Mans and the Bol D’Or to name but two. Another excellent recruit to the Team or what!

The plan was for Diablo 666’s mechanics, Geoff and Doug Randall, to attempt to rebuild the new Suzuka race bike ready for qualifying. However after only a quick look at the bike once out of its Suzuka crate confirmed the collision with the wall at Suzuka had been enormous - in fact the frame was a complete write off. Change of plan, the No. 2 a basically standard engined bike as used at Assen would have to be used for the entire weekend. The Oschersleben race realy is one of the most gruelling 24 hour races on a par with Le Mans and the Bol D’Or, tough on both man and machine. Would the Diablo bike last the 24 hour event. After last years oil leak, which ended the Team’s chances, a few fingers were well and truly crossed.

With only one bike, careful qualifying was the order of the day and passed with no major incidents. The combination of James, Steve and Russell had led to the Team qualifying in a strong 13th position with Steve setting the fastest time. The Bolliger Team ended their qualifying up in a fantastic 4th position, again having no major problems.

Steve was given the honour of starting the race, after having put in the fastest lap in qualifying and with planned 75 minute stints would then hand over to Russell and then on to James.

Steve got a scorcher and came round in 9th place. After only 8 laps the first major incident of the race occurred a bike crashed and dumped a shed load of oil on the track and the No.7 Yamaha Austria bike and No.2 Suzuki collided on the oil and both went into the gravel trap. Fortunately for both very little damage to the bikes and even luckier still the pace cars were called out allowing them to close back up to the field again. This left Steve in 6th place. After 14 laps following the pace cars they were called in and we were up and running again.

After the first complete round of stops Bolliger were in 4th, Diablo 666 were in 7th. What a start! Russell Baker took over from Steve and the relentless schedule of lap after lap continued.

After 4 hours the first major panic for the Bolliger pit crew, with David Morillon on board he signalled to the garage he had a problem. Coming into pit lane the bike sounded as though there was a problem with the exhaust blowing. A front header connecting pipe had split costing the number 8 bike, 6 laps. This put Diablo 666 in 4th and relegated the Bolliger 8 bike to 12th. As the next few hours went by Diablo 666 maintained their position behind the Number 2 Suzuki, Number 7 Yamaha Austria and the Phase 1 Endurance Yamaha. Exalted company indeed.

The Bolliger 8 bike slowly but surely began catching the Diablo 666 machine. After seven hours the partner teams maintained their 4th and 5th places. After 265 laps and 7 _ hours the gap between the sister Kawasaki’s was down to 25 seconds. It was going to be a long and competitive night for the partner team Kawasaki’s.

So far the Diablo 666 bike had run trouble free, would the Team’s good fortune return after the disappointment of Suzuka?

The team immediately above Diablo in the Championship table, No.6 Shell Endurance had crashed and on lap 269 with Calvin Hogan on board had lost 12 laps to the Diablo Team in one hit. The bike was pushed into the garage where urgent repairs were carried out. By the time it re-entered the race the No.6 machine was 24 laps behind Diablo. It was looking good for Diablo to overtake Shell Academy bike in the points table, put there was still a very, very long way to go through to the finish.

The Bolliger No. 8 bike was catching Diablo 666 and finally on lap 276 the number 8 Bolliger bike overtook the 666 bike. Then on lap 288 after just over 8 hours gone the first retirement of one of the top teams, Phase 1 retired with a major engine problem, possibly a crank problem. This left the Bolliger No. 8 in 3rd and Diablo 666 bike in 4th. Could the partner teams maintain this to the end? Only time would tell.

After 9 hours Bolliger held onto 3rd with Diablo 666, one lap down holding 4th with a 4 lap margin over the No Limits No. 44. 6th were No. 4, X –One, 7th No. 76, 8th Aprilia No.9 and 10th No. 5, Bridgestone Bikers Profi Team.

Through the night and the laps rolled on and on but our good lap times in the dark pushed both Kawasaki teams further ahead of the following pack. Almost on 17 Hours the news spread that Yamaha Austria had crashed big time and would not be able to get their bike back to the garage. Now Bolliger No. 8 were 2nd and Diablo 666 were 3rd. Could this be a repeat of the Assen result?

At 17 hours and 30 minutes Bolliger decided on the precautionary measure of changing the No. 8 bike fork legs, being some seven laps ahead of the 666 machine. In rapid time the forks were changed and Bolliger returned with a four lap lead over Diablo 666.

18 Hours and 10 minutes – its spitting. The track with so much rubber down is now very greasy and the No. 8, No. 666 and No. 2 decide to pit for full rain tyres and risk another change if it suddenly dries. Within minutes the choice is proved wise as it pours down. All riders out on circuit are taking it steady, very steady. After this length of time into the race it would be disastrous to throw it down the road with Diablo having a commanding 16 lap lead over the 44 bike. Lap times had increased by over 14 seconds a lap and for the remainder of the race most teams were running at approx the 2 minutes per lap pace.

This was the furthest the Diablo 666 Team had been previously (in 2004) in a full blown 24hrs race. This was getting scarey. Could we run to the end of our first 24hrs race?

N-n-n-nineteen hours and the rain continued to fall but even heavier still. Steve Mizera did a brilliant stint and handed over to Russell Baker. We were now 17 laps ahead of the No. 44 bike and there was no need to ride the wheels off the Kawasaki. Hold station and ride for the finish. If we could finish 3rd we would leapfrog Yamaha Austria and Phase 1 and be lying 3rd going into the last round. Dare we even think it? Would our luck and that of Bolliger hold? Could this be another double podium for the partner Kawasaki teams?

The pit garage was full of some very nervous people indeed, this was a repeat of the scenes at Assen but would last far, far longer.

Into the 23rd hour and Hanspeter Bolliger and Terry Rymer made the decision to have both bikes call into the pits for their final stops with the riders being given the instructions to locate each other out on track and circulate together as the clock ticked down. What an incredible sight to see the two Kawasaki’s running together and crossing the line together in tandem. Diablo 666 had cracked it!

As Steve crossed the line the pit lane marshals gave up on trying to stop all the surviving team members from climbing onto the fencing and the Team went ballistic. The Dresden based Steve Mizera fan club justifiably showed their clear delight in the Team’s result.

A magnificent 3rd, 22 points on the old scoreboard, pushing us back up to a clear 3rd in the table, ahead of many long, established Endurance Teams and what’s more, Bolliger reclaimed 2nd in the table.

A repeat of the earlier Assen result. Miles Hutchins, Team principle was ecstatic, “It really does make all the hard work worthwhile. What a reward and what a fantastic result for Diablo 666 and Kawasaki! It shows that standard ZX-10’s can get 2nd and 3rd in both sprint and fully fledged 24 hour endurance races….what bikes….what teamwork… what a partnership!!! A big thank you to everyone who had a hand in making this possible”!

Team Manager, Terry Rymer added in true ‘too tall Tel’ fashion, “For such a young Team, they deservedly need now the support of the factory and a major title sponsor to move the Team to the next level in this series”!

Rider James Hutchins, “I’m speechless, what a result, especially after the disappointment of me crashing out at Suzuka”.

Of course this win secures this year’s Championship for Castrol Suzuki. With a 45 point lead and only 25 points available at the last race at Vallelunga, Suzuki take the title from Yamaha, won last year by GMT 94.

The sight to see once again both Bolliger and Diablo rider squads with Miles Hutchins and Hanspeter Bolliger soaking up the crowds cheers in the pouring rain (and champagne) was almost two much for some. Many a bottle of beer had been cracked open as the magical 3 o’clock had been reached. There were going to be few sore heads in the morning.

The final race of the championship is at Vallelunga, Italy on September 26th. Diablo 666 are really up for this one. Can we achieve our season’s goal of a top ten championship finish, we already have! Can we hold onto 3rd. It will be a tall order but the Team will be really going for it.

Provisional Race Result after 24 hrs:

World Endurance Championship Positions:
After 4 rounds

< Back to main news page