From a press release:

Spectacular Superside battle ends with Steinhausen win

Parzer falls out as Steinhausen takes championship lead

The Superside race at Lausitzring today was a memorable one, but not for all the right reasons! Jorg Steinhausen kept his head in a very difficult race to and inherited the lead on the last lap from a stricken Steve Abbott.

It was Tom Hanks who led the pack from the off, setting a blistering pace through the first few bends. But Jorg Steinhausen who was putting Hanks under heavy pressure soon caught him. Steinhausen took the lead on lap two and shortly afterwards Klaus Klaffenbock nipped by Hanks and set off after Steinhausen. Steve Webster was next to pass Hanks, recovering from a poor start. But even early in the race blue smoke could be seen issuing from his exhaust pipe. The smoke was a sign of things to come.

A classic battle ensued with the four fighting hard for position. They were soon joined by Steve Abbott as he pushed up through the field and caught the scrap for the lead. Webster streaked into the lead on lap six and immediately started to build up a gap. But it all went wrong on lap seven when Christian Parzer was thrown out of the outfit as he spun on oil. Apparently Parzer had seen the oil but Klaffenbock was so absorbed in his battle for the lead with Webster that he hadn’t noticed it.

A few corners later confusion reigned as the lead riders, spotting the oil, raised their hands in an attempt to signal an end to the race. Just as this happened Webster’s engine gave up the ghost. The race wasn’t stopped and Steinhausen, Abbott and Hanks got back on the pace to continue the battle, but now without Webster and Klaffenbock.

Hanks came of worse in the confusion, slipping back several seconds. Abbott then defeated Steinhausen, who’s engine was overheating after dumping water on the sighting lap. It looked like a dream finish to a nightmare weekend for Abbott, who had only just finished putting a replacement engine in his outfit in time for the race. But the nightmare returned as Abbott’s engine suffered an electrical fault on the last lap that cut his engine completely.

Steinhausen was far enough ahead of Hanks by now to comfortably snatch back the lead from the stricken Abbott. He also took the lead in the championship, with 90 points. Hanks took second in the race and second in the championship, with 72 points compared to Abbott on 71.

Behind the main protagonists Schlosser and Hanni took third while local hero Uwe Gottlich had the race of his life to take fourth. Gottlich’s result was true to his prediction on Friday, when he said he thought he could make a top five place in a dry race. Rob Cameron and Ian Simons also had a brilliant race to take fifth.

Abbott and Biggs managed to push their powerless outfit through the last two bends and to the line for eleventh place.