A new grid format made its debut in the IDM Superbike 1000. At the season opener at the Lausitzring, the system—adopted from the Superbike World Championship—was put into practice. And it certainly led to some interesting developments. After 16 laps, Julian Puffe (BMW) took the win, ahead of Erwan Nigon (Kawasaki) and Ricardo Brink (Yamaha).
The new starting grid for the second race includes the top nine drivers from the first race. The podium finishers will start from the third row. Ahead of them are the seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-place finishers from the previous race. At the very front are the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-place finishers from Race 1.
At the Lausitz circuit, this meant that Ricardo Brink started from pole position, while Ilya Mikhalchik, Julian Puffe, and Erwan Nigon lined up on the third row.
When the starting light turned “green,” Brink got off to a fantastic start. The Dutchman proved to be a tough competitor at the front of the pack. After the first lap, he had lined up Toni Finsterbusch (Suzuki), Pepin Bijsterbosch (BMW), Nigon, Stefan Kerschbaumer (Yamaha), Puffe, Mikhalchik, and Alessandro Polita (Honda) behind him like a string of pearls.
By the third lap, Mikhalchik was drafting behind Brink, and on the sixth lap, he took the lead. Now there was no stopping the defending champion from Ukraine. He pulled away, and no one doubted he would claim his second victory of the day—until the 22-year-old suddenly slowed down in the ninth lap and even coasted to a stop. The diagnosis: an electronic malfunction. It was a bitter blow: Mikhalchik had built such a huge lead after starting from ninth place—and then this happened.
But Puffe had also worked his way up through the pack. “It was harder than usual. For some reason, I couldn’t get past anyone very well at the start. We still have a bit of work to do with the bike. On the straights, the others pull away from me.” That didn’t stop him from being so thrilled about his first victory in the IDM Superbike 1000 that the corners of his mouth almost stretched from ear to ear. His mother, Nora, was moved to tears by sheer happiness. After the Lausitzring weekend, Puffe knows he can win—even when his teammate Mikhalchik isn’t out of the race. “We saw in practice that it’s doable.” Puffe had led the timesheets for a long time.
Ricardo Brink and Erwan Nigon battled for second place right up to the end. Brink gritted his teeth, but his tire was worn out. “I heard an engine noise behind me, but I didn’t know who it was. I pushed like crazy, but I couldn’t keep Nigon behind me.”
Remarkable: All five motorcycle brands finished in the top five. Toni Finsterbusch, in fourth place, was the first to bring a Suzuki into the mix, and Alessandro Polita, in fifth, rode a Honda Fireblade.