Just 0.104 seconds separated Luca de Vleeschauwer (MotoLife, Triumph) and his closest rival, Andreas Kofler (Yamalube Motorsport Kofler), at the finish line. In the IDM Supersport , events Supersport at the Motorsport Arena in Oschersleben during the second race of the day.
Andy Kofler, who leads the championship, shot into the lead right after the start as if flicked by a rubber band, while Lennox Lehmann (Yamalube Motorsport Kofler) nearly came to a standstill. A trio formed at the front consisting of Kofler, runner-up Twan Smits (Team Apreco, Yamaha), and de Vleeschauwer, the winner of the first race. A gap opened up between the leading trio and the chasing group, which included Dirk Geiger (MCA Racing, Honda), Stepan Zuda (AF Racing, Ducati), Kyle Smith (Weber Kawasaki), Daniel Blin (AF Racing Team, Ducati), as well as Lennox Lehmann (Yamalube Kofler) and Marvin Siebdrath (Yamaha by M32), both of whom had botched their starts.
In the seventh lap, Smits crashed out of the race. Things couldn’t have gone any worse for the Dutchman. The season opener at the Sachsenring had already been a mixed bag, and now he’s added two zeros to his tally. The runner-up, who is aiming for the title this year, isn’t in the best position to achieve his goal. In the overall standings, he is in tenth place after the Oschersleben weekend.
After the Dutch rider was eliminated, Kofler was leading ahead of the Belgian de Vleeschauwer. Meanwhile, Lehmann and Siebdrath had already overtaken Dirk Geiger, whose teammate Julius Caesar Rörig had left the track and parked his motorcycle. The Honda was smoking like crazy, and it looked like an engine failure.
De Vleeschauwer launched the first attack on Kofler in the tenth lap, which the Austrian was later able to counter. Lehmann and Siebdrath applied pressure from the chasing group, which had shrunk to three riders. Blin was no longer in the group. Siebdrath nearly ran right into Smith’s exhaust. Lehmann was half a second faster in the final sprint, which earned him third place on the podium.
De Vleeschauwer fought his way to a hard-fought but well-deserved second victory of the day and was slightly taken aback by what was happening around him. The 21-year-old Triumph rider hadn’t expected to win twice. Anyone who knows Andreas Kofler knows how hard it was for him to finish second after all the work he put in leading the race, “but today we had the first double podium for the Yamalube Motorsport Kofler team.” Teammate Lehmann really enjoyed himself: “I was a bit off the pace in the first race, but now everything went perfectly. My start was completely off again. But I also had a bit of luck—Twan crashed too. But you have to take what you can get.” The Dresden native is a rookie in the Supersport, and already at his second event, he’s stood on the podium twice and is currently third in the overall standings. It’s a tight race at the top: Kofler has only a two-point lead over de Vleeschauwer.
IDM SSP, Race 2:
1. Luca DE VLEESCHAUWER (BE/Triumph)
2. Andreas KOFLER (A/Yamaha)
3. Lennox LEHMANN (D/Yamaha)
4. Kyle SMITH (GB/Kawasaki)
5. Marvin SIEBDRATH (D/Yamaha)
6. Daniel BLIN (PL/Ducati)
7. Dirk GEIGER (D/Honda)
8. Luca GÖTTLICHER (D/Triumph)
9. Filip FEIGL (CZ/Triumph)
10. Kas BEEKMANS (NL/Yamaha)
11. Till BELCZYKOWSKI (D/MV Augusta)
12. Jorke ERWIG (D/Kawasaki)
13. Kevin WAHR (D/Triumph)
14. Thomas EDER (D/Yamaha)
15. Jef VAN CALSTER (BE/Ducati)