St Wendel - West
Germany
St. Wendel
A short and narrow circuit
on a closed public road, St Wendel could not be more different to the
mighty Nurburgring we had left only the previous week.
From the starting grid riders swept down a hill
on a long curve to the right, at the bottom there was a sharp turn to
the left, under a bridge followed by another left turn, up the hill and
through a long S bend, a short straight followed by a left-hand hairpin
bend at the top of the hill before dropping down and crossing the start
and finishing line once again.
One lap of the course in our van on the evening of our arrival at St
Wendel left me feeling far more confident than I had been on our arrival
at the 'Ring'
On this occasion my entries had been accepted for both the 125 and 250cc
races and there was no attempt to bump me up a class!
Practice for both races was pretty uneventful, although I could not help
but notice just how narrow the circuit was at racing speeds, being
approximately half the width of Brands Hatch and many other U. circuits.
It is possibly for this reason that the circuit is no longer used for
motor cycle road racing?
Again I qualified and had good starts in both races, but rather
disappointedly, only managed a 14th place finish on the 125 and 11th on
the 250. Not bad considering I had 2 or 3 close encounters with high
kerbs and the straw bales protecting the buttresses of the bridge when
trying too hard during the races.
Chris Vincent won the 125 cc race followed
home by Walter Scheimann and Giuseppe Visenzi - all mounted
on Hondas.
The 250 cc race being won by Ginger
Molloy (Bultaco) followed
by Bruce Beale (Honda) and Jack Ahearn (Cotton)
With a little more money in the bank (hidden in the Thames van in a steel tool
box!) we
joined the other competitors at the prize giving and celebrations put on
by the Auto Club and town of St Wendel, before leaving, some with
delicate heads, for Hungary the following morning.
