Superstock place 19 and 22 for KTM duo Maehr and Pekkanen
in Brno
Rene Maehr finished his sixth race in the FIM Superstock
1000 World Cup series in Brno, Czech Republic in 19th place
while team newcomer Pauli Pekkanen rode to twenty second place
in his first race with the team.
The two riders of the Team KTM Maehr Superstock tackled the
hilly and challenging racing circuit in Brno on the KTM 1190
RC8, the machine that was launched earlier this year in Europe
and which is undergoing its first season of racing.
Maehr fastest in time training
The race weekend began in style with KTM rider Rene Maehr
the fastest rider on the 5.3 km circuit in free training.
In the decisive time training on Saturday afternoon the 21-year-old
student had a best time of 2:05.572 and therefore secured
the sixteenth place on the grid in the very strong field of
40 riders.
Bad luck for newcomer Pekkanen
On the other hand, the Finnish newcomer Pauli Pekkanen did
not have such good luck in his first Superstock qualifying.
Pekkanen made a harmless exit right at the beginning of the
25-minute training session and the RC8 with the start number
81 was too badly damages to continue. His best lap time to
date time of 2:06.932 minutes meant grid position 33 for the
new team member.
Tough battles on race day
Maehr, despite good weather, was only able to partly convert
his good training time into an advantage in the race itself.
A number of hard fought battles cost the young Austrian a
lot of time and a lot of positions as the race progressed.
"Unfortunately I wasn't able to go at the maximum speed
in the race. Even if the motorcycle went perfectly right up
to the end, there wasn't any more in it for me than place
19. I had the impression that every rider in the field was
spoiling for a fight. We will have to continue to work hard
to be able to convert good training times into better results
in the race," he said after completing the 12 laps.
Right from the first lap Pauli Pekkanen seized the opportunity
to make good a lot of places in his first ever Superstock
race. After the incident in training, the former Finnish 125
ccm champion consistently put in good laps and managed to
finish in 22nd place.
"Measured against my experience with the bike and the
crash I had in the second time training I have to be satisfied
with the result. I was able to go even faster in the race
and I had a lot of fun with my new racing bike. I think the
whole team is going in the right direction," commented
Pekkanen about his first appearance in a race in Brno, which
attracted a crowd of 31,000 spectators.
The next race in the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup is in ttwo
week's time on the traditional English circuit of Brands Hatch.
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