Vincent Lonbois moved one step closer to becoming IRRC superbike champion for the first time, with victory in one of the races of the season, in the second superbike encounter around the iconic roads of Imatra.
Now 29 points ahead in the title race, he’s on the cusp of emulating his Herpigny Motors BMW Motorrad Belux team mate Sebastien Le Grelle, in becoming an IRRC title winner.
The Herpigny Motors BMW Motorrad Belux duo where in dominant form in the second superbike race at Imatra. There was nothing in it throughout between the two riders from Belgium.
Photo by Lars Törnqvist
At the end of in my opinion the best race to date of the 2016 IRRC season, Vincent Lonbois powered his way to the front, overhauling long time leader Sebastien Le Grelle, on the last lap, to secure one of his most momentous roads victories.
Finland’s Erno Kostamo secured the final spot on the podium in third, whilst Pauli Pekkanen’s impressive roads debut ended with an impressive fourth place finish, in front of four times IRRC superbike champion Didier Grams.
Performance Team Achterhoek’s Jochem Van Den Hoek was sixth, Juha Kallio seventh, Marco Pagani eighth, Kamil Holan finished ninth as Thomas Berghammer rounded out the top ten finishers.
The IRRC field now moves onto it’s final round at Frohburg on the 24th to the 25th of September, where two times TT winner Gary Johnson will be competing as a wildcard for Penz 13.com BMW.
IRRC Superbike Race 2 Results:
1 Vincent Lonbois
2 Sebastien Le Grelle
3 Erno Kostamo
4 Pauli Pekkanen
5 Didier Grams
6 Jochem Van Den Hoek
7 Juha Kallio
8 Marco Pagani
9 Kamil Holan
10 Thomas Berghammer
11 Pavel Tomecek
12 Johan Fredriks
13 David Jean Luc
14 Herve Somson
15 Ales Nechvatal
16 Lasse Karki
17 David Datzer
18 Carl-Joha Kallman
19 Aleksi Nikolaev
20 Jean Pier Polet
21 Kurt Haek
22 Foti Psomadakis
23 Rob Van Eljs
Words by Stevie Rial