Tough racing weekend in Assen for Rene Maehr and the RC8

From KTM

Valencia, ES – Following a first impressive appearance in Valencia, Spain, which unfortunately ended in a crash, Rene Maehr suffered a difficult Superstock racing weekend in at the Dutch racing circuit in Assen and was only able to finish in sixteenth place. Even in training Rene was not 100 percent satisfied. The motorcycle had lived completely up to expectations and he felt very confident but in the deciding moments of qualifying he faced heavy and at times chaotic traffic on the circuit. He did not manage a good clean lap, finishing in only nineteenth start slot.

Rene got a good start in the race at the tradition rich Dutch circuit and completed the first 4.555 km lap in sixteenth place. But in the following 12 laps the young Austrian, who was suffering from an extreme dose of the flu had to fight tooth and nail to cross the finishing line with this same result. In the second race he did not have a 100% good feeling about the bike's front wheel. The result was that the RC8 was unable to pick up its first points in the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup by a narrow margin of less than a second to the fifteenth place.

Rene Maehr "The first 16th place naturally doesn't make me happy. In addition the motorcycle felt extremely good, especially during training. It's a real shame that I was not able to get a better start place during qualifying. But I am still happy that here in Holland we successfully rode out the race and again we learnt a lot from the experience. In any case I am optimistic for the next race in two weeks on my favourite racing circuit of Monza."