Mohr: “Without my lads, I might have been able to ride in three weeks’ time”

At just under 900 kilometres, Jan Mohr had the longest journey of any rider in the Masteroil-alpha-Van Zon-BMW team. However, having more or less got through the races at the Oschersleben circuit – a track he is not particularly fond of – two weeks ago, his mood on the journey to Assen was likely to have been considerably better. In the Euro Moto Superbike pre-practice session, the Austrian BMW rider managed to secure a place in the coveted Superpole 2 straight away without any major problems. There, he clinched seventh place on the grid, meaning he would start from the third row.

Celebrating too soon

His first race was looking promising. After just a few laps, he had settled into ninth place, but his push for a top-ten finish ended in the gravel. On the final lap, the Austrian was suddenly seen walking across the monitors. “I pushed hard throughout the race,” he said, describing his Sunday. “Even though the gap to the front was still too big for me, things had gone really well in practice and we’d found a bit more pace. During the race, I could already tell my front tyre was wearing out. Towards the end, Kevin Orgis in front of me slowed down a bit, and I was determined to catch him.” It was too much for the front tyre. Without any contact with another rider or an attack on Orgis, Mohr lost control of his front wheel and ended up on his backside.

Nothing works without the mechanics

By the second race, the BMW was back in action and Mohr praised his team. “Without them, I might have been able to race again in three weeks if I’d had to sort it out myself. Full-on attack in the second race.” But he hadn’t reckoned with Florian Alt surging forward at the start. “I messed everything up in the first corner,” said Mohr. “Flo got off to a blistering start; I wanted to hold my own on the outside. He then cut straight across; I wanted to get into his slipstream but was probably a bit too late and ended up wide. I’d lost my momentum and, after the crash in Race 1, I first had to get my rhythm back. From the middle of the race onwards, I rode without taking any major risks and finished ninth.”

Lauf 2 war alles wieder gerichtet

Foto: Thosten Horn

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