Superstock place 19 and 22 for KTM duo Maehr and Pekkanen in Brno

Rene Maehr finished his sixth race in the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup series in Brno, Czech Republic in 19th place while team newcomer Pauli Pekkanen rode to twenty second place in his first race with the team.

The two riders of the Team KTM Maehr Superstock tackled the hilly and challenging racing circuit in Brno on the KTM 1190 RC8, the machine that was launched earlier this year in Europe and which is undergoing its first season of racing.

The race weekend began in style with KTM rider Rene Maehr the fastest rider on the 5.3 km circuit in free training. In the decisive time training on Saturday afternoon the 21-year-old student had a best time of 2:05.572 and therefore secured the sixteenth place on the grid in the very strong field of 40 riders.

On the other hand, the Finnish newcomer Pauli Pekkanen did not have such good luck in his first Superstock qualifying. Pekkanen made a harmless exit right at the beginning of the 25-minute training session and the RC8 with the start number 81 was too badly damages to continue. His best lap time to date time of 2:06.932 minutes meant grid position 33 for the new team member.

Maehr, despite good weather, was only able to partly convert his good training time into an advantage in the race itself. A number of hard fought battles cost the young Austrian a lot of time and a lot of positions as the race progressed.

"Unfortunately I wasn't able to go at the maximum speed in the race. Even if the motorcycle went perfectly right up to the end, there wasn't any more in it for me than place 19. I had the impression that every rider in the field was spoiling for a fight. We will have to continue to work hard to be able to convert good training times into better results in the race," he said after completing the 12 laps.

Right from the first lap Pauli Pekkanen seized the opportunity to make good a lot of places in his first ever Superstock race. After the incident in training, the former Finnish 125 ccm champion consistently put in good laps and managed to finish in 22nd place.

"Measured against my experience with the bike and the crash I had in the second time training I have to be satisfied with the result. I was able to go even faster in the race and I had a lot of fun with my new racing bike. I think the whole team is going in the right direction," commented Pekkanen about his first appearance in a race in Brno, which attracted a crowd of 31,000 spectators.

The next race in the FIM Superstock 1000 World Cup is in ttwo week's time on the traditional English circuit of Brands Hatch.

- KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG, Mattighofen-