Aussie Damian Cudlin took to the Hungarian Circuit of Pannoniaring on the weekend to compete in a round of the German R1 Cup Series, in an attempt to keep sharp for the seasons up coming races in the World Endurance Championship.

Using a ‘Demonstration’ standard R1 road bike, kindly donated by YART boss Mandy Kainz‘s bike shop, Cudlin rode his way to pole position followed by two dominant race victories.

Cudlin stunned onlookers as he prepped his machine by simply removing mirrors and side stand, fitting an Ohlins race shock and slick tyres, before setting pole position in final qualifying.

“I wanted the chance to get a bit of riding in, as it’s a big gap until my next race in Suzuka, so with the help of Klein Motorcycles and the use of their R1, along with the OBI Project Team guys, I decided to take this stock R1 and go racing. I wasn’t expecting it to be as competitive as it was. Neither was anybody else” laughed Cudlin.

“But it just shows how good these Yamaha R1’s are in stock trim. With some simple tweaks you can get them going really hard, and I was wrapped to win both races on one. It was a good weekend.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing though for Cudlin, who suffered an ‘engine failure’ on the cool down lap of race one. After some frantic action by the OBI Project Team, another R1 was sourced and Cudlin’s weekend went on, undefeated.

“I was ready to go home after the first bike blowing up, as I knew it was pretty terminal. I think it’d taken a bit abuse on it’s test rides.” smiled Cudlin. “But luckily Mike and Dirk from the OBI team found another R1 and helped me get it sorted before race two, and it turned out to be a little faster than the first. I felt sharp on the bike, and I rode well, so it was nice to come out on top in both races.”

After tasting success in Hungary, Cudlin now plans to compete in the next round German R1 Cup Series aswell as a round of the German Endurance Championship in Brno, Czech Republic in 3 weeks time.

Damo and Dirk with the spoils of victory...