Osnabrück: Jacob Bukhave wins - Romano Hummel winner of hearts

The grass track race on the Nahner Waldbahn in Osnabrück suffered from changing weather conditions. It had rained quite heavily before the race and dark clouds kept gathering throughout the day, allowing the rain to have free rein. But those responsible at AMG Osnabrück had already announced in advance that there would definitely be racing on the hill and valley track in the Sutthausen district.

And they were proved right. They had wisely cancelled the races of the supporting programme scheduled for Saturday without further ado, thus sparing the turf. On Sunday morning, the start of the race had to be postponed due to heavy showers. Practice only began shortly before 1 p.m. and the first race of the international soloists was then started at 2.37 p.m.

Romano Hummel showed great form

Romano Hummel immediately showed that victory on Sunday could only go to him. The 27-year-old from Groningen, the 2021 long-track world champion, won this opening race in outstanding style. In the end, he finished around 100 metres ahead of the eventual overall winner Jacob Bukhave (DK). Hummel also won his second run, again with a large lead over the Dane.

The third run got off to a strange start. At the start line there was again nervous back and forth between the participants, then it started, but referee Kim Kempa from Obernkirchen criticised Dave Meijerink for touching the start line. Apart from this faux pas, the Dutchman, one of the candidates for this year's world championship title on the long track, had not coped well with the track conditions in other respects either. As a result, he was excluded from the race and finished second last.

Then the restart attempt. Start, cancellation. What was going on? Hummel had apparently jerked the clutch too early. Off to the paddock. That was to have consequences. In the end, the Dutchman was a single point short of overall victory. The crystal-clear victory in the day's final with five race points at least secured Hummel second place ahead of James Shanes, who finished third overall. The Briton himself was unlucky when he had a retirement in his first heat with zero points.

The only German in the field (why actually?), Stephan Katt from Neuwittenbek, remained pale on the difficult course. Only five points at the end were too few for a top rider in his class. But perhaps he was just being cautious.

Very strong pairing of Raphael San Millan/Benedikt Zapf

As in the previous year, Raphael San Millan and co-driver Benedikt Zapf made the decisive mark in the pairings. The team from MSC Berghaupten won four of their five races, only once conceding victory to Mitch Godden/Paul Smith from Great Britain, who finished second in the overall standings. Frenchman Jerome Lespinasse and co-driver Lauryna Faget followed in third place. The runs of these three teams were among the highlights of the race day.

But wait. The B-licence drivers Marcel Sebastian from DMSC Bielefeld and Bob Dolman deserve special praise here. The two, Sebastian at 35 years of age rather a youngster compared to the Brit, who is already a fixture among the EVLS drivers, fought duels par excellence. The German won in the end with four wins in the heats and second place in the final, which Dolman won. He suffered a retirement in his very first heat.

Results of the Osnabrück grass track race, solo:

• 1st Jacob Bukhave (DK), 16 points

• 2nd Romano Hummel (NL), 15

• 3. James Shanes (GB), 13

• 4. William Kruit (NL), 11

• 5th Mark Beishuizen (NL), 5

• 6th Mickie Simpson (GB), 6

• 7th Stephan Katt (D), 5

• 8th Dave Meijerink (NL), 3

• 9th Niek Meijerink (NL), 1

• Final: 1st Bukhave, 2nd Hummel, 3rd Shanes, 4th Kruit, 5th Beishuizen, 6th Simpson

Team results:

• 1st San Millan/Zapf (D), 19 points

• 2nd Godden/Smith (GB), 14

• 3rd Lespinasse/Faget (F), 14

• 4th Goodwin/Goodwin (GB), 8

• 5th Möller/Hazekamp (D/NL), 4

• 6th Lorei/Düringer (D), 1

Results B-Solo:

• 1st Marcel Sebastian (D), 24 points

• 2nd Tom Hansen (D), 20

• 3rd Bob Dolman (GB), 18

• 4th Thomas Vining (GB), 17

• 5. Kevin Lück (D), 16

• 6th Marvyn Katt (D), 12

• 7th Louis Tebbe (D), 9

• 8th Nynke Sijbesma (NL), 8

• 9th Lukas Tusch (D), 6

• 10th Sanne Meijerink (NL), 2

• 11th Benjamin Dohmes (D), 1

• 12th Mike van der Noordaa (NL), 0

• Final: 1st Dolman, 2nd Sebastian, 3rd Hansen, 4th Vining, 5th Lück, 6th Katt