A one-two finish, the top spot in the standings, and a lap record: Ilya Mikhalchik (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) achieved everything possible at Most, Czech Republic. He heads home to Ukraine with 220 championship points in the bag. The 22-year-old now holds a 41-point lead over his teammate Julian Puffe, who is second overall. And he has set a new lap record. Everything will now be measured against his best time of 1:35.430 in the first race.
The second IDM Superbike 1000 race was also a real challenge. In contrast to the rainy qualifying session, the sun beat down mercilessly. The grid was set in reverse order. As a result, Mikhalchik, the winner of Race 1 on the BMW S1000 RR, started in ninth position. Pepijn Bijsterbosch (Team Dutch Comfort Houses), who had finished fourth in the first race, now held pole position. The Dutchman seized the opportunity and crossed the finish line in second place after 16 laps on the 4.212-kilometer track.
Third place went to Marc Moser (MGM Performance Racing), who had started from the third row alongside Mikhalchik. The Yamaha rider from Frankfurt was locked in a fierce battle with Alessandro Polita (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) the entire time. On the final lap, the Italian on the Honda was in the lead, but Moser was already closing in on him with his R1. The final meters decided the race. At the entrance to the start-finish curve, Polita was still in the lead, but at the exit, it was Moser who could accelerate better and won the duel by a razor-thin margin. The margin was 0.013 seconds—practically the blink of an eye.
And what became of Mikhalchik? It took him just five laps to work his way to the front of the pack. He won the race in commanding fashion ahead of Bijsterbosch, Moser, and Polita, finishing 7.855 seconds ahead. The top and only Kawasaki rider was Erwan Nigon (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing), who finished sixth. He was followed in seventh place by Suzuki rider Toni Finsterbusch (Suzuki Mayer). Julian Puffe, Marc Neumann (Neumann Racing), and Tim Stadtmüller (JR Racingteam) crashed. Jan Bühn (EGS Moto Racing) had to retire due to a mechanical failure.