Canadian ex-pat Dan Kruger continues to rack up success in the Chinese Superbike Series this season, getting a second and third at the series’ last doubleheader.
The weekend was a bit iffy for Kruger, as he crashed in a collision with a backmarker during qualifying. Kruger banged up his knee badly, but although it was swollen and painful, X-rays showed no fractures, and he was luckily able to hold onto his fifth-place qualifying position and start the race in the second row. The bike wasn’t too banged up, either.
In the first race, Kruger held his ground and managed to get on the bottom step of the podium when a couple of frontrunners crashed out. The starting grid for Race 2 was based on the results of Race 1, and as Kruger had only the sixth-fastest lap time, he was down in the second row again. Bike troubles hampered him throughout the race, which was re-started after a red flag, but Kruger held on and managed to work his way to a second-place finish.
As a result, Kruger now sits in second overall in the series, behind Factory Yamaha rider Li Peng, and ahead of formerWorld Superbike rider Mark Aitchison.
With the next round in the Chinese championship in September, Kruger still has a busy summer ahead, with street circuit races in the Czech Republic and Belgium, then testing in China and Malaysia.
