That was a close one. Ten meters before the finish line, it was still completely unclear who would win the first “ Supersport ” race of the day. In the end, it was Max Enderlein, who runs his own team, M32 Racing. He beat Thomas Gradinger by a mere 22 hundredths of a second.
“I realized that Thomas needed someone to race against today,” Enderlein laughed later. Former World Championship rider Gradinger had been leading for a long time and was pushing himself to his limits, while Enderlein, right behind him, clearly had some reserves left. “Thomas was missing those last three-tenths; I was the one who made up the difference.”
Gringer’s team manager, Thomas Eder, had wanted to bet that his driver would win. But the Austrian—whose now-mandatory airbag suddenly deployed and then slowly deflated in the Parc Ferme—said, “It’s not just the station wagon that’s lost its edge. It’s because of our crashes this weekend.”
Third place went to Luca de Vleeschauwer, a rider who moved up from the IDM Supersport 300 class. The transition from small motorcycles with just over 50 PS to the higher-displacement supersport bikes with 135 PS is enormous. The Belgian rider from Team Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing clearly has no trouble with this, as he made it onto the podium in the first “ Supersport ” race of his career and even edged out the more experienced Andreas Kofler (Kawasaki Schnock Team Motorex).
Yves Stadelmann of the Kiefer Racing Team made quite an impression. The Swiss driver was absent from the morning warm-up. He wasn’t feeling well. “He’s probably coming down with a cold,” the team said. But by the time the race started, he had managed to pull himself together. The result: sixth place. Incidentally, following its entry into the IDM Superbike class last year, the Kiefer Racing Team now has riders competing in all three IDM solo classes.
Due to the many crashes during the race, only 15 riders crossed the finish line. Chris Beinlich (Roto-Store BRT) was the unluckiest of them all. Riding in third place with some gap ahead and behind him, he slipped over his front wheel.
IDM Results Supersport, Round 1
1. Max ENDERLEIN (GER), Yamaha
2. Thomas GRADINGER (GER), Yamaha
3. Luca DE VLEESCHAUWER (BEL), Kawasaki
4. Andreas KOFLER (AUT), Kawasaki
5. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER), Yamaha
6. Yves STADELMANN (CHE), Yamaha
7. Milan MERCKELBAGH (NLD), Yamaha
8. Koen MEUFFELS (NLD), Yamaha
9. Micky WINKLER (DEU), Kawasaki
10. Leon LAMBING (AUT), Yamaha