Bauer perfect in German opener

From KTM Racing

Motorex KTM rider Martin Bauer of Austria posted a double race victory to launch his IDM Superbike season on Sunday at Germany's Lausitzring.

For the season's opening race all three of KTM's official supported riders in the German International Superbike competition started from the front row. Alongside pole sitter Dario Giuseppetti was Stefan Nebel, second fastest in training with 1:39.334 seconds and his Inghart KTM teammate Matej Smrz (1:39.729) in third place on the grid. Bauer started fourth on the grid with (1:39.975) to make all of them under the magic 1:40 limit.

In the first race Bauer attacked with one of his super starts and went straight into the lead. Rival Giuseppetti briefly regained the lead in the first third of the race before the Motorex KTM rider made a concerted attack, surged ahead and began to systematically build on his lead time for the rest of the race. Nebel finished third and his teammate Smrz was behind him right up to the last curve combination. The Czech rider made one last attack on his teammate, the two riders touched and while Nebel managed to hold onto third, Smrz slipped down the order by two places to finish sixth.

Bauer again managed a rocket start on his Motorex KTM RC8 R in the second race of the day and again took the lead in front of Giuseppetti. The German stole the lead on his Italian brand bike but the Austrian Bauer immediately countered and was in front again. The rest was a cat and mouse game to the finish with Bauer wrapping up the race with an advantage of 1.8 seconds at the checkered flag. Australian Karl Muggeridge was third.

Matej Smrz came in fourth behind the Australian and Nebel brought his Inghart-KTM bike home in sixth.

Bauer's double victory gave him the perfect scorecard of 50 points, followed by Giuseppetti with 40 and Muggeridge 29. Close behind were the two Inghart KTM riders with Nebel with 26 points and Smrz with 23. 

"It was a very turbulent weekend," Bauer said. "We tried out a lot of different settings but didn't seem to find the right one. I also knew the pace was going to be very fast. So in the end we tried something completely new with the chassis and the tires and which we weren't able to try out before the race.

"For this reason I held back a bit in the first couple of laps and followed Dario for a couple of laps after he overtook me. It was only when I felt sure everything was working perfectly that I attacked and I was able to ride just a bit faster than him. In the end I was able to extend my lead and take control.

"In the second race I used the same tires and the same setting and I could risk a bit more a bit quicker. Dario only took the lead briefly before I could retake it and work on building on the advantage. I take off my hat to Giuseppetti and his team. He is one of those riders that it is a lot of fun to fight with wheel on wheel and we leave each other enough room. This sport is risky enough so that it is not necessary to also play hara-kiri."