This weekend, the third round of the IDM, the International German Motorcycle Championship, took place on the picturesque race track in Most, Czech Republic. With a lead of 49 points, Markus Reiterberger traveled to one of his favorite racetracks in a good mood.
Already in qualifying, the Bavarian proved with his BCC-alpha-Van Zon-BMW that he is one of the big favorites again this weekend. He confidently put his BMW M 1000 RR on pole position, followed by his competitor Florian Alt and guest starter Leonardo Denis Mercado. Another prominent starter in the IDM SBK this weekend was Leon Haslam, Superbike World Championship pilot, who started the race from sixth place. One place behind started Toni Finsterbusch, Reiti's direct pursuer in the championship.
The first IDM Superbike race started on Sunday morning in high summer temperatures. Although Markus Reiterberger got off to a good start and led the first lap, he made a small mistake on lap two and Argentinian Mercado was able to take the lead. A lap later, Reiti regained the lead. In the following laps, Reiti pulled away from his chasing group. The first win of the day belonged to the 28-year-old. Second was Florian Alt and third was guest starter Leonardo Mercado.
In the second race, Reiterberger started from ninth place through the "reverse grid". After the start, Haslam initially led the Superbike field. On lap seven, Reiti was again in the lead ahead of Toni Finsterbusch. With victory number two and a maximum of 50 championship points he ended this hot racing day. Toni Finsterbusch finished second ahead of guest starter Leon Haslam.
The BMW rider now leads the IDM Superbike Championship with 145 points. From July 22nd to 24th, the IDM goes into the fourth round of the season on the traditional Schleizer Dreieck course.
Markus Reiterberger:
“It was a very successful weekend. We tried a lot during training. The first practice session was still raining, but then it dried up and we were able to test for both weather conditions and found a good overall set-up.
I was very happy with the bike in both races and I want to thank my team for that. They have done a top job. It couldn't have gone better this weekend. In the warm up we prepared a little something today. From race one to race two we changed the choice of tyres again, which was an advantage. After the start of race two it wasn't easy to keep Toni out of the way, but it was a really great race. The bike was really good from start to finish in all situations and thanks to everyone who was there, I really enjoyed it. Now I'm looking forward to Schleiz, it's going to be even more brutal, but Schleiz is always quite an experience."