Markus Reiterberger – fit into the new season
After a dominant season, Markus Reiterberger collected the STK1000 European championship title in 2018. This was the biggest success so far in the racing career of the 24-year-old from Obing, Bavaria, in Germany. It secured him a place in the Superbike world championship for 2019 and he will compete in it alongside his new team-mate, the former Superbike world champion Tom Sykes and with the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team of Shaun Muir.
So what do you do, if you know that you have to move a 168-kg-bike, on top speeds of more than 300 km/h, through the racetracks of this world with a top-fit and famous team-mate at your side and with the knowledge that he is not the only top-rider you have to compete against… you prepare well!
Markus Reiterberger did not have a winter break or was bone idle in 2018… After the season is before the season and the first tests for the new gig started right after the last race of 2018, in which he secured the SKT1000 European championship title. To fit in the new situation you have to be well prepared and so it was: to practice and practice and practice!
Markus started his preparations with a metabolic cure, that he got recommended by the former Supermoto world champion Bernd Hiemer. The Youngster from Obing was looked after during the cure by Hiemer’s wife Natascha and started it with the so-called “slim-phase” to lose decent body fat. He added a regular training under the guidance of Gerhard Donat, who is the owner of the gym, called “Fitnesslaube”, in his native place in Obing and who also is a longstanding friend and companion of the whole family Reiterberger.
The practice takes place almost every day. “I go along with my coach. I practice almost every day. We alternate between power- and endurance-workouts. I feel fitter and better prepared than ever before. Additional to the practice sessions I get a superb support by my physiotherapist and osteopath Matthias Neugebauer, from Seeon and of course by my doctors. I think I really got a good package to be optimally prepared for the new season. I am looking forward to a good season now. I will have to compete against many really good riders. Physically I feel well prepared with my really good overall-package and I feel like I am on the same wavelengths as them”, Markus says confidently.
“I know Markus since he was a little boy. I already trained with him in his beginnings. We rode mopeds, I on a 125cc machine and Markus on his mini-bike. But this is the first time he seriously gets prepared for a season. He really takes the practice for trust this time and he is unbelievably ambitious. The training contains of one day of power training and one day for his endurance – always changing. Alongside the classic practice sessions, Markus also visits some of the courses such as back muscle training. If he has the time, then he trains really extensive and takes it very professional. You can notice that he is more mature now and that he really takes the upcoming season very serious. Markus is up to the mark as never before. His targets are realistic and he is highly motivated to give what he got in 2019”, Gerhard Donat, the coach of Markus says.
The tests of the pre-season of the WorldSBK championship in 2019 will continue on 23rdof January in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain and continues straight after in Portimao, Portugal, to be concluded mid February, just before the WorldSBK-season of 2019 will kick off in Philip Island, Australia.