Jens Holzhauer (Honda) is fighting back: “Our repair plan had been approved”

“I’m lost for words,” says HRP boss Jens Holzhauer, a good week after the Euro Moto show at Oschersleben. What had happened? In the first race, Dutch rider Twan Smits had left a thick trail of oil after a connecting rod failure on his Yamaha, and behind him, Florian Alt, Markus Reiterberger, Toni Finsterbusch and Kevin Orgis had also crashed. The damage to the motorbikes was considerable. The mechanics were called upon to get the motorbikes – some of which had been destroyed right down to the frame – back on the track.

In every pit, the mechanics were working flat out. In Euro Moto, the ‘one-bike rule’ applies, and replacing frames and engines requires the technical commissioners’ approval. According to his own account, that’s exactly what Jens Holzhauer did. “Our motorbike was a write-off,” he confirms. The HRP team had a show bike parked outside the pit, which now had to serve as a spare parts store. They fitted the first engine of the season, which had already been used at the Sachsenring.

“I had the repair plan approved by the technical commissioners,” Holzhauer assures us. “If they hadn’t agreed, we wouldn’t have even lined up for the second race. Florian was struggling, and as far as the title is concerned, there’s not much we can do about it anyway.” But the fighting spirit prevailed within Team HRP. Everything was documented and photographed. They finished just in the nick of time, received the green light from technical scrutineering, according to Holzhauer, and Alt finished third behind Lukas Tulovic and Markus Reiterberger.

They let me walk into a trap.

Jens Holzhauer

Team GERT56 had just as much to deal with following Toni Finsterbusch’s crash. After the race, however, the team lodged a protest against Alt and Team HRP. According to their own statement, this was not to make life difficult for Alt or Holzhauer, but to challenge the stewards’ approval of the modifications to the show bike. The protest was upheld, Alt was disqualified and his points were stripped. Holzhauer is appealing the decision. The case is now going to the DMSB tribunal. “They let me walk into a trap,” explains Holzhauer when asked by SPEEDWEEK.com, “they don’t want to know anything about the approval anymore.” An official statement from the Euro Moto promoter is still pending.