Source: Yamaha Racing.

Team Yamaha MGM’s Damian Cudlin delivered a pair of promising results in Nurburgring’s fourth round of the 2015 IDM Superbike Championship on Sunday.

On a weekend that saw his teammate Max Neukirchner sustain serious hip injuries, Cudlin qualified fifth in Superpole before going on to claim 4-5 finishes. Championship leader Markus Reiterberger won both races.

At the start of the first 18-lap sprint Cudlin skillfully avoided other riders who crashed going into turn one, but lost valuable time and dropped back to the middle of the pack. Gradually the Australian fought his way back to fourth place as he had a podium placement in his sights, but he came just short.

In the second race Cudlin was able to position himself directly behind Lorenzo Lanzi and Bastien Mackels and was on course for a podium position, but trouble through the backmarkers forced him to settle for fifth.

“We finished the first race in fourth position, which was a little bit disappointing because I had hoped for more,” Cudlin commented. “I was very lucky to avoid a big crash in the first corner, but I lost a lot of positions because of it. I think I was 11th in the first couple of corners, so I had to attack to arrive in fourth place, but our main competitors were a long way in front by this stage.

“My start to the second race was not great, but I was in the battle early and I was able to tag onto the back of Lanzi and Mackels. For a long time, maybe until the last five laps, a podium was a real possibility. I could almost grab it, but I found it really difficult to pass Mackels in the last laps and by then Lanzi was gone.

“I planned to make my move in the last lap in the last chicane and when I arrived everything was in a perfect position, but unfortunately three lapped riders completely blocked the path, so it wasn’t possible. It was a bit disappointing to not at least finish fourth, but two good point scoring races are good for the championship.

“I feel like we’ve made a step here this weekend, so if we can keep going in this direction at the next event, hopefully I can be in the top three. That’s my target.”

The results earned Cudlin 26 points, moving him up to sixth position in the overall standings with 72 points in total ahead of the Hungaroring round on 3-5 July.

2015 IDM Superbike Championship
Round four – Nurburgring, Germany

Superbike race one results:
1. Markus Reiterberger
2. Xavi Forés
3. Lorenzo Lanzi
4. Damian Cudlin (AUS)
5. Marvin Fritz
6. Roman Stamm
7. Pepijn Bijsterbosch
8. Jan Halbich
9. Stefan Kerschbaumer
10. Luca Grünwald

Superbike race two results:
1. Markus Reiterberger
2. Xavi Forés
3. Lorenzo Lanzi
4. Bastien Mackels
5. Damian Cudlin (AUS)
6. Mathieu Gines
7. Matej Smrz
8. Dominik Vincon
9. Roman Stamm
10. Stefan Kerschbaumer

Superbike championship standings:
1. Markus Reiterberger 195
2. Xavi Forés 140
3. Lorenzo Lanzi 115
4. Max Neukirchner 101
5. Matej Smrz 75
6. Damian Cudlin (AUS) 72
7. Jan Halbich 63
8. Erwan Nigon 50
9. Gareth Jones 37
10. Luca Grünwald 19

Click here for detailed results