Reeves and Cluze take Pole Position

The first qualifying practice got under way in perfect conditions at the 4,168km “Automotodrom Grobnik” circuit. Only after three minutes of the session starting though, the red flags came out, Janez Rems e and Jamie Biggs on their “Remse Racing” LCR, Yamaha crashed out at the first corner, driver Janez was ok and returned to pit lane with the extensively damaged machine, passenger Jamie Biggs however was taken to hospital with suspected broken hip and damage to his arm.

As the session got underway again it was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze on their “The Relocator” LCR, Kawasaki who set the pace with a time of 1:33.414 on their second flying lap; it was short lived though as Jorg Steinhausen and Axel Kolsch on the “Steinhausen Racing” LCR, BMW were to put in a time of 1:33.375 on the next lap. Bennie Streuer and Goert Koerts on their “Team Streuer” LCR, Suzuki were putting in some solid lap times and were to set the third fastest time of 1:35.927, the team were happy with this and are looking forward to the race this afternoon. Petri Makkula and Harri Asumanie on the “Team Makkula” LCR, BMW set a time of 1:36.017 on their second flying lap. As the session continued Reeves and Cluze were watching the times in pit lane wondering whether to go back out on track and improve on their time.

Steinhausen and Kolsch were back in pit lane too. They were to get back out on track again, and on their first flying lap they were to have a massive crash on the same first corner as Remse and Biggs. The red flags were out again, but with only a few minutes left in the session it was decided that was the end of the session. Both Steinhausen and Kolsch were taken to the medical centre. Steinhausen was released after a short time but Kolsch was taken to hospital with a broken ankle and suspected broken wrist. Their machine was a total wreck when returned to pit lane.

With a much depleted field now, qualifying two got under way. With no teams improving on their qualifying one times. All teams were getting tyres bedded in and checking all was okay for the 10 lap race which will start at 16.30 local time, with Reeves and Cluze on pole, next to them will be Streuer and Koerts, with Makkula and Asumani third. Uwe Gurck and Manfred Wechselberger on their “Polizei Sport Verein Wels” LCR, BMW will head the second row, with Jakob Rutz and Thomas Hofer next to them with their “Sidecar Racing Team Rutz” LCR, Yamaha.

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