Mikhalchik seals third title for his team

 

The season finale at the Hockenheimring was full of emotions for the EGS-alpha-Van Zon-BMW team. Werner Daemen’s Belgian-German crew traveled to the Baden-Württemberg race track with the championship title in their pockets. For Ilya Mikhalchick (UKR), who won the title for the team for the third time this year (2018, 2019 and 2021), it should be a relaxed weekend at the Hockenheimring, where traditionally the final of the IDM – International German Motorcycle Championship always takes place. Jan Mohr (AUT), Pepijn Bijsterbosch (NED) and Tim Eby (GER) also gained plenty of strength for the two races on Sunday after good practice sessions and qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday. The first race started with starting positions four (Mikhalchik), five (Mohr), 16 (Bijsterbosch) and 25 (Eby). The team had their first retirement in lap three when Pepijn Bijsterbosch was involved in a crash. The Dutchman was able to return his bike to the pits, but the race was over for him. Jan Mohr got off to a good start from his best starting position of the year. On lap four his team-mate Mikhalchik had already taken the lead in front of Florian Alt, Vladimir Leonov and Markus Reiterberger when the race had to be stopped due to an oil spill and various crashes that followed. EGS-alpha-Van Zon-BMW rider Tim Eby was amongst those who fell. The 27-year-old was taken to the medical center with suspected concussion and had to be flown to the hospital in Ludwigshafen by helicopter to rule out head injuries. After an extensive check, however, no injuries were found. Eby has to stay in the hospital overnight for observation.

 

After the restart of the first race, Ilya Mikhalchik had a heavy highside crash and went down between Vladimir Leonov, Markus Reiterberger and Florian Alt. The Ukrainian was very lucky that he only got away with a few bruises, but it ended the race for him too. A short time later, team-mate Jan Mohr also had bad luck. He lost the front in the fight for position six and he too left this race without any points. No rider of the team was able to finish the first race.

 

The second race in the afternoon went better for the team. Ilya Mikhalchik finished it as the new German champion in fifth place. In a small ceremony at the end of the race, he celebrated his third title in the series with two doubles, which supported him in front of a well-filled grandstand in the Sachs corner and represented the other two titles. Jan Mohr crossed the finish line in eighth place in the second race and finished the season in 14th place overall. Pepijn Bijsterbosch finished 14th in the second race today and concludes his IDM season 2021 in 16th place. The EGS-alpha-Van Zon-BMW team wishes their fourth riders Tim Eby a speedy recovery.

 

Ilya Mikhalchik will get back to business tomorrow. He and his EWC team-mate Markus Reiterberger will be testing on the Czech race track in Most for the season finale of the endurance world championship in just two weeks time. All other riders deserve a little break now.

 

Yesterday the provisional calendar for the IDM – International German Motorcycle Championship 2022 was announced. According to it, the new season will start in May 2022 at the Lausitzring.

 
Ilya Mikhalchik, #37:

The important result is the overall result and we came first there. It’s the third time in four years for me that I got the title and it’s a great feeling. We have developed a lot since last year and have been able to fight for victory in every race and that under different conditions and I’m very happy about that. We achieved that as a whole team. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me from the bottom of my heart. Special thanks goes to my family and my girlfriend, who really always stands behind me and has my back. I am really very happy with the title and I want to take these emotions with me into the winter break and develop myself further in order to be able to fight for the title again next year.
Jan Mohr, #5:

The final weekend here at the Hockenheimring went fantastic for me. We were really there from the first practice session. My fifth place on the grid in qualifying was really a highlight. It went very well and the whole team did a really great job. I got off to a great start in the first race and had just caught up with fifth place. Then the race was unfortunately redflagged and there was a restart. After the restart, I lost the front during the overtaking maneuver to position five. Of course, that annoyed me a lot, because it would have been my best result so far this year. The second race was difficult for me in terms of the conditions as it rained a bit at the beginning. But I had a great start and a great first lap and was able to make up a lot of positions. Then unfortunately the gear came out and I lost a few places. In the end I finished eighth. Overall, the season was very different from what I had imagined. There were always problems and I had to get used to the bike. In the last two or three races, however, I was able to improve. I hope to continue this trend over the next year. I am very satisfied with the work of the entire team. Everything was always very professional and yet so relaxed. I felt very comfortable here.
Pepijn Bijsterbosch, #55:

For me, the season didn’t go as I would have liked. The results achieved were definitely below my level. And the end of the season at Hockenheim was just bad luck. In the first race I was taken out  and unfortunately I retired very early. I got off to a good start in the second race, but then I had arm pump problems. It was probably an aftereffect of the crash on the elbow in the first race. In conclusion, I can only say that there was unfortunately not much more possible today.
Werner Daemen, Team Manager:

I am very happy to have won the championship again. As with the previous titles, it certainly wasn’t easy, but we did it one more time. The races today were very difficult, especially with the heavy crashes, not just from Tim, Ilya’s highside crash just got him off lucky and fortunately the guys were only a bit bruised. This is never easy, but all four riders are fine and that is the main thing. At the moment I’m just really happy about the championship title.