Markus Reiterberger has already won three titles in the IDM Superbike series, and he’s working
very effectively toward his fourth. With his victory in the first race at Most, he racked up another 25 championship points
and left even the top riders from the World Championship in his wake. Florian Alt
finished second, and Leandro Mercado came in third.
There was no sign left of Reiterberger’s (BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW) flu-like cold on today’s
race Sunday. He had taken antibiotics on Friday, but
stopped taking them in time for the races. The 28-year-old was apparently already
recovered by Saturday, as his top qualifying time would have easily been enough for a top-ten starting position in
the Superbike World Championship.
At the start of the first race, it looked once again like the Bavarian was going to break away,
but the infamous first corner proved to be his undoing on the second lap. He
missed the corner, but immediately fought his way back onto the track and rejoined the pack. However,
he now found himself looking at the rear of the HRP-Honda ridden by Leandro Mercado. The Fireblade
was in the lead! It had felt like an eternity since that had happened. For a few seconds,
team boss Jens Holzhauer was able to enjoy the sight, then Reiterberger was back in the lead and
remained there until the end.
Mercado then found himself locked in a battle with Alt (Wilbers-BMW-Racing). The German pulled out all the stops
and boldly passed the Argentine on the inside, who was
completely caught off guard by the move. Alt then allowed the gap to the rear to widen so that Mercado could no longer
get close enough to pass him almost effortlessly on the straight.
For Mercado’s team, however, third place was also extremely significant. “Alex Polita
secured a third-place finish for us right here three years ago, but that was a gift,”
Holzhauer recalls, adding: “The last podium finish we truly earned was eight years ago.”
Jan Mohr (BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW), Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing), Vladimir Leonov
(Hertrampf MO Yamaha Racing Team), and Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56) battled it out for the remaining spots
among themselves. Former World Championship runner-up Haslam came out on top in the end. The World Championship rider really
put the pedal to the metal. He had ridden the Weber-Kawasaki
for the very first time on Friday.
Daniel Kartheininger (Hertrampf MO Yamaha Racing Team) and Gabriel Noderer (Kiefer
Racing) had some bad luck. They both crashed into the gravel trap on the very first lap.
IDM Superbike, Race 1 Results:
1. Markus REITERBERGER (GER), BMW
2. Florian ALT (GER), BMW
3. Leandro Denis MERCADO (ARG), Honda
4. Leon HASLAM (GBR), Kawasaki
5. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER), BMW
6. Jan MOHR (AUT), BMW
7. Vladimir LEONOV (UAE), Yamaha
8. Julian PUFFE (GER), BMW
9. Ricardo BRINK (NED), BMW
10. Pepijn BIJSTERBOSCH (NED), BMW