Some fans assume that a 2010 Superbike World Championship runner-up can simply hop on a different bike twelve years after
his big triumph and win a race right off the bat.
But it’s not quite that simple, at least not when it comes to competing in the IDM Superbike
series. Because the bar is set incredibly high for the top riders there. Leon
Haslam (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing) experienced this firsthand in the second race at Most. The 39-year-old Brit,
who is currently battling for the title in the British Superbike Championship (BSB), knew, however,
what kind of adventure he was getting himself into as a guest rider and stand-in for the injured Bastien Mackels
. After two races and a third-place finish in the second race on the Weber-Kawasaki,
he can definitely see himself coming back again.
Leon Haslam’s performance was a sensation. The mere presence of the star rider
added a special spark to the premier class races. In the second race, he started from pole position on his ZX-10RR—having finished fourth
in the first race—thanks to the reverse grid.
After the start, he took the lead for several laps, then Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56) came charging up.
Team boss Karsten Wolf nearly had a heart attack in the pits and was overjoyed. And
next, Finsterbusch defended his position against Markus Reiterberger (BCC-alpha-
Van Zon-BMW), who had slowly worked his way up from ninth on the grid. In the end
, the Leipzig native had to admit defeat, and Reiti claimed his fifth victory of the year in the sixth race of the
season, but Finsterbusch had shown what he was capable of.
Reiterberger was extremely pleased and said, “Actually, the plan was for me to be right at the front again by the second turn, just like in Oschersleben at
, but I opened the clutch a little too
quickly at the start and did a huge wheelie. So it took a bit longer.” Victory
didn’t come easily this time; given the competition, it took a lot of hard work. But that
was accomplished brilliantly, and Reiti proved, as he has so often before, that he’s in a class of his own.
Leandro Mercado (Holzhauer Racing Promotion), who had secured the long-awaited podium finish for
Honda in the first race, crashed this time. The same fate befell Ricardo Brink (RR Socia Racing
Team), who had achieved his first top-ten finish of the year in the first race.
And where was Florian Alt? The 26-year-old from the Wilbers BMW Racing Team wasn’t performing at his usual
level and was clearly struggling to keep up with the leaders. The cause of the wild
chattering in the left-hand turns later turned out to be a front tire
that hadn’t been fully seated on the rim—something not visible to the naked eye under normal conditions but which becomes very noticeable during racing
due to uneven wear. Under these circumstances, the fourth-place finish
by the Nümbrecht native was all the more impressive.
Vladimir Leonov’s (Hertrampf MO Yamaha Racing Team) race ended prematurely due to the technical
flag with an orange dot on a black background. The Yamaha with start number “65”
was smoking and was pulled from the race. Due to a prior mix-up of numbers
, Björn Stuppi (Kiefer Racing) with the “85” was also mistakenly affected.
Other highlights: Marc-Reiner Schmidt, the reigning Supermoto World Champion, made
his second guest appearance in the IDM Superbike series and finished in 10th place.
IDM Superbike, Round 2 Results
1. Markus REITERBERGER (GER), BMW
2. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER), BMW
3. Leon HASLAM (GBR), Kawasaki
4. Florian ALT (GER), BMW
5. Jan MOHR (AUT), BMW
6. Julian PUFFE (GER), BMW
7. Rob HARTOG (NLD), Yamaha
8. Philipp STEINMAYR (AUT), Yamaha
9. Daniel KARTHEININGER (GER), Yamaha
10. Marc-Reiner SCHMIDT (GER), BMW