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The Oschersleben 8 Hours, as well as having awarded the Endurance world team title to the Suzuki SERT squad and the riders' title to Frenchman Lucas Mahias, also saw our Italian riders fighting with the bit between their teeth around the tough German track, with Niccolò Canepa making a fantastic race to finish in overall first place, and Gianluca Vizziello starring in a “stop and go” at the hospital after a bad crash in the opening stages.
The Basilicata rider, competing with team Bolliger Kawasaki, made a very good start, running towards his ZX10R like a lunatic and, once on board, was right up there with factory teams such as Yamaha GMT94, Yamaha YART, Suzuki SERT and Honda Racing, taking the turns like man possessed, having to make up for his bike's lack of power: “we, as a team, were in line for final fifth place, the title was within reach; my Kawasaki is a privateer bike and I was losing a lot of speed along the straights so through each turn I was at the limit trying to keep pace with the factory bikes.... and in the first laps I was lying in around sixth position”.
So a great start and then what happened?
“Well because I was having to pass my rivals through the corners, in one turn I found the door closed and hit 'that guy' full on…”
Gianluca says “that guy” because, after falling and landing hard on the asphalt, he was unable to remember anything for a few seconds: “they took me to the hospital closest to the circuit, I just had a bad pain in my shoulder but I didn't tell the doctors, I wanted to leave as soon as possible. And when they asked me how I crashed, I just said: 'how did I crash? How do you think I crashed, I just slipped! But in reality I couldn't remember anything, I just said that so that I could leave”.
What did the doctors do? Did they let you leave?
“I had a quick CAT and when they saw it was all OK they discharged me. One of the guys on my team came with the car to pick me up and, a few minutes later, I was back at the track for the race”.
Great but, hang on, didn't you said you couldn't remember anything?
“Yes, it's true - confirms Gianluca- from the time of the impact to when I reached the medical centre, I couldn't remember anything of what had happened, I didn't even know where I was; only when they removed my leathers and I was naked did I realise I'd crashed”.
Did you at least have cute nurses looking after you?
“Yes, there were two cute blondes there with me... See how I can remember everything?! (he laughs)”.
Once he returned to the track, Gianluca didn't waste any time and was straight back on the bike: “I continued to ride as if nothing had happened, I just had some pain in my shoulder and a bit of a headache, but I lapped fast and completed my sections; with that pace, we could easily have finished top ten”.
Now the world Endurance is over, how would you sum it up as an experience?
“I really like this environment and the races are fantastic... there's a lot of passion here and I feel at home with team Bolliger. It's a family team with great passion and they really make you want to go fast. They've proposed that I race the next edition too and I'm seriously thinking about it ”.
In fact, you still have the final four SBK rounds to race with team Grillini, but do you already have an idea of what you want to do next year?
“I have four possibilities: one in SBK, one in the Italian CIV, one in Supersport and the last in Endurance... I still don't know what I'll do, I'll decide by calmly considering the bike I'd have and the kind of results we could achieve.... I really like endurance though, here you use your heart more than your head”.
There's no doubt about that.
