Everything had been anticipated—except this: Markus Reiterberger has clinched the IDM Superbike championship for the fourth time in his career ahead of schedule. Florian Alt’s unbelievable retirement threw all other calculations out the window. The fact that the new title race would be decided so quickly came as an unexpected surprise.
This race at the TT Circuit Assen will be remembered. After the start from the reverse grid, things proceeded very calmly. However, when Rob Hartog (Team SWPN, Yamaha), Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW), and Leandro Mercado (HRP-Honda) refused to back down and tried to enter a turn side-by-side, the situation became tense. All three rode straight into the run-off area and rejoined the race on the next section of the track. Race officials scrutinized the incident, but no further action was taken. The whole thing happened right before the eyes of Markus Reiterberger (BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW), who didn’t know where to go at that moment. The 29-year-old Bavarian was perplexed and later recounted the incident with refreshing candor: “I thought: Shit, what do I do now?” He did the only right thing: he kept going and won the race.
In the final third of the race, he also prevailed over Loris Baz, who had led for much of the race. The two BMW riders battled it out among themselves for the win. Florian Alt (Wilbers-BMW), who had been well on his way in the first four laps to repeating his stellar performance from the first race, had to park his M 1000 RR in the gravel on the fifth lap: yet another technical failure for the rider and team—their third so far. Alt bowed his head and let it rest on the tank. No one would have wanted to be in his shoes right now. Although he had written off the championship win due to his dramatic start to the season with two retirements, he could at least have prevented Reiterberger from clinching the title early in Assen. The stated goal was also to defeat the now four-time champion at least once in the remaining races. And that’s exactly where things stand.
Pepijn Bijsterbosch (BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW) battled it out with Mercado for third place lap after lap. Rob Hartog, who started from pole position thanks to the reverse grid, didn’t stay in the lead for long and finished fifth. And finally, Bastien Mackels (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing) crossed the finish line as well. The Belgian simply isn’t in top form right now. Leon Haslam had filled in for him at Most due to his foot injury and secured a podium finish on the Kawasaki. Mackels wants to match that performance, but he’s not quite ready to do so yet. That’s weighing on him even more.
IDM Superbike, Round 2:
1. Markus REITERBERGER (GER), BMW
2. Loris BAZ (FRA), BMW
3. Leandro MERCADO (ARG), Honda
4. Pepijn BIJSTERBOSCH (NED), BMW
5. Rob HARTOG (NLD), Yamaha
6. Bastien MACKELS (BEL), Kawasaki
7. Kamil KRZEMIEN (POL), BMW
8. Daniel RUBIN (DEU), Yamaha
9. Paul FRÖDE (DEU), Honda
10. Sandro WAGNER (DEU), BMW