It was a nail-biter. The top stars of the premier class battled it out among themselves: Florian Alt in the Wilbers BMW, running Pirelli’s soft rear tire, took on Markus Reiterberger (BCC-alpha-Van Zon BMW), who was on the hard tire. After the decisive move on the final lap, Alt delivered his team—and especially boss Benny Wilbers, just one day after his 70th birthday—the long-awaited first victory of the season.
Alt versus Reiterberger—that clash alone in the premier class made it worth getting up on Sunday. The two BMW riders were a second faster per lap than the rest of the field. Alt turned his pole position into the lead, but halfway through the race, Reiterberger began to apply pressure on the leader from behind. Coming out of Lap 14, Reiterberger suddenly emerged in first place.
Now, with Alt hot on his heels, he refused to let up in order to keep his chances of victory alive. And in the end, he pulled off exactly what Reiterberger had always tried to do at that same spot. He overtook the Bavarian driver coming out of the Shell “S.” Alt let out a cry of relief and pounded his chest. What a relief. The victory, coming after such a disastrous start to the season, felt so good.
“We really needed this win,” were his first words, “but it was actually pretty tough to pull off, because my tires were wearing out toward the end—and Markus’s were too, from what I could see. When he passed me earlier, I realized he couldn’t go any faster than I could. On the last lap, I thought I had to find a way to get past him again. And it worked.”
Reiterberger, who had secured a one-two finish in the opening race, described it as an entertaining race and commented, “We’ll have to come up with a strategy for the second race so we don’t run out of steam at the end.”
Vladimir Leonov (Hertrampf Yamaha Mo Racing Team) added the excitement everyone had been hoping for and, riding the YZF-R1M, prevented a BMW sweep of the podium. The 35-year-old was immediately on course for a podium finish in his first race of the year. Yet his team had been under serious pressure just last night. During yesterday’s qualifying, a faulty thermostat and the resulting failure of the cylinder head gasket had crippled the Yamaha’s engine. In a last-minute rush, parts of the Hertrampf crew traveled from Oschersleben back home to Nordhorn in Lower Saxony to fetch a new engine and replacement parts for the ailing powerplant. Hours passed, but when the sun rose around 4:30 a.m. this morning, the heart of the Yamaha YZF-R1M was repaired. Leonov expressed his gratitude accordingly.
Hats off to Dutch rider Rob Hartog. The rookie, who moved up from the IDM Supersport class, finished fifth in just his third race in the premier class. For his compatriot Ricardo Brink (RR Socia Racing), with his distinctive bright orange helmet, the rough start to the season continued: he crashed on the sixth lap. Julian Puffe (GERT56), Daniel Kartheininger (Hertrampf Yamaha Mo Racing Team), and Björn Stuppi (Kiefer Racing) also failed to finish the race.
IDM Superbike, Race 1:
1. Florian ALT (GER), BMW
2. Markus REITERBERGER (GER), BMW
3. Vladimir LEONOV (UAE), Yamaha
4. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER), BMW
5. Rob HARTOG (NED), Yamaha
6. Jan MOHR (AUT), BMW
7. Pepijn BIJSTERBOSCH (NLD), BMW
8. Kamil KRZEMIEN (POL), BMW
9. Gabriel NODERER (GER), BMW
10. Hikari OKUBO (JPN), Honda