Van der Mark champion!

08-10-2012

Michael van der Mark today has won the Superstock 600 European Championship at Magny-Cours. The EAB Ten Kate Junior Team rider defeated Riccardo Russo (Yamaha) from Italy in a very exciting race. Russo was his only remaining title competitor.

Russo tried everything he could but it wasn’t enough to stop Van der Mark. At the end of the race, the Dutchman was able to run away from Russo and gave the Italian no chance in the last laps. Van der Mark started the race from pole position after breaking Russo’s lap record several times in the second qualification. Although the EAB Ten Kate Junior Team rider was very satisfied with his fourth pole of the year, he knew it was no guarantee of success in the race as was shown a couple of hours later in one of the best Superstock 600 European Championship races ever.

Michael van der Mark (STK600 Race – 1st + 1.226 seconds): “What a race, unbelievable! It was a very difficult and very tough race and I decided to remain calm but that was very hard. The last lap was even harder because I had no idea how far Russo was behind me. I really want to thank everyone who helped me in the past two years. My team, my family, my sponsors, my friends, absolutely everyone. Without all of you it wasn’t possible to realize this title. Now it's time to party; it feels so great!”

Bastien Chesaux fought like a lion and was third with a couple of laps to go. Unfortunately, the EAB Ten Kate Junior Team ride made some mistakes and finished in seventh. Chesaux had a difficult second time practice earlier today. He lost his well deserved third place from Friday’s qualifying and had to be satisfied with eighth place on the grid, an unexpected disappointment for the Swiss who fortunately remained very positive about the race. And rightly as a podium was possible.

Bastien Chesaux (STK600 Race – 7th + 5.398 seconds): “It's hard to explain but I give always hundred percent but you can’t see it at the end of the race… Halfway through the race I was third but I lost a lot of time when I made some errors. A real shame because a better result was definitely possible! I would like to congratulate Michael. He has done a fantastic job!”

Fabio Massei has a difficult weekend at Magny-Cours . The EAB Ten Kate Junior Team rider started his FIM Cup Superstock 1000 weekend very promising with third place in Friday’s free practice. Unfortunately he finished the first qualification in eleventh and ended today’s final qualification in tenth.