Both want the same thing: to be the best Suzuki rider in the IDM Superbike 1000 . Dominic Schmitter (HPC-Power) and Toni Finsterbusch (Team Mayer Suzuki) are locked in an internal duel. A former Superbike World Championship rider against a former FIM Superstock 1000 Cup rider. A Swiss against a German. Schmitter has 75 championship points to his name at the halfway point of the season and is fifth overall. Finsterbusch has 56 points and is eighth in the standings. The Leipzig native has one more zero to his name. He did not see the checkered flag in Oschersleben and Zolder. And unlike Schmitter, he has yet to finish on the podium. But the final reckoning will come at the end. Three events are still to come: at the Lausitzring, in Assen, and the finale in Hockenheim.
In Schleiz, the gap to Schmitter widened by another point. Finsterbusch took no risks on Germany's oldest natural race track. The triangle in Thuringia is not his thing, even though he won an IDM race there a few years ago. That was back in the 125cc class. "I think the road racing character is okay," explains the Saxon. "But the surface is quite bumpy, which I don't like so much." The setup of the GSX-R 1000 was therefore the main topic of discussion in practice. "I just have to get out of the chicanes properly," was Finsterbusch's plan, which ended with him starting in 9th place, including a small slip on the front wheel. He finished seventh and tenth in the races. In the second race, he was slowed down by technical problems. "I had to set my braking points earlier because of that. Just to be on the safe side. But going down the Seng in Schleiz is not the place for risky experiments. All in all, it was a difficult track for us. Also because of the layout, which isn't really my thing. I wanted to get my bike to the finish line in one piece. That worked out." Things should also go better in terms of results at the Lausitzring at the end of August.