“Damage limitation” is how Taree’s Damian Cudlin described the 3^rd round of the IDM German Supersport Championship at the Nurburgring on the weekend.

Riding the SKM-Bike Promotion Yamaha, Cudlin adapted quickly to the circuit he’d never seen before, qualifying 8^th for the two Supersport races, however a lack of straight line speed hampered his podium charge in the race, finishing a hard earned 5^th in the opening 17 lapper.

“It was a tough race losing so much time between the turns, but luckily the R6 has good brakes and we were able to stay in the hunt, unfortunately it wasn’t enough for a podium today.” Cudlin explained. “We plan on making a few changes for race two.”

Cudlin’s SKM-Bike Promotion Yamaha squad worked frantically on the bike in an effort to close the gap before Sunday’s second leg, but the performance seemed to worsen and Cudlin was merely 20^th after the drag to the first corner.

In a gritty fight back, the Aussie clawed his way back with some spectacular passes during the race, eventually finishing in 10^th place.

“Our bikes were out paced here this weekend but we made the best of a bad situation and worked hard as a team” Cudlin enthused after the race. “We’re still 2^nd in the championship and although Tode has stretched his points lead on us, we’re not out of this yet. I know we’ll have a competitive engine at the next round and with a strong result at Sachsenring we can really take it to the Triumph. There’s a lot of racing left.”

Cudlin sits 35 points adrift of Triumph’s Arne Tode in the series with 8 races remaining. The next round of the championship will be held at the Sachsenring on the 21/22^nd of June.