Marcel Schrötter: Necessary knee operation postponed, P2 and P4 at Oschersleben

Marcel Schrötter travelled to the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben with low expectations. A knee injury that the Bavarian had sustained in early July during a training session for the Suzuka 8-Hour race proved to be more serious than initially thought. Following the devastating diagnosis of several torn ligaments in his left knee, Schrötter spent a great deal of time at the Kinema Sports School in the Bavarian Forest, where, according to Schrötter, the team of therapists did an incredible job of getting him fit for the race at Oschersleben.

Nothing works without a therapist

Schrötter used Friday’s free practice sessions primarily to assess whether it made any sense at all to compete on his BMW Superbike. Having qualified in 4th place, he was set to start the races from the second row. The first race on Sunday afternoon had to be abandoned following a mass crash; Twan Smits had turned the track into a skid zone after his Yamaha engine blew up. Schrötter would have been the next rider to end up in the gravel trap, but he managed to react in a flash and swerve off the ruined racing line.

There was no restart. Half the points were awarded for the distance covered. Schrötter took second place on the podium. Later that afternoon, when the field lined up at the start again in full strength, he finished fourth.

People don’t want to face up to reality themselves.

Marcel SCHRÖTTER

“I think I can be thoroughly satisfied with how I handled the situation at Oschersleben,” Schrötter explained afterwards. “With these results, I’ve extended my lead over my rivals in the championship a little, even though I’ve lost some ground to Lukas Tulovic. Even if I’d been 100 per cent fit, we wouldn’t have stood a chance against Lukas and his overall package at the moment. You just have to admit that. That’s why I have to be satisfied, because on Thursday I didn’t even know if I’d be able to ride at all.”

“You don’t want to face up to reality yourself,” he realised, “but when several specialists say I’ve got a serious injury, then that’s probably the case. Considering that my knee was in a completely different state just a week ago, I have to say that my time at the Kinema Sports School has helped me incredibly. We really stepped up the therapy over the last week in particular, which led to further significant progress. I was able to ride much better than expected. Of course, in terms of strength and race pace, I’m still relatively far from 100 per cent. I’m particularly lacking strength and stability in my legs when changing direction, and I feel a bit uncomfortable in certain positions. But given the circumstances, I have to be satisfied. Now it’s important that I continue to recover and be in even better shape for Assen. The full recovery process will certainly take some time, though.”

Markus Reiterberger proved with a very strong second race that the BMW is performing well.

Marcel Schrötter

The GERT56 rider has just under two weeks’ break until the next Euro Moto event at the TT Circuit in Assen, during which he can continue his rehabilitation. “For Assen,” he revealed, “I’ll try to make sure I feel just a little bit better. Apart from the injury, we also need to work with the team to figure out how we can improve the bike’s set-up. I felt that I was able to ride well in certain sections, but overall I struggled to keep up with the others.”

“Markus Reiterberger proved with a very strong second race that the BMW is performing well,” said Schrötter. “That’s why we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us. First and foremost, because I don’t just want to finish the season with second, third or fourth places – I really want to be fighting for the win again. And, of course, to keep our title hopes alive for as long as possible. That’s the goal we’re all working hard towards. But first of all, a huge thank you to Alex Hohlbacher and APEX for their on-site help and their contacts in arranging quick appointments, for example for MRI scans or similar. Another huge thank you also goes to Sepp Mauer and Kinema, as well as to their physiotherapist Tobi, who ultimately have a lot of work to do with me and make time to see me, treating me for hours on end in a single day and giving me everything they’ve got. Without such a fantastic team behind me, none of this would be possible. I’d also like to mention that Kinema is a personal sponsor of mine, and I’m truly very grateful for that, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to afford this kind of treatment. So a huge, huge thank you to every single one of you!”

Marcel Schrötter trauert um einen Wegbegleiter

Foto: Schrötter