Schumacher stuns in Motorcycle debut

Sparks fly off knee of F1 superstar Michael Schumacher

F1 superstar Michael Schumacher bagged his first podium finish in a motorcycle race yesterday when he raced a Honda Fireblade to third place in the SKOOX Cup at the 4.5km Pannoniaring circuit in Hungary.

Clocking a fastest-race lap time of 2m 1. 309 (2m flat in qualifying), Schumacher was third behind winner Martin Bauer and Andreas Meklau in the superstock-rules championship.

Schumacher was riding a bike usually campaigned by IDM champion Martin Farmer in the German championship, but according to race watchers was aggressive on track right from the start – earning him the incredible podium finish in a fraught race.

Schumacher, riding a 1000 ccm Honda superbike, dominated the qualifying, grabbing pole position, although it should be noted that neither IDM rider had timing transponders and therefore started the race from the rear of the grid. Despite his pole position, Schumacher decided to join the IDM riders and start the race from the rear of the field. From here, he fought his way through the field to finish third overall.

Team boss Mike Wohner said that it was impossible to talk to Schumacher immediately before the race, because he was so nervous, he said: “I noticed that Schumi was extremely focused before the race. His tactics were pretty simple, he was going to ride the race completely on full attack. He also admitted to me that his nervousness level was high."