By If competition today at Hengelo, is anything to go by, were most definitely in for an enthralling 2019 IRRC Superbike championship.
Showcasing the type of form, that makes him for various series aficionados favourite for 2019 series honours, German roads legend Didier Grams powered to the top of the time sheets.
Grams piloting the G&G Motorsport S1000RR BMW, final qualifying lap from today of 1 minute 46.924 seconds, proved more than enough to secure pole position for Sunday’s nine lap Superbike encounters.
Photo by Robby Repsol
Just over a second behind Grams on the overall time sheets, was IRRC series debutant, Varsselring newcomer Davey Todd.
Todd who carries the number three plate for the Lightweight race at TT 2019, gelled exceptionally quickly with the fast, flowing, smooth Varsselring roads, heading the first qualifying session, prior to finishing overall second quickest.
Finishing only 0.065 of a second behind Todd after two compelling, entertaining, top quality qualifying sessions was XLMOTO backed Erno Kostamo (1.48.258).
Widely touted as Finland’s present leading real roads exponent, Kostamo will no doubt be one to watch tomorrow, as will overall fourth fastest from today’s action, Marek Cerveny (1.48.523).
On his return to IRRC affiliated competition, Performance Racing Achterhoek’s Virgil Amber Bloemhard (1.48.914) finished an excellent fifth quickest, whilst sixth, seventh quickest respectively David Datzer (1.49.335) and Daley Mathison (1.50.191), also caught the eye with their solid, consistent pace.
Placing’s eighth, ninth and tenth in qualifying went the way of Roger Bantli (1.50.445), local favourite Thijs Peeters (1.51.013) and PSV Wels supported Thomas Berghammer (1.51.384).
Full combined IRRC Superbike qualifying results from Hengelo, are as follows:
1 Didier Grams 1.46.924
2 Davey Todd 1.48.193
3 Erno Kostamo 1.48.258
4 Marek Cerveny 1.48.523
5 Virgil Amber Bloemhard 1.48.914
6 David Datzer 1.49.335
7 Daley Mathison 1.50.191
8 Roger Bantli 1.50.445
9 Thijs Peeters 1.51.013
10 Thomas Berghammer 1.51.384
11 Marnix D’Hondt 1.51.478
12 Kamil Holan 1.51.653
13 Tomas Borovka 1.52.282
14 Pavel Tomecek 1.52.432
15 Ales Nechvatal 1.52.881
16 Mathias Gnagi 1.53.384
17 Andreas Gangl 1.54.554
18 Frank Gallagher 1.55.191
19 Marcel Esner 1.55.303
20 Joefrey Bonafede 1.55.648
21 Gian Piero Bianco 1.56.079
22 Yannik Jacops 1.56.769
23 Ricky Wagner 1.57.901
24 Hanno Brandenburger 1.57.917
25 Thilo Gunther 1.58.326
26 Rob Van Eijs 1.58.775
27 ? Lupberger 2.00.274
28 Foti Psomadakis 2.01.884
29 Andrea Majola 2.01.922
30 Morgan Baplu 2.02.101
31 Kurt Haek 2.03.259
Words by Stevie Rial
