Damian Cudlin showed his intentions of securing the IDM Superbike Title this season with another strong points haul at Zolder in Belgium.

Fresh from a double victory at the opening round in Lausitzring, Cudlin and his RAC Racing Team went into the Zolder event confident of another strong performance, however the changeable weather conditions proved testing for him and his crew all weekend long.

2^nd after the dry free practices on Friday, Cudlin fancied his chances for a pole position challenge, however as a surprise rain shower came down in the opening minutes of qualifying, Cudlin suddenly found himself way down the order without a dry lap time on the board. The weather didn’t play into his hands for QP 2 either, so the championship leader would be forced to start from just 13^th place on the grid.

Despite the heavy rain that lashed the circuit shortly before the opening Superbike race on Sunday, 10,000 fans huddled under umbrellas to witness an action packed event.

As the lights went out Cudlin made a terrific start and immediately started slicing his way towards the front, crossing the start and finish line in 4^th position on his opening lap! The lead changed hands at the front as Kevin Valk and Matej Smrz both crashed out in separate incidents, leaving Gareth Jones to head the field.

Cudlin soon pounced however and moved into the lead as the race approached the half way stages. Reigning IDM champion, Erwan Nigon began closing a few laps later and looked confident in the conditions.

Nigon went ahead and put the hammer down, stretching a lead over Cudlin that looked uncatchable, however the Aussie had other ideas. Reeling off fastest laps, one after another, Cudlin soon clawed his way back to Nigon’s rear wheel, as the Frenchman suddenly became the man under pressure.

Continue reading ‘Cudlin extends championship lead with another win!’

FIXI Crescent Suzuki is delighted to have secured the services of Australian racer Damian Cudlin for this weekend’s eni FIM Superbike World Championship race at Assen in The Netherlands if Leon Camier is unfit to ride.

Cudlin will head to Assen hot-on-the-heels of a double race win and lap-record performance at last weekend’s highly competitive IDM (Internationale Deutsche Motorradmeisterschaft) Superbike Championship at Lausitzring in Germany for his Dutch based RAC Racing Team. He was due to be racing in a support class race at this weekend’s Assen WSBK event, but will now be on hand to substitute for Camier if the Englishman fails to sufficiently recover from the injury he sustained at Aragon less than two-weeks ago.

The 30-year-old Australian comes with a wealth of experience gained at top level motorcycle racing, that has seen Cudlin race in MotoGP™ , Moto2™ , World Endurance, AMA Supersport and the Australian Superbike Championship, where he rode for Team Suzuki. He has been kindly allowed to join FIXI Crescent Suzuki for the forthcoming weekend by the RAC Racing Team. RAC (Riders against Cancer) supports children with cancer through its racing activities via the Happy Smile Foundation and more details can be found at www.stichtinghappysmile.com for information on Cudlin, please visitwww.damian-cudlin.com

A decision on Camier’s participation in this weekend’s event will be made at Assen later this week; he is recovering well and working very hard following the knee surgery he underwent in Spain, and has a more than 50% chance of being fit for the races. If he is unable to take part, then Cudlin will occupy the seat on the Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R to ensure Jules Cluzel has a team-mate to support him on the FIXI Crescent Suzuki.

Continue reading ‘Damian Cudlin on stand-by for FIXI Crescent Suzuki’