A crash in the second race of Sunday’s German Superbike Championship at Salzburgring dropped Suzuki International Europe rider Andreas Meklau back into second place in the series. But with six rounds still to run, there is only eight points separating the GSX-R1000-mounted rider and series leader Martin Bauer (Honda). Günther Knobloch (Yamaha) initially set the pace in both Superbike races until Meklau came on the scene. He passed Philipp Hafeneger (Suzuki), Jörg Teuchert (Yamaha), Stefan Nebel (Kawasaki) and Günther Knobloch to place third place in the opening race. But in the second leg, the 39-year-old Meklau lost the front end and crashed out, recording his first no-score of the season. Philipp Hafenegger (MIZU) achieved the best result of the weekend and a podium for Suzuki. The youngster from Solingen came fifth in the first race then second as he overtook Stefan Nebel with a daring move in the last few meters and gained himself an 31 extra points. Said Meklau: “Martin Bauer now has an eight-point lead. Things have got very close again as a lot of potential winners fell in the second race. I feel we are in for some more surprises and still have good chances of gaining the title.” Said Hafeneger: “My Suzuki’s new chassis paid off. We have changed to Hyper Pro and have employees from the company on site at the race track. It’s a long time since I found it so much fun to race against such strong competition.” Team Suzuki is now doing better again in the Supersport class: Austria’s René Mähr had only raced on the GSX-R 600 twice but made it straight to third place at the last race at the Nürburgring. In Salzburg he just missed a winning-place to come fourth. And Max Weymann, who has so far gained points in every race, came home in seventh while female contestant Marketa Janakova gained three points. Championship Points (after 10 races): 1 Martin Bauer (Honda) 155, 2 Andreas Meklau (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 147, 3 Christian Kellner (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 130, 4 Stefan Nebel (Kawasaki) 124, 5 Jorg Teuschert (Yamaha) 123, 6 Philipp Hafeneger (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 108.