From 10th on the grid to victory: Ilya Mikhalchik remains in the running for the IDM Superbike 1000 title. One day after retiring due to a technical issue with his BMW S 1000 RR, the defending champion bounced back with a win in the second race of the weekend.
His teammate Julian Puffe (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) had to settle for second place.
Erwan Nigon (Kawasaki Weber Motos Racing) crossed the finish line in third place.
Over 124,000 spectators enjoyed a thrilling display of Germany's top-tier motorcycle road racing over the weekend.
BMW team boss Werner Daemen, himself a former Superbike rider, wiped his brow in relief after crossing the finish line, thereby shaking off all the concerns he’d had beforehand. His two riders, Ilya Mikhalchik and Julian Puffe, had finished the race unscathed at the Nürburgring as part of the ADAC Truck Grand Prix following a nerve-wracking battle. Both motorcycles reliably completed the race distance on the shortened section of the Grand Prix circuit.
At the Nürburgring, too, the new grid format for the second race of the IDM SBK 1000 made for an exciting and eventful race. Alex Polita (HRP Honda), who finished fourth in the first race, started from pole position and capitalized on his advantage. The Italian shot off the line like an arrow. Puffe, starting from ninth on the grid, nevertheless took the lead from him on the very first lap. By the fourth lap, the IDM points leader was once again being hotly pursued by Mikhalchik, who had started in tenth place. The duel turned into a dramatic back-and-forth battle, culminating in Mikhalchik briefly slowing down when the rear brake on his BMW locked up. But the Ukrainian didn’t let the victory slip away. Mikhalchik secured the full points with a 1.805-second lead over Puffe. He has thus narrowed the gap that opened up yesterday from 24 to 19 points. The 22-year-old celebrated, stopping in front of the packed Mercedes grandstand during his victory lap to be cheered on by the fans. Mikhalchik danced the Hopak, a Ukrainian folk dance.
Erwan Nigon prevailed in a three-way battle against Polita and Pepijn Bijsterbosch (BMW) to finish third. The Frenchman thus retains third place in the overall standings.
Things came to a head right at the start of the race. Toni Finsterbusch (Mayer Suzuki) crashed at the entrance to the Mercedes Arena at the end of the start-finish straight. Marc Moser (MGM Yamaha) was just able to avoid him by taking a wide line. That dropped him back to third-to-last place. Moser worked his way up through the field from the back and finished in a respectable fifth place.
Daniel Kartheininger (HPC-Power Suzuki) was less fortunate and went down. Ricardo Brink (SWPN, Yamaha) missed the entrance to a corner on the fourth lap and then steered his YZF-RM1 toward the pits. According to initial reports, Leon Langstädtler (MPB Racing, Yamaha) was unable to finish the race due to fuel supply issues. Kevin Sieder (HPC-Power Suzuki) and Tim Eby (EGS Moto Racing) both crashed shortly before the end of the race.