Yamaha MGM team boss Michael Galinski is absolutely thrilled after the second Superbike free practice session at Speedweek in Oschersleben. Lorenzo Lanzi, the temporary rider who has visibly slimmed down, clocked an impressive best time of 1:26.396 on the Yamaha R1-M. Wilbers BMW racer Bastien Mackels had been the fastest in the first free practice session on Thursday.
Neither of them, however, finished at the top of the timesheets this morning. Ilya Mikhalchik (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW), who hails from Ukraine, was the only rider to clock a 1:25 lap time. Lanzi, Mackels, Jan Halbich (Honda), Julian Puffe (BMW), Bobby Bos (Yamaha), and Toni Finsterbusch (Suzuki) were clocked with 1:26-minute times. Mathieu Gines, who made his debut this year on the Weber Motos Racing Kawasaki, finished eighth.
Free practice was interrupted for a few minutes due to a crash by Mackels. His motorcycle had to be recovered. The BMW S1000 RR is a write-off. Mackels himself was unharmed. The Belgian was able to continue riding on his second bike.
Bobby Bos was the big surprise this Friday. He’s the young rider at Yamaha MGM and is only 19 years old. But he’s already been going head-to-head with his teammate Lanzi. It was a wheel-to-wheel battle. In Bos’s own words: “Lanzi is lightning fast in the corners; I can’t keep up with him there. He also takes off on the straights—he’s 20 kilos lighter.” For the record: Bobby Bos doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him, but the Dutchman stands a towering 196 centimeters tall. Ultimately, though, that’s not a problem: “I have my own strong spots on the track, too. It should actually work out when the going gets tough…”
Things will get serious this afternoon when qualifying takes place. That’s when the battle for grid positions begins. The first qualifying session starts at 12:40 p.m., and the second at 2:30 p.m.