European motorcycle championship 1939

The European motorcycle championship in 1939 could not be ended because of the outbreak of the Second World War . For the second time in history, the racing drivers were awarded the titles that achieved the most points in their cubic capacity class at the European Grand Prix.

Nine races were planned for all three classes, seven of which were held. Due to the early end of the season due to the war, the titles could not be fully extended. The drivers who topped the table of the respective class after the Ulster Grand Prix , the last race before the outbreak of war , were declared European champions .

Distribution of points

From today's perspective, the distribution of points is no longer fully comprehensible; there are two possible systems.

• According to the British trade magazine The Motor Cyclist , the system used in 1938 was used with 6 points for the winner up to 1 point for the sixth placed.

Scoring
space	1	2	3	4th	5
Points	5	4th	3	2	1

• Other documents mention a system with 5 points for the winner up to 1 point for the fifth placed.

Scoring
space	1	2	3	4th	5	6th
Points	6th	5	4th	3	2	1

• Possibly there were deleted results and only the best five results came into the European Championship standings.

Regardless of which scoring system was applied, the overall leader after the Ulster Grand Prix and the European champion of the 1939 season denominated Dorino Serafini from Italy to Gilera at half-liter class and Heiner Fleischmann and Ewald Kluge of Germany from the DKW - factory team in the 350ern or . 250s.

500 cc class

Race results

	date	run	route	1st place	place 2	place 3
1	June 12-16	XXVIII. Isle of Man TT	Mountain Course	Georg Meier	Jock West	Freddie Frith
2	01.07.	XV. Dutch TT	Aces	Georg Meier	Silvio Vailati	Hans Bock
3	09.07.	French GP	Reims	John White	René Guérin	Gustave Lefèvre
4th	01.07.	XIX. Belgian GP	Spa Francorchamps	Georg Meier	Dorino Serafini	Ludwig Kraus
5	06.08.	IX. Swedish GP	Saxtorp	Dorino Serafini	Silvio Vailati	Ludwig Kraus
6th	08/13	GP of Greater Germany	Sachsenring	Dorino Serafini	Karl stirring screw	Hans Lodermeier
7th	08/19	XVIII. Ulster GP	Clady	Dorino Serafini	Freddie Frith	Les Archer
8th	24.09.	VI. Italian GP	Monza	not held because of the outbreak of World War II
9	08.10.	XVI. Swiss GP	Schwamendingen

Driver ranking

	driver	machine	Points (5)	Points (6)
1	Dorino Serafini	Gilera	19th	23
2	Georg Meier	BMW	15th	18th
3	Silvio Vailati	Gilera	8th	10
4th	Freddie Frith	Norton	7th	9
5	John White	Norton	6th	8th
6th	Wiggerl Kraus	BMW	6th	8th
7th	Jock West	BMW	4th	5
	René Guérin	unknown	4th	5
	Karl stirring screw	BMW	4th	5
10	Hans Bock	BMW	4th	6th
11	Gustave Lefèvre	unknown	3	4th
	Hans Lodermeier	BMW	3	4th
	Les Archer	Velocette	3	4th
14th	Stanley Woods	Velocette	2	3
	Franz Vaasen	Norton	2	3
	Roger Fouminet	Saroléa	2	3
	Ginger Wood	FN	2	3
	Fergus Anderson	Norton	2	3
	Hans Lommel	BMW	2	3
	Ron Mead	Norton	2	3
21st	"Charlier" 1	FN	1	2
	Georges Monneret	Monet-Goyon	1	2
	Endre Kozma	BMW	1	2
	Walter Lohmann	BMW	1	2
	Joe Moss	Norton	1	2
26th	Jaap Fijma	Velocette	0	1
	"Walter" 2	unknown	0	1
	F. Bentley	Norton	0	1

350 cm³ class

Race results

	date	run	route	1st place	place 2	place 3
1	June 12-16	XXVIII. Isle of Man TT	Mountain Course	Stanley Woods	Harold Daniell	Heiner Fleischmann
2	01.07.	XV. Dutch TT	Aces	Siegfried wishes	Ted Mellors	Heiner Fleischmann
3	09.07.	French GP	Reims	Heiner Fleischmann	Ted Mellors	Fergus Anderson
4th	01.07.	XIX. Belgian GP	Spa Francorchamps	Ted Mellors	Stanley Woods	Heiner Fleischmann
5	06.08.	IX. Swedish GP	Saxtorp	Heiner Fleischmann	Ted Mellors	Siegfried wishes
6th	08/13	GP of Greater Germany	Sachsenring	Walter Hamelehle	Ernie Thomas	Franz-Josef Binder
7th	08/19	XVIII. Ulster GP	Clady	Stanley Woods	Heiner Fleischmann	Siegfried wishes
8th	24.09.	VI. Italian GP	Monza	not held because of the outbreak of World War II
9	08.10.	XVI. Swiss GP	Schwamendingen

Driver ranking

	driver	machine	Points (5)	Points (6)
1	Heiner Fleischmann	DKW	20 (23)	25 (29)
2	Ted Mellors	Velocette	19th	24
3	Stanley Woods	Velocette	16	20th
4th	Siegfried wishes	DKW	11	15th
5	Ernie Thomas	Velocette	8th	12
6th	David Whitworth	Velocette	8th	13 (14)
7th	Walter Hamelehle	Moto Guzzi	5	6th
8th	Harold Daniell	Norton	4th	5
9	Fergus Anderson	DKW	3	4th
	Franz-Josef Binder 3	Velocette	3	4th
11	Roy Evans	Norton	2	3
12	Jimmy Kleine	Velocette	1	3
13	Rudi Knees	DKW	1	2
	Artie Bell	Velocette	1	2
15th	Willie van Gent	Velocette	0	1
	"Cora" 4	Velocette	0	1
	"Didier" 5	Velocette	0	1
	Hans Richnow	Rudge	0	1

250 cc class

A DKW US 250 like the one Ewald Kluge drove in the 1939 season.

Race results

	date	run	route	1st place	place 2	place 3
1	June 12-16	XXVIII. Isle of Man TT	Mountain Course	Ted Mellors	Ewald Kluge	Henry Tyrell-Smith
2	01.07.	XV. Dutch TT	Aces	Ewald Kluge	Bernhard Petruschke	Omobono Tenni
3	09.07.	French GP	Reims	Ewald Kluge	B. Moore	Charles Simons
4th	01.07.	XIX. Belgian GP	Spa Francorchamps	Ewald Kluge	Bernhard Petruschke	Amilcare Rossetti
5	06.08.	IX. Swedish GP	Saxtorp	Ewald Kluge	Bernhard Petruschke	Karl Lottes
6th	08/13	GP of Greater Germany	Sachsenring	Nello Pagani	Guglielmo Sandri	Ewald Kluge
7th	08/19	XVIII. Ulster GP	Clady	Les Martin	George McAdam	Chris Tattersall
8th	24.09.	VI. Italian GP	Monza	not held because of the outbreak of World War II
9	08.10.	XVI. Swiss GP	Schwamendingen

Driver ranking

	driver	machine	Points (5)	Points (6)
1	Ewald Kluge	DKW	24 (27)	29 (33)
2	Bernhard Petruschke	DKW	12	15th
3	Les Martin	Excelsior	7th	9
4th	Ted Mellors	Benelli	5	6th
	Nello Pagani	Moto Guzzi	5	6th
6th	B. Moore	DKW	5	7th
7th	Guglielmo Sandri	Moto Guzzi	4th	7th
	George McAdam	Excelsior	4th	5
9	Karl Lottes	DKW	4th	7th
10	HG Tyrell-Smith	Excelsior	3	4th
	Omobono Tenni	Moto Guzzi	3	4th
	Charles Simons	DKW	3	4th
	Amilcare Rossetti	Benelli	3	4th
	Chris Tattersall	CTS	3	4th
15th	Rudi Meier	DKW	3	5
16	Walfried Winkler	DKW	2	3
	Henri Nougier	Magnate Debon	2	3
	Emilio Soprani	Benelli	2	3
	Lothar Berger	DKW	2	3
	Jock McCredie	Excelsior	2	3
21st	Siegfried wishes	DKW	1	2
	L. Arnaudin-Chibrac	Excelsior	1	2
	R. Hulme	Excelsior	1	2
24	Charlie Manders	Excelsior	0	1
	Lo Simons	Excelsior	0	1
	André Jacquier-Bret	Monet-Goyon	0	1
	Hermann Gablenz	DKW	0	1

References

Remarks

¹actually Charles Hanssens

²Nothing is known about the driver, "Walter" is probably a pseudonym .

³Franz-Josef Binder started with a Dutch license, but came from Austria . That is why he is listed as an Austrian in some statistics.

^4thactually Léon Corrand

⁵actually Pierre van Ysendijk

Web links

• Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto; 6ème partie: Les Championnats d'Europe (1938–1939). racingmemo.free, accessed on June 28, 2014 (French).