After suffering a mechanical failure in the first IDM Supersport at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Dirk Geiger (MCA Racing) defeated defending champion Andreas Kofler (Yamalube Motorsport Kofler) in a nail-biting 15-lap battle during the weekend’s second race.
Andy Kofler was hoping to pull away with one of his spectacular lightning-fast starts. In that regard, there’s simply no stopping the 20-year-old Yamaha rider. Dirk Geiger had to stay right on his tail with his Honda during that phase. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had a chance to challenge his opponent. He was fully aware of this, even if it meant pushing himself to the limit right from the start of the race. Ducati rider Daniel Blin (AF Racing) had to let the group pull away in third place, but with him, another top contender for the win was right up front. And at the same time, the Yamaha, Honda, and Ducati brands were all represented. The variety of manufacturers was impressive.
It took four laps for Luca de Vleeschauwer (Track and Trades Wixx Racing) to squeeze past Blin. Two laps later, Geiger overtook Kofler, who had been leading until then, but got a taste of his own medicine. Melvin van der Voort (Track and Trades Wixx Racing) passed Julius Caesar Rörig (MCA Racing) on the ninth lap. However, the long-haired Dutchman’s comeback ended prematurely with an abrupt halt: a crash on the eleventh lap.
A close-fought battle
When Geiger launched his next attack on Kofler in the twelfth lap, Kofler struck back once again. And it got even closer. For Geiger, the race wasn’t over yet. Two lead changes within two turns, a few brushes, but a fair outcome. At the finish line, Geiger had a lead of 95 thousandths of a second on the clock. That was close. And the winner beamed: “That was an amazing weekend. A mechanical issue like yesterday’s can happen. Today I executed my plan flawlessly. Those last few laps were incredible.” Kofler could only agree, even though he would have preferred to win. He said: “I had hoped for a different outcome. But as long as Dirk and I are battling it out up front like this, I’m fine with it.”
Luca de Vleeschauwer had also been hoping to win after finishing second in yesterday’s first Supersport, “but I was completely focused on keeping up the pace and made sure I at least secured third place on the podium.”
Kofler leaves Oschersleben in first place overall with 45 championship points. De Vleeschauwer has 36 and Geiger 34 points. MCA team boss Stefan Schmidt will likely frame this result. His son, Julius Caesar Rörig, finished fourth, surpassing his previous career-best result from the first race, when he placed sixth. Rörig was bursting with pride and rode over to winner Geiger during the cool-down lap to inform him of the team’s overall result.
Luca Göttlicher (Kawasaki Weber Racing) achieved the first top-ten finish for Kawasaki, and Iñigo Iglesias (Triumph Germany Racing Team) also made progress.
IDM Supersport, Race 2:
1. Dirk GEIGER (GER), Honda
2. Andreas KOFLER (AUT), Yamaha
3. Luca DE VLEESCHAUWER (BEL), Ducati
4. Julius Caesar RÖRIG (GER), Honda
5. Štepán ZUDA (CZE), Yamaha
6. Filip FEIGL (CZE), Triumph
7. Marvin SIEBDRATH (GER), Yamaha
8. Luca GÖTTLICHER (GER), Kawasaki
9. Iñigo IGLESIAS BRAVO (ESP), Triumph
10.Lennox LEHMANN (GER), Yamaha
11. Dylan CZARKOWSKI (NLD), Yamaha
12. Marcel BRENNER (CHE), Ducati
13. Till Benedikt BELCZYKOWSKI (GER), MV Agusta
14. Ruben BIJMAN (NLD), Honda
15. Thomas EDER (GER), Ducati
