This time the controversy began before the racing did: when the Schleizer-Dreieck road race was announced as part of the German Superbike Championship it was met with opposition from the major players in the Pro-Superbike camp. The result? A boycott by all the major teams and riders and a prime opportunity for the fastest privateers to claim some vital points. Michael Liedl did just that and earned not only a top-10 finish in the standings but also a factory ride with Kawasaki when Ernst Gschwender's title campaign was ended by a crash in the World Championship. The fight for first in the points looked to be going Andreas Hofmann's way; he out-scored main rival Edwin Weibel in the first 8 races and benefited from Weibel's bad luck at the Salzburgring. That secure lead evaporated with two consecutive non-finishes late in the year and Hofmann entered the finale at Hockenheim in as precarious a position as in 1992. This time though, he held his nerve to win race 1 while Weibel faltered and now Hofmann needed just 4 points from the final race to clinch the title. He scored 3. In the unpredictable weather, he played it safe and stuck with the wet tyres that gave him the first win; Weibel, though pessimistic about his chances, gambled on intermediates. On the drying track Hofmann's wets were useless and over an agonising 25 minutes he watched the championship slip from his grasp once again, while a disbelieving Weibel ended the year with an unexpected second title.