By The huge trackside crowd at Horice, were witness to more history this afternoon with Markus Karlsson becoming the first Swedish rider to win an IRRC affiliated race.
Karlsson aboard his own outfit’s BMW, was down to fourth on lap one before passing Darryl Tweed for third, lap-record holder Erno Kostamo for second.
By lap four’s end Karlsson had reeled in race-leader, SBK Race One victor Lukas Maurer and thus began a nip and tuck duel for P1 laurels.
Sweden’s top pure road racer vaulted into first on lap five but Maurer despite electronic gremlins afflicting his Yamaha mount, was not giving up.
Under 0.2 of a second covered Karlsson and Maurer with two laps remaining, we looked set for an all action, grandstand finish.
Then we witnessed the unpleasant sight of red flags following an incident involving Olivier Lupberger (whom we wish a speedy recovery).
With more than fifty percent race distance completed, Karlsson took a popular victory ahead of philosophical second place finisher, Maurer.
Johannes Schwimmbeck who set the race’s fastest lap (2.14.130) made it successive third place finishes, twenty-five juicy IRRC SBK Championship points bursts.
New Championship leader Darryl Tweed grasped fourth, Laurent Hoffmann, Tomas Toth wrapped up the first six finishers.
Pole-sitter Kostamo piloting spare RVS Motorsport BMW tackle, dropped to seventh in the final standings, due-to power, electronic issues.
Florian Astner, Anssi Koski, Nico Muller pocketed eighth, ninth, tenth place results whilst sole English rider racing David Brook, placed fifteenth.
IRRC Horice – Superbike Race 2 Result:
1st – Markus Karlsson
2nd – Lukas Maurer
3rd – Johannes Schwimmbeck
4th – Darryl Tweed
5th – Laurent Hoffmann
6th – Tomas Toth
7th – Erno Kostamo
8th – Florian Astner
9th – Anssi Koski
10th – Nico Muller
11th – Fedrik Matthys
12th – Stephane Bednarek
13th – Rene Grundei
14th – Pontus Roestlinger
15th – David Brook
16th – Emil Krchnavy
17th – Jakub Sprojcar
18th – Lasse Karki
19th – Christoph Kreller
20th – Jan Myslivecek
21st – Martin Hajek
22nd – Rene MIkvy
23rd – Michal Podrabsky
Photo credit: Jan Vavra
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
