No one had expected such an outcome: Bastien Mackels (Wilbers-BMW) won the second IDM Superbike race at Zolder ahead of Stefan Kerschbaumer (MPB Racing, Yamaha) and his teammate Daniel Kartheininger. Overcome with joy, it felt like an eternity before Mackels finally opened the bottle of champagne on the podium. Thanks to this outcome, the championship is now wide open again.
Kerschbaumer, who cruised to second place without much resistance, didn’t take it easy, though, because he was never sure if anyone was behind him—or who it might be. And Kartheininger stood on the IDM podium for the first time since 2013.
Championship leader Ilya Mikhalchik (alpha racing-Van Zon-BMW), who had won the first race, was hit on the rear of his S 1000 RR by Jan Halbich (Honda Holzhauer Racing Promotion) right in the first corner and sent into the gravel. Halbich continued straight on, which resulted in Julian Puffe (alpha racing-Van Zon-BMW) also being forced off the track. While Mikhalchik returned from the first lap in seventh place, Puffe fell back to the end of the field.
Meanwhile, Mackels went on the offensive. After four laps, the local hero had already pulled 2.5 seconds ahead of the field. During that time, Mikhalchik had moved up two spots and now had the trio of Pepijn Bijsterbosch ( BMW), Daniel Kartheininger, and Toni Finsterbusch (Suzuki Mayer) ahead of him. But he wasn’t close enough to benefit from the slipstream yet. By the tenth lap, Mikhalchik had moved up to fourth place when he made a driving error: he dropped back to sixth place.
Meanwhile, Bijsterbosch, Finsterbusch, and Kartheininger were locked in a battle that was getting more and more intense. It didn’t end well. Finsterbusch and Bijsterbosch crashed at the end of the start-finish straight. Mikhalchik thus moved up two spots, and Julian Puffe, who had launched an incredible comeback, even crossed the finish line in fifth place, just 0.007 seconds behind Mikhalchik.
Jan Halbich didn't make it to the finish line, and neither did Lucy Glöckner. The Kawasaki rider hit the track barrier on the third lap and crashed.