News from the German Downhill Champs. What I want to know is what happened to the “German Steve Peat” Eric Irmisch ?

German Downhill Championships in Tabarz on August 17th 2008:

Andé Wagenknecht is the new German champion, Andi Sieber of Solid Aclass Factory team finishes second with a time difference of less than the blink of an eye. Obvious dominance as well on the junior podium: Solid Aclass Factory team riders Johannes Sütter and Fabian Fader finish second and third. Germany’s junior champion, however, is Maximilian Bender.

Predominance broken

After Marcus Klausmann’s dominance for years, Germany has a new downhill champion. In Tabarz last weekend André Wagenknecht, called »Knecht« in the scene, dashes forward to the honour of being champion. Although Andi Sieber can be more than content with his second place, he feels contrite. With Marcus Klausmann, Frank Schneider and the later winner André Wagenknecht he was regarded as one of the top rangers.

»I fought till the end«

Solid Aclass Factory Team rider Andi Sieber about the German Championships: »Actually everything seemed to go well. I was holding my fire during training sessions, did only four downhills at Friday and went to bed very early. At Saturday I did two casual runs before qualification, I pushed my luck a little during qualification. I took technical passages at full throttle and with flow, but as soon as one could have pedalled I was simply rolling. So I finished sixth at qualification. At Sunday the track was very dusty and dry, even during training sessions. I did two runs to concentrate on my line for the final race. My dad set up a crosscountry bike at the start, everything seemed to be brilliant, my legs felt good.

From the beginning I caught all the lines perfectly. My speed was »brutal«. When I jumped over the so called »snakes’ cavern« in the lower third of the run I realised that my speed was high, far too high. The following jump in the woods I went too far and was therefore too late for the entrance to the next lefthand bend. It suddenly came to my mind that it is over.

Still, I fought till the end. I was able to displace Benni Strasser from the hot seat, but when I found out about my exact time, I knew it wouldn’t be enough. And I was right about it.« Schneider and Klausmann had technical problems during the finals and had to queue far behind in the final standings. Third place of elite riders grabs Benni Strasser. Brilliant Antje Kramer finishes first again at the ladies’ races, Harriet Rücknagel and Sandra Rübesam finish second and third.

Junior class:

Sütter and Fader in the front row Solid Co Factory riders Johannes Sütter and Fabian Fader underlined once more how talented they are: They were medalled with silver and bronze. Gemany’s junior champion is Maximilian Bender, whose time results would have meant second place with the elite.

German Downhill Championships