Report written by Trevor Chatters 

The World 0-350 postponed from Warsaw in early September following the accident in which Per Svensson was seriously injured was reprogrammed to Znin. Nineteen drivers from 10 nations entered with Alessandro Cremona (Italy) setting pole from Ilka Rytkonen (Finland) and Paul Jillings (UK). European Formula 350 champion Janos Feil (Austria) was fourth with James Aderholdt (USA) fifth with Marian Jung (Slovakia) sixth ahead of 4 times World 350 champion Giuseppe Rossi (Italy), Tomas Lind (Sweden) with a rebuilt boat after Brandenburg, and the defending World champion Eriks Kiepe-Kipge (Latvia). Tude Bedy (Austria) qualified ahead of Bartholomej Marszalek (Poland), Frank Pfennig (Austria), Luigi Colombi (Italy). Jorg Gleinert and Rene Behncke (Germany), and Peter Balaz (Slovakia) also set times, with Marco Bobbioni (Italy), and Krzysztof Bartnicki (Poland) starting at the back of the grid. Steffan Tempelhahn (Germany) was still preparing his Mostes / GRM having acquired it from Finland following his crash in the last F-350 round.

The battle between GRM and VRP was on - Cremona was racing for only the second time in this category with the GRM, ‘Red Devil’ Rytkonen, who only competed in the Worlds this year had the VRP alongside with the experimental 2 cylinder GRM of Jillings third. At the first buoy of the first heat Rytkonen was hit at the rear end, Aderholt and Bedy were involved in a collision causing the race to be stopped. Both the drivers were taken to hospital, James with injuries to his arms, legs and back, has since been transferred to a hospital nearer his home in Holland. Tunde returned later with a broken wrist but was to be a spectator for the rest of the weekend.

In the restart Jillings and Jung failed to fire first time, when the lights went out…..Alex Cremona was away in the lead chased by Rytkonen with Feil (GRM) in hot pursuit, then the VRPs of Rene Behncke and Marian Jung. Feil inherited second spot on lap three, with Behncke third, with Rytkonen retiring to the pits. After eight laps Alessandro Cremona 5.52.84 had a 6 second lead over Feil with Behncke a further 6 seconds behind. Jung came home fourth ahead of Lind and Marszalek.

Because of the restart it was decided to postpone heat 2 to Sunday, and in perfect conditions at 9.30 am the race started. Rene Behncke built up a sizeable lead from Cremona, Colombi and Jung. On lap four Rytkonen with a damaged boat full of water, dug in and he was thrown from the cockpit, causing a race stoppage.

The re-start had Behncke race to the front for ‘Demmler’ ahead of team mate Jung, with Feil third. Cremona had a poor start, along with Lind, but both powered through the field. After two laps Behncke was missing, and Jung was now leading from Feil and Rossi. Cremona had powered his way through to fourth place on lap six when Jung disappeared from the lap scoring. Feil was now leading from Rossi and at the flag Cremona took third place ahead of Colombi, Bobbioni and Lind. Janos Feil’s winning time was 5.57.40, but he was now leading the points score with 700 points to Cremona’s 625.

Paul Jillings with a broken 350 motored re-entered with his 250 discarding his heat 1 points. After one lap of heat three Cremona was through to the front ahead of Behncke and Feil. The German’s race was completed on lap 3 with Feil inheriting second slot ahead of Bobbioni and Lind. Marian Jung was making rapid progress taking Lind and when Bobbioni retired to the pits was up to third. Cremona had set a time of 5.49.71 so it was all to battle for in the final race, with Cremona 1025 points, Feil 1000 points, and Jung and Lind close for the bronze medal with 394 and 391 respectively.

When the race started Cremona stopped at the first buoy, allowing Feil to race away in the lead from Jung, with Marszalek third ahead of Kiepe-Kipge. After two laps of hectic action, Marszalek crashed at buoy no 1 starting lap 3 bringing the race to a premature halt. Cremona had a broken engine so a win would secure Feil the title.

At the restart the Szeged driver powered away in the lead, with Jung chasing then Bobbioni and Lind. Bobbioni again retired to the pits , Lind racing on to 225 points ahead of Kiepe-Kipge, Balaz and Gleinert. Janos Feil was the popular winner of the World title, his first in 32 years of racing.

WORLD 0-350 CHAMPIONSHIP

1^st      44   Janos Feil                   AUT      Mostes  GRM         300       400       (300)    400   1100

2^nd     46   Alessandro Cremona   ITA       Mostes  GRM          400     225       400      0       1025

3^rd      86   Marian Jung               SVK     AnDick  VRP         169       0          225       300    694

4^th      55   Tomas Lind                SWE      Andick   GRM         127       (95)      169       225    521

5^th      97   Eriks Kiepe-Kipge       LAT       Pywatt     Koenig     71         71         -           169    311

6^th      61   Giuseppe Rossi           ITA       Mostes  GRM         0          300       -           -        300

7^th      5    Peter Balaz                 SVK      Mostes   GRM      53         0          71      127    251

8^th      109 Rene Behncke             GER      AnDick  VRP         225       0          0          0        225

9^th      11   Bartlomiej Marszalek   POL      Klotts     GRM         95         0          95         -        190

10^th    2    Jorg Gleinert               GER                  Koenig     -           53         40         95      169

11^th    69   Luigi Colombi              ITA       Mostes  GRM         0          169                   -        -        169

12^th    27   Paul Jillings                 GBR      AnDick  GRM         DSQ      0          127       0       127

13^th    54   Marco Bobbioni           ITA       Mostes  GRM         -           127      0          0       127

14^th    6    Krzysztof Bartnicki      POL                                  0          0          53         -        53

15^th    40   Frank Pfennig              AUT      Pfennig   VRP       -           -           -                 -           0

16^th    68   James Aderholdt         USA      Mostes  GRM         0         -           -                    -        0

17^th    31   Tunde Bedy                AUT      Mostes  GRM         0          -          -                    -        0

18^th    66   Ilka Rytkonen             FIN       Mostes  VRP         0          0          -           -        0

19^th    4    Steffan Tempelhahn     GER      Mostes     GRM      -           -          0                -           0