Hannes Soomer traveled to Most, Czech Republic, as the leader in the IDM Superbike standings. But things are getting turbulent at the top. Can the 27-year-old Estonian hold onto the top spot for much longer? In any case, Florian Alt set the fastest time in Superpole pre-practice this Friday.
After the scorching heat of the Superpole pre-practice session, the Superbikers’ leather suits had to be hung out to dry in the breeze, which was more of a gentle zephyr. “Florian Alt and Lukas Tulovic are faster than me. It’s good that we have riders like that. Tulo has raised the bar in the class even higher, and I like the challenge,” said Soomer, glancing at the timesheet.
Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) had set the fastest lap time of 1:32.255 minutes on the Honda CBR 1000 RR-R Fireblade—shortly after pulling out of the pits. The time was set in stone. Tulovic (Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt) had dug in for second place behind him and narrowed the gap to Alt to exactly 0.338 seconds from 0.352 seconds on the very last lap. Soomer (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW) was 0.411 seconds behind. He loves the 4.212-kilometer lap at the Autodrom, which is peppered with twelve right-hand and nine left-hand turns.
Masteroil team boss Werner Daemen had recently seized the opportunity to test extensively on the track with his riders as part of the World Superbike series. It is therefore no surprise that, alongside Soomer, the Argentine Leandro Mercado is also mixing it up at the front for his team, though he is still trailing his BMW teammates Jan-Ole Jähnig and Toni Finsterbusch (GERT56 by RS Speedbikes). So it remains the same: even in Most, the front of the pack is dominated by BMWs, with few Ducatis and just one Honda.
The HRP team, including Florian Alt, had also paid a brief visit beforehand, though as an outsider at a rider training session where the 45 participants had not removed the mirrors and turn signals from their motorcycles. “Customers told me that there wouldn’t be any more bumps. Since the BMW factory team tested in Schleiz and Most, and GERT56 was at the Schleizer Dreieck before the IDM races, we’ve now decided to check out Most as well,” says motorcycle dealer and team boss Jens Holzhauer. By the way, the bumps were still there.
As the fastest Yamaha rider, Maximilian Kofler (Yamalube Kofler Motorsport) secured a direct spot in SP2. Jan Mohr, riding the Yamaha YZF-R1 for Team SWPN, was unable to start. The reason: a crash in the second free practice session. “The throttle got stuck,” reported the Austrian. His left thigh is injured and bandaged. “Right now, I can’t do anything at all after the bike fell on my leg and then rolled over what felt like 500 times.” Mohr must report to the Medical Center tomorrow if he feels the need to participate in Saturday’s sessions after all.
Today, during a half-hour “Superpole Pre-Practice” session, the twelve fastest riders qualified for Superpole 2, where the top grid positions are decided. This means they will not be competing tomorrow when all the other riders battle it out for their starting positions in Superpole 1. The top three from Superpole 1 advance to Superpole 2, thereby maintaining their chances for one of the front positions. Superpole 2 determines starting positions 1 through 15. The remaining starting positions are determined in order based on the Superpole 1 results. These starting positions are secured for both races.
Superpole Pre-Practice Results:
1. Florian Alt (GER), Honda
2. Lukas Tulovic (GER), Ducati
3. Hannes Soomer (EST), BMW
4. Jan-Ole Jähnig (GER), BMW
5. Toni Finsterbusch (GER), BMW
6. Leandro Mercado (ARG), BMW
7. Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA), Ducati
8. Leon Orgis (GER), BMW
9. Kevin Orgis (GER), BMW
10. Bálint Kovács (HUN), BMW
11. Maximilian Kofler (HUN), Yamaha
12. Soma Görbe (HUN), BMW
13. Milan Merckelbagh (NED), BMW
14.Max Schmidt (GER), BMW
15.Martin Vugrinec (CRO), Kawasaki
16.Twan Smits (NED), Yamaha
17.Marco Fetz (GER), BMW
18.Philipp Steinmayr (AUT), Kawasaki
19.Sandro Wagner (GER), BMW
