KTM's Nebel second in German Superbike

From KTM Racing

KTM rider Stefan Nebel secured second place in the International German Championship for Superbikes (IDM) in the final round on Sunday.

Nebel, who went to the IDM finale in Hockenheim with a 25-point advantage, kept the big crowd of fans on their toes right up to the end of the season when he secured the vice championship title for the KTM Superbike team, which was formed less than 12 months ago. But even though he crashed in the second race, his cushion of points from a hard fought seventh place in the first race in front of 28,000 spectators secured second place for the KTM team headed by Konrad Hefele.

The end of season was less positive for Kai-Borre Andersen, who rode in Hockenheim as a replacement for the injured Didier van Keymeulen. Following a strong result in training and a fourth place on the starting grid Anderson went down hard in the Sunday morning warm-up and the concussion he sustained hindered a positive finale for him.

Jeremy McWilliams, who with 11th just missed a front row start by less than four tenths of a second, then crashed in the first race. He broke a rib and badly cut his hand and had to sit out the second race.

The IDM season, with eight rounds and 16 races in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, was nevertheless very positive for the first official KTM Superbike project. Nebel was in the points 15 times, on the podium four times and garnered a total of 184 points.

Van Keymeulen surprised with pole position and the first podium place at the start of the season and right up to his untimely early season's end proved both his talent and the competitiveness of the RC8R.

"I'm totally happy that we managed to work together to successfully fight for the second place," Nebel said. "Everyone made a fantastic effort so that this could happen. It was a season with many highs and some tough lows, like in the second race today but all in all I think we showed that in the IDM KTM is a force to be reckoned with. A big thank you to all those who made this possible."

Martin Bauer and Joerg Teuchert split the race wins at Hockenheim and Teuchert locked up the title riding a Yamaha.

Results Race One
1. Martin Bauer, Austria, Honda 31:05.640
2. Joerg Teuchert, Germany, Yamaha 31:05.782
3. Andreas Meklau, Austria, Suzuki, 31:06.494
4. Gabor Rizmayer, Hungary, 31:14.473
5. Arne Tode, Germany, Honda, 31:14.841

Results Race Two
1. Joerg Teuchert, Germany, Yamaha 17 25:08.365
2. Martin Bauer, Austria, Honda, 25:10.987
3. Matej Smrz, Czech Republic, Honda, 25:12.700
4. Werner Daemen, Belgium, BMW, 25:12.922
5. Julian Mazuecos, Spain, BMW, 25:18.021

Final Standings
1. Joerg Teuchert Germany 293 points
2. Stefan Nebel, Germany, KTM, 184
3. Werner Daemen, Belgium, 173
4. Gabor Rizmayer, Hungary, 173
5. Arne Tode, Germany, 159