At the first round of the European SuperStock 600 championship within the SBK series, Nicky Wimbauer (USA) achieved a respectable 8th position on Saturday’s race on his Moto1 Suzuki GSX-R600. Wimbauer suffered from a string of bad luck during both qualifying sessions and started from the 17th grid spot. After lap one, he was already in 12th and started to move up consistently finishing in a comfortable 8th place. “We had a lot of catching up to do in the first sessions, since all of our pre-season tests were canceled due to bad weather” says Wimbauer and continues: “I lowsided in the first qualifying after five laps and rode on a backwards mounted Pirelli rear tire in qualifying two (mounting dots were on wrong side), which reminded me on my flattracking days in Colorado. However, I feel that I am making progress with the Suzuki and the Moto1 team was great moving the suspension setup into the right direction.” The new STK600 series features promising young racers up to 21 years of age from all over the world. Qualifying lap times show the performance density of the field where i.e. position 6 and 17 differ by approx. 1 sec. “I am pretty happy with the result considering how practice and qualifying went. We got some points, know how strong the field is and can get ready for Monza” commented Wimbauer. The next race will take place in Monza, Italy on 5.8.2005. Further information will be available under www.nickywimbauer.com