Bochum hat ein Herz aus Stahl. Bochum ist die Stadt „wo das Herz noch zählt“, wie der berühmte Sohn Herbert Grönemeyer seine Heimat inmitten des Ruhrgebiets beschreibt. Wo Stahl und Kohle Geschichte geschrieben haben und „Herbie“ als Kultsänger groß geworden ist, lebt inzwischen auch „Spider“ Martin Vugrinec. Der 21-jährige IDM Supersport 600-Fahrer vom UNIOR Racing Team ist für seine Rennsportkarriere von Kroatien ins Herz des Reviers gezogen.
In Eastern Europe, Vugrinec—known as “Spider” Martin—has achieved just about everything in his class, winning the Alpe Adria Cup as well as the domestic 600cc championship. In 2018, the Yamaha YZF-R6 rider made his debut in the IDM, but remained somewhat reserved.
It was a completely different story in 2019: he secured six podium finishes and finished in the points in every race. Apart from him, only Marc Buchner and Wayne Tessels managed to do the same.
The reward: third place in the overall standings at the end of the year. Vugrinec’s goal: to become world champion someday. But first, he needs to win his first IDM race. That’s the one thing still missing. Although the competition is tougher than it’s been in a long time, Vugrinec is one of the riders with the best shot at winning.
The IDM is a major milestone in Vugrinec’s career, and there’s a good reason why he moved to Germany, as the professional athlete explains: “I’ve been living in Bochum for just over a year. In Croatia, there aren’t enough financial resources and there’s too little interest in motorsports. To achieve my goal of becoming world champion, we had to move somewhere else. Since we have some good friends and teammates who live in North Rhine-Westphalia, we moved here and plan to stay for a while.”
Die Vorbereitung auf die IDM Supersport 600-Saison 2020 wurde wie bei allen anderen Teams auch beim Hoffnungsträger des UNIOR Racing Teams durcheinander gewirbelt. Das im März angesetzte Training in Spanien wurde nach einem Tag gecancelt. Das Team musste die Rennstrecke von Valencia wegen der sich ausbreitenden Corona-Pandemie verlassen.
“We had hoped that everything would be over in a few days,” Vugrinec continues, “so we decided to wait at a friend’s beach house just south of Barcelona until the situation improved. After ten days, however, the situation worsened even further, and we returned to Bochum.” There, Vugrinec was still able to lean into the turns on a pit bike. Most of the time, though, he had to work on his physical conditioning in his own home gym.
Things have been going really well again since May. Vugrinec has been a frequent sight at his home track in Grobnik. “Right after that, I took part in a Croatian Championship event in Rijeka. That wasn’t actually the plan, but since I was already there, I decided to go for it and won both 600cc races.”
Before the first round of the IDM kicks off in Assen from August 14 to 18, 2020, the Croatian rider will also get to know the Sachsenring, where the second IDM event will be held. He is ready for whatever comes next.