The International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM) kicked off the second half of the season in Assen, Netherlands. The well-attended TT Circuit became the stage for new winners, but above all, it was the venue for one of the closest decisions of the current season so far.
In the IDM Superbike 1000, the top class in Germany's highest motorcycle racing series, there was a change in the overall standings. Ilya Mikhalchik (EGS-alpha-Van Zon-BMW) is the new leader after a double victory. He won both races very clearly. In the first race, Florian Alt (Wilbers-BMW-Racing) and Valentin Debise (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing) followed him onto the podium. In the second race, Luca Grünwald (Kiefer Racing) and Marc Moser (Bonovo Action by MGM Racing) finished behind him.
Seven drivers battled it out for third place. Their positions changed constantly. Just how close it was can be seen from the fact that Florian Alt, who finished sixth this time, lost to his rival Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56) by 0.003 seconds in a photo finish.
The 24-year-old Mikhalchik from Ukraine, who has already won two championship titles in the premier class, is now aiming for his third overall victory. The previous leader, Dominic Schmitter (Hess Racing), crashed during practice and injured himself. The Swiss rider broke his hip bone and will be out for the rest of the season.
Glenn Van Straalen (NIWA Racing) is the winner of both races in the IDM Supersport 600. The second race was decided in a photo finish with a 0.001-second lead in his favor. His Kawasaki brand colleague Valentin Debise (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing) from France had put him under pressure until the very end. The success gave Van Straalen wings. Germany's Max Enderlein (M32 Racing) had to give up third place in the overall standings to him. Patrick Hobelsberger (Bonovo Action by MGM Racing), known to everyone as "Pax," continues to lead respectably ahead of Debise. Pax had a difficult weekend. After finishing second in the first race on Saturday, the Bavarian wanted to win on Sunday. However, the 24-year-old crashed in the morning warm-up and the motorcycle was destroyed except for the drive. The mechanics just managed to fix everything in time for the race. There, Pax even took the lead for a short time. Third place at the finish line after the previous odyssey was no disappointment for Pax this time, but a precious reward.
In the IDM Supersport 300 junior class, the lead for Lennox Lehmann (Freudenberg KTM World SSP Team) has become slimmer. His lead over his closest rival has shrunk from 32 points to 15. However, second place is no longer held by his teammate Dirk Geiger, but by Marvin Siebdrath (Füsport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki). The double victory in the small class went to none other than Tom Booth-Amos (Füsport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki). He is currently second in the Supersport 300 World Championship and had been invited by his team boss. Because he was registered as a guest rider, Booth-Amos rode outside the classification and did not receive any points. This meant that the runner-up, Dirk Geiger, enjoyed the maximum number of points in Saturday's race, with Siebdrath finishing third. On Sunday, Siebdrath was ranked first, while Geiger lost many places after a collision. Lehmann crashed. However, Booth-Amos' presence showed the juniors that they are not far off the top of the World Championship.
The IDM Sidecar class saw the first appearance of world championship stars Tim Reeves (Adolf RS F1), a seven-time world champion, and Bennie Streuer (Adolf RS F1). Reeves was in a class of his own in the first race. On Sunday, he had to admit defeat to his Bonovo Action teammate Streuer. The reason for this was the start. Reeves and his passenger Kevin Rousseau had to push their sidecar off the grid due to a technical problem, fixed the fault, but then had to follow the field from the pit lane. The Brit set about catching up, but decided against a final attack on Streuer. "We didn't have enough grip to overtake Bennie without taking unnecessary risks." Championship leader Josef Sattler (Adolf RS F1) and his co-driver Luca Schmidt had to concede defeat in the Netherlands: an overheated drive in the first race and engine failure in the second caused problems.
There was also plenty of action in the Northern Talent Cup and the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Cup. And in just two weeks, the next IDM round will take place at the Red Bull Ring.