Bernhard Petruschke

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Bernhard Petruschke (born April 6, 1910 in Grünberg in Silesia ; † January 1, 2005 in Kleinmachnow ) was a German motorcycle racer .

Career

Bernhard Petruschke was born in Grünberg in Silesia as the son of a gardener and learned to be a carpenter . At the age of 17 he got his car and motorcycle license and from then on practiced his skills with like-minded people on the streets of his homeland. In 1931 he celebrated his first race victory in the Giant Mountains Race in Schreiberhau on a 500cc machine.

In the following years Petruschke, who had meanwhile moved to Berlin , worked as an amateur racing driver in numerous mountain and track races . He owned two English Rudge machines with 350 and 500 cm³ and worked his way up to 1936 in the top group of German private drivers. In 1934 the rather introverted Petruschke won the field hill climb on the Großer Feldberg in the Taunus in the class up to 500 cm³. In the same year he was behind Ernst Loof German vice-champion of the mountain drivers in the classes up to 250 and up to 350 cm³. In 1935 he took on his Rudge behind Oskar Steinbach ( NSU ) the runner-up in the 350cc class of the German road championship ex aequo with Werner Mellmann (NSU).

In the 1937 season, Petrus , as he was often called, started as a works driver for DKW for the first time and mainly competed in the 250 cm³ class. Already in the first championship run, the Eilenriederennen in Hanover , he had to admit defeat to his experienced team-mate Walfried Winkler . Petruschke also came second at the Cologne City Forest Race , at the AVUS in Berlin and at the Nürburgring . In July 1937 he won his first Grand Prix in the 175 cc category at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps . He was also German runner-up in the quarter-liter class behind Ewald Kluge .

In 1938 Petruschke won the 175 races of the UMF Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix , which took place at the Sachsenring in Hohenstein-Ernstthal . In the 1938 European motorcycle championship , which consisted of several races for the first time , the Zschopau manufacturer dominated the quarter-liter class with the ULD 250 . Petrus finished second in the overall standings behind his team-mate Ewald Kluge and was second to Kluge five times in eight races. At the last run of the German championship, the Kurpfalzrennen in Hockenheim , the now eternal runner-up defeated his team-mate Kluge in an open race and secured victory in the 250 cc category.

In 1939 Bernhard Petruschke was able to repeat the European Championship success, again behind the dominant Ewald Kluge. At the 250cc championship run around Schotten , he achieved his only significant victory of the year. After that he had to interrupt his career because of the Second World War .

After the war Petruschke was second in the all-German championship behind Wilhelm Herz (NSU) with a 350 cm³ DKW in 1948 . This was followed by two victories in races on the Halle-Saale loop on a 125cc DKW in 1951 and 1952 . In 1953 and 1954, Petruschke won the 125 cc GDR championship twice at IFA with victories at the Sachsenring and the Schleizer Dreieck . But he still started in West Germany and won the ADAC Schauinsland races on an eight-liter IFA in 1953, ahead of Hubert Luttenberger , Xaver Heiss (both MV Agusta ) and Friedrich Rückert ( Puch ).

After the end of his active career in 1955, Petruschke worked, among other things, as a race director for MZ .

Bernhard Petruschke died on January 1st, 2005 at the age of 94 in his adopted home Kleinmachnow.

statistics

title

Race wins

year class machine run route
1937 175 cc DKW Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
1938 175 cc DKW UMF Grand Prix Circuit de la Promenade des Anglais
250 cc DKW Swiss TT Bremgarten
175 cc DKW Grand Prix of Germany Sachsenring
250 cc DKW Kurpfalzrennen Kurpfalzring
1939 250 cc DKW Viennese high road race Wiener Höhenstrasse
250 cc DKW All about bulkheads Schottenring
1951 125 cc DKW Halle-Saale loop race Halle-Saale loop
1952 125 cc DKW Halle-Saale loop race Halle-Saale loop
125 cc IFA Czechoslovakian Grand Prix Masaryk ring
1954 125 cc IFA International Sachsenring race Sachsenring
125 cc IFA Schleizer triangle race Schleizer triangle

In the motorcycle world championship

season class motorcycle run Victories Podiums Points Result
1955 125 cc IFA 1 - - 2 13.
total 1 - - 2

References

literature

  • Ernst Hornickel: These are our racing drivers . A look over the sporty path of 24 German automobile and motorcycle racing drivers with their own reports. 2nd Edition. Karl and Alfred Walcker, Stuttgart 1941, p. 124-127 .
  • Steffen Ottinger: DKW motorcycle sport 1920–1939 . From the first victories of the Zschopau two-stroke model at track races to the European championship successes. 1st edition. HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Chemnitz 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-028611-7 , p. 120 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Petruschke, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Grünberg in Silesia
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 2005
Place of death Kleinmachnow