Yes hill climbs in essence aren’t pure road races, but they are similar in terms of layout when in comparison to various roads circuits worldwide.
The five round FIM Europe supported European Hill Climb Road Race Championship which had events this year in Italy (Isola Del Liri/Gragnana), Austria (Landshaag/Julbach), Switzerland (Boecourt to La Caquerelle) and France (Marlhes), provides quite possibly at present the nearest you will get to a pure road race meeting in these four nations.
All events are held on public roads, as riders pit themselves against the clock to set the best times possible on the courses which each in their own way provide subtle, varied different challenges.
Reflecting on the 2019 European Hill Climb series, Guido Testoni retained the 250 class crown whilst Supersport title honours went to experienced German competitor Uwe Rademacher.
Remaining class title winners were Jean Luc David (Superbike) and Alexander Ponzellini (Super Moto).
Full results per class, within the 2019 European Hill Climb Road Race Championship, are as follows:
250:
1 Guido Testoni 295
2 Bernard Depierreux 221
3 Rolf Haller 170
4 Marco Vigilucci 149
5 Stefano Leone 123
6 Angelo Testoni 117
7 Thomas Roiß 68
8 Alfred Sturzer 45
9 Mathias Seiler 29
Supersport:
1 Uwe Rademacher 178
2 Marc Gilardi 162
3 Mauro Poncini 161
4 David Lignite 132
5 Salvatore Sallustro 130
6 Julien Purro 110
7 Rafael Neuner 100
8 Simona Zaccardi 93
9 Romain Cleaz Savoyen 90
10 Christian Mario Ciullo 56
11 Francesco Curinga 40
12 Wolfgang Gammer 33
13 Federico Raffaele Mercurio 30
14 Francesco Mastrullo 29
15 Davide Demaria 10
Superbike:
1 Jean Luc David 244
2 Wolfgang Gammer 202
3 Romain Cleaz Savoyen 197
4 Uwe Rademacher 124
5 Salvatore Sallustro 118
6 Frederic Bongard 82
7 Andreas Gangl 81
8 Nicholas Rovelli 73
9 Williams Alonzi 73
10 Christian Wiesinger-Mayr 51
11 Toni Rechberger 42
12 Stefano Bonetti 36
13 Thomas Mitgutsch 36
14 Jurgen Plattner 22
15 Christian Seiler 16
16 Ossi Niederkircher 14
Super Moto:
1 Alexander Ponzellini 249
2 Philippe Bongard 180
3 Stefano Leone 162
4 Josef Frauenschuh 100
5 Philipp Neumuller 80
6 Robert Danninger 58
7 Florian Winkler 53
8 Manuel Hofer 38
Words by Stevie Rial