It was shaping up to be a solo run by Ilya Mikhalchik (BCC ALPHA VAN ZON BMW RACING) in the IDM Superbike class, but then everything changed. Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) won his first race at Schleiz. Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56) finished second, ahead of Hannes Soomer (Enemat Enos Motorsport).
Mikhalchik has won five out of six races at the Schleizer Dreieck, and after his stellar performance in qualifying, it looked like he was on track to do it again. But his plans fell apart as early as the first lap. The pole-sitter lost a lot of positions at the start and was literally pushed all the way to the back of the pack. Instead, Hannes Sommer surged to the lead on his Honda. He was followed closely by Florian Alt, Leandro Mercado (Kawasaki Weber Motos), Bastien Mackels (Team SWPN), and Toni Finsterbusch.
For Mikhalchik, however, the race wasn’t over yet. On the sixth lap, he passed Finsterbusch and tried to pull off the same move on Mackels shortly afterward, but this time it went wrong. Mikhalchik skidded across the field on his BMW but managed to steady the bike, rejoined the race in twelfth place, and was able to start his comeback from the front. Finsterbusch benefited from all the jostling between Mikhalchik and Mackels, shooting up to fourth place.
At the halfway point after nine laps, Mikhalchik is in ninth place but trails the leader by ten seconds. The Ukrainian is in a tight spot. At the front, the action is even more intense. First, Finsterbusch passes the only Kawasaki rider, Mercado, and moves into third place. At the very front, Alt overtakes his teammate Hannes Soomer. The battle between the two culminates in shoulder-to-shoulder duels. Soomer makes mistakes. The Estonian finishes third and knows why.
After 18 laps, Florian Alt was crowned the winner of Schleiz for the first time. It’s a breakthrough for the 27-year-old. “The team made an incredible number of changes to the motorcycle to get everything right, but the final laps were also physically very demanding.” By the way: Schleiz is Florian Alt’s second home. His girlfriend Kim is from this racing town, which celebrates its heroes with wild enthusiasm. After the races, the riders are high-fived during the cool-down lap. It’s a joyous celebration taking place here in front of packed grandstands and spectator areas. And in front of this crowd, Alt has further extended his lead in the overall standings.
Toni Finsterbusch finished second. “Last year I was down in the Seng,” he recalls, “and the first laps on Friday were also very emotional for me.” The Leipzig native kept shaking his head, unable to believe what had just happened.
Here’s what else caught our attention: There was only one crash—Bastien Mackels, who is now a regular on the starting grid, went down on the 14th lap. Ilya Mikhalchik fought his way up to fifth place, and Patrick Hobelsberger managed to move up from 18th at the start to 10th place. Daniel Kartheininger was the top Yamaha rider, and Leandro Mercado picked up right where he left off at Most, finishing in fourth place.
IDM Superbike, Rennen 1
1. Florian ALT (GER), Honda
2. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER), BMW
3. Hannes SOOMER (EST), Honda
4. Leandro MERCADO (ARG), Kawasaki
5. Ilya MIKHALCHIK (UKR), BMW
6. Daniel KARTHEININGER (GER), Yamaha
7. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER), BMW
8. Philipp STEINMAYR (AUT), BMW
9. Kamil KRZEMIEN (POL), BMW
10. Patrick HOBELSBERGER (GER), BMW