Team manager Thomas Eder just received the good news in his email inbox: His rider, Thomas Gradinger, has been approved to compete in the Supersport in Most, Czech Republic, from July 28 to 30, 2023. The email came from the organizer’s office. The clock is ticking, and Gradinger’s schedule is packed until then.
Team manager Eder has done everything necessary to ensure we can compete in Most, from registration to transferring the funds. Only then will we receive final confirmation that the rider is participating. Gradinger is thrilled: “Yes, I’ve really been hoping for this. You can’t necessarily count on it, since only two wildcard riders are allowed per race.”
The 26-year-old Austrian, who is currently fifth overall in the IDM Supersport series, won’t be able to train in Most Supersport . “There’s no time for that. The weekend before the World Championship race, I’ll be at the Schleizer Dreieck with the IDM, and I have to work in between, too.” But his last stint on the Czech track wasn’t that long ago. The IDM raced at the Autodrom Most just two and a half weeks ago, and Gradinger has already clocked quite a few kilometers on the track, so to speak.
The Upper Austrian will also race his IDM Yamaha in the Supersport. The only thing he needs to borrow is a special transponder. Race control uses this to display messages and flag signals on the dashboard. What ambitions are driving Gradinger to return to the Supersport, even if only sporadically? “I’m happy for the whole team that it worked out. We’ll go there and have fun. We’ll set a specific goal after practice, once we see where we stand. That’s realistic.” Gradinger hasn’t been thinking about a full season like the ones in 2018 and 2019 for quite some time now.
