Two podium places at Sunday’s Sachsenring round put Andreas Meklau closer to the lead in the International German Superbike Championship (IDM).
The 40-year-old Austrian, who rides for Team Suzuki International Europe, qualified for the front row of the starting grid after the practice session. In the first heat he took third place behind Jorg Teuchert (Yamaha) and Martin Bauer (Honda) and in the second, Meklau was in the lead and looked all set for his first win of the season until Belgian Suzuki rider Werner Daemen crashed and the race was stopped. After the restart, nine more laps had to be completed. Meklau chose a softer tyre mix for the second half of the race but was unable to catch Teuchert. Third place went to the Swiss Suzuki rider Roman Stamm.
Meklau’s team mate Dominic Lammert struggled during the entire weekend with the suspension settings on his GSX-R1000. In the first heat, the 20-year-old shooting star came in seventh but a crash led to his retiring prematurely from the second heat.
Andreas Meklau:
“Choosing the correct front tyre mix was a game of chance. Jorg Teuchert reaped the benefit: in the first heat my tyres were better, but later he made good a lot of ground in a very short time. Everything was OK in the second heat until it was restarted and I chose the wrong tyres. But we were very close to success. Werner Daemen, Martin Bauer, Teuchert and I - we’re in top riding form. Because of the pressure we are putting on, Martin Bauer has begun to make mistakes. He isn’t untouchable any more and so we haven’t yet given up the fight for the title.”
Dominic Lammert:
“I was struggling the whole weekend to find the right tyres and suspension settings. In the second heat I fell at exactly the same point as Martin Bauer. It was a harmless front wheel slide but I still I had to pull out.”
Evren Bischoff - Team Manager:
At the next race in Salzburg, we will try to put even more pressure on Martin Bauer. We’ve been testing there already but we haven’t been able to put everything we learned into practice yet. I’m sure we shall be a step ahead by the time the Salzburg meeting comes around. I’m convinced that Dominic Lammert is just as fast as Andy Meklau, or even faster. At the Sachsenring he couldn’t show us everything he’s capable of. Dominic wasn’t able to join us for testing there because he was entered at the same time for a Superstock European Championship Race at the Nurburgring.”
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