Sixteen laps of high-octane action were on the schedule, but in the end there weren’t quite that many. The race was red-flagged due to engine failure in Marc Moser’s Yamaha and had to be restarted after the track was cleared. Ilya Mikhalchik won the nine-lap restart ahead of his alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW teammate Julian Puffe and IDM returnee Erwan Nigon (Kawasaki).
Mikhalchik had reason to celebrate again. The 22-year-old even promised to have a beer if they secured a one-two finish. He’s off to a great start. After claiming pole position by a margin of 0.011 seconds, the defending champion took home the full points in the first race. Most importantly, he held off Julian Puffe, who currently appears to be his biggest rival. As the only BMW riders in the field, the teammates are already racing on the brand-new S 1000 RR. In the warm-up, however, things did not go according to plan at all for Puffe. The gear sensor wasn’t working, and he wasn’t able to attempt a start.
Mikhalchik rode his own race at the front of the pack. The battle between Puffe, Nigon, Ricardo Brink (Yamaha), Toni Finsterbusch (Suzuki), and Alessandro Polita (Honda) was more or less neck-and-neck. The fact that Nigon, riding the only green Kawasaki in the field, made it onto the podium was a major breakthrough for the brand. Nigon, who was IDM Superbike champion seven years ago and subsequently competed in the World Endurance Championship, has lost none of his speed over short distances. Kawasaki could really use that after a long dry spell.
Maximilian Weihe (Yamaha), who was competing in his first IDM Superbike 1000 race after moving up from the Suzuki GSX-R Cup and had surprisingly qualified fifth fastest, retired after seven laps. Daniel Kartheininger (Suzuki) was out of the race after just two laps.