Hosted by legendary open air festival Glemseck 101 in Leonberg [ GER ] Sultans of Sprint Challenge 2018 third round was truly awesome with thrilling races on the 1/8 mile dragstrip but also for the insane Sultans of Sprint party.

Many technical issues for lot of race teams in both classes but on the racetrack the battles were really close on the finish line and adrenaline at its highest level.
Good athmosphere & party spirit at their best in the Sultans of Sprint area during the all event !

The Triumph Motorcycles x Mellow Motorcycles Team #59 [ GER ] started the week end with some minor technical issues which were quickly solved by their technical staff Saturday morning. Professional rider Arne Tode was racing the supercharged Thruxton R for the second time for a Sultans of Sprint race this season. His previous Moto 2 rider skills did again the difference. High Five to Arne who came also on stage to please the crowd with the Triumph team mascot for the Party Monster Bonus !

Jens Kuck was invited to ride the Yamaha XSR 700 race tuned by Workhorse Speed Shop #8 [ BE ] for Yamaha Motor Europe and achieved a great second place gaining some useful points to the belgian team in the overall standings ! Well done Jens ! Second podium for Yamaha this season.

Rolf Henniges from Fuel Magazine was chosen to ride the Indian FTR 1200 Custom #12 [ USA ] which was coming back on the dragstrip at this occasion. Super impressive runs for Rolf on this beautiful prototype but that wasn’t enough this time to win the battle but more than enough to please the crowd with the amazing sound & bit of wheelspin & smoke on the strip ! The new rear tyre with softer coumpound used for this round on the FTR 1200 could also explain the traction problem Rolf faced … so watch out the Indian Motorcycle team is really back in the game !

Rolf Reick from BMW Motorrad x Krautmotors Team #19 [ GER ] was presenting his BMW R nineT with again a completely new bodywork which seems to make the bike fly faster as he achieved a great 3rd place. Also racing in the Freak Class and organizing the Starr Wars race in Glemseck 101 Rolf is also a very experienced rider in sprint racing ….

Amelie Mooseder from BMW Motorrad x VTR Customs Team #85 [ GER ] had some hard times on the start and struggled a bit to find out the proper traction & keep the line with the incredible BMW R 1200 R « Spitfire » built by the talented swiss team.

All teams really played the Sultans of Sprint challenge game and entered the Party Monster Bonus Challenge with great choregraphies for their mascot : « Mr Throttle » for Indian Motorcycle, « Teddy » for Triumph Motorcycles x Mellow Motorcycles Team, « Godzilla » for Yamaha Motor Europe x Workhorse Speed Shop Team, an unexpected dino for BMW Motorrad x VTR Customs Team and « Little Go Beep » for BMW Motorrad x Krautmotors Team. Thanks a lot for their commitment to show what Sultans of Sprint is all about : Race hard, party harder !

Daniele Ghiselli did really a very good job at the handlebar of the « Superhero » #16 built by South Garage Motorcycles in Milano [ IT ]. Fearless of the fastest teams, focused and probably boosted by the support of his daugthers and wife, Daniele was clearly flying fast for this third Sultans of Sprint round of the Sultans of Sprint Freak Class!

Despite issues with his nitrous oxyde system Phil Ludwig managed to finish at a well deserved second place with his 4 valves 900cc nitrous BMW « Hercules » from Team Krafstoffschmiede #46 [ GER ].

Third place for rookie rider Yong Kim « Macaco » #25 with the mighty Yamaha « Skinny Beast » from Team Schlachtwerk [ GER ].

As special guest Royal Enfield was also racing with the Sultans of Sprint Freak Class with their beautiful prototype named « Lock Stock » using the brand new 650cc twin cylinder engine which will equip the models of the brand. But this in-house built prototype is very special and use a full custom Harris frame and highly tuned engine by S&S. On the track the Royal Enfield ridden by Paul Young had to fight directly against one of the strongest team with the one and only one FCR Original with their legendary Triumph Crazy Bonnie.
Paul on the Royal Enfield did a very impressive test run and even more impressive race but unfortunately had a shifter problem which clearly get him out against the mighty french team. Whatever the 2 bikes were very close on the finish line and this just means that this Royal Enfield engine is clearly strong enough to join the Sultans of Sprint Factory Class … Subbu, Adrian ?

Unfortunately and despite the support & help of each other some teams were not able to enter this round despite all the efforts : bike crashed in a test run few days before the event for Team Radical Guzzi [ GER ] with the NOSferaTURBO, broken valve for Team Moonraker [ GER ] when warming up the engine few hours before the race and ignition issues for St Brooklyn Team [ FR ] with the new BMW named « L’Intrépide ».

Overall all the races were very tight & all riders battled hard on the dragstrip with quite often super close distances on the finish line !

The Sultans of Sprint challenge rewards the performance of the teams & riders on the race track but also their creativity, sense of humour and party mood through the « Party Monster Bonus ». Saturday all teams were asked to perform a dance with their mascot & riders on a podium next to the Sultans of Sprint area to start the party and please the crowd !
That was just fabulous to see how almost every team from Factory & Freak classes has play the game and had big fun in front of an incredible & super enthusiastic crowd of spectators !
Many thanks to Duvel beers & Sailor Jerry for supplying the Sultans of Sprint hospitality with nice drinks for all teams & guests.

Regarding the rankings the game is still very opened as the finals will give double points to the participants and clearly in both Factory and Freak Classes nobody can now say who are going to be the 2018 champions until the finals !

Special thanks to : Jörn & Jens for the DJ Set, Laura, Axel, Ralph, Patrick & the all Glemseck 101 Poets of Sprint crew, Matteo Adreani from the Reunion for organizing Little Italy next to our booth, Jorg Litzenburger, Peter Herrle, Sabine Schermer and Steven Flier from 101 team and all the Sultans of Sprint crew !

Thumbs up to TV1.eu which was taking care of the livre streaming of Glemseck 101 races :
https://youtu.be/DB8vVFwA3uQ?t=1h16m17s

Sultans of Sprint Factory Class race : https://youtu.be/DB8vVFwA3uQ?t=1h38m5s

Sultans of Sprint Freak Class race : https://youtu.be/DB8vVFwA3uQ?t=2h14m8s

Many thanks again to all our friends, supporters and race teams and for sure our sponsors & partners A-XOC, RM Paint, Kytone, Indivisual Creative, BMW Motorrad, Triumph Motorcycles, Indian Motorcycle, Yamaha Motor Europe !

Now it’s time to go back in the workshops to fix & fine tune all the sprintracers to get ready to fight on the dragstrip  for the finals hosted by DANDY RIDERS FESTIVAL in St Raphael [FR] from 28 to 30th september !

Find out ALL PHOTOS HERE by Christine Gabler, Kati Dalek, Tadashi Kono, Sascha Feuster, Zjerome, Marc Holstein & Claude Fischer.

After the first 2018 rounds in Monza (IT) & SPA Francorchamps (BE) and a good summer break Sultans of Sprint teams are now looking forward to head to Glemseck 101 taking place in Leonberg (GER).
Glemseck 101 is the biggest sprint racing & cafe racers open air festival in Germany and we are more than happy to be there again this year. All teams are finishing to prepare the last details to get their machines ready to rock the dragstrip on the Solitude racetrack.

For the first time you will be able to watch Sultans of Sprint live without being on the spot thanks to the Glemseck 101 festival livestream on TV1.eu !
A great opportunity to look & feel what Sultans of Sprint & Glemseck 101 are all about !

Here are the key moments for Sultans of Sprint Race #3:

FRIDAY 
19:30 – Technical inspection for all bikes (Factory & Freak Classes) [ SoS area ]

SATURDAY
11:00 – Briefing & starting grid random pick up [ SoS area ]
14:30 – Sultans of Sprint RACES (Factory & Freak Classes) [ Race track ]
19:30 – Awards ceremony [ Main stage ]
20:00 – Sultans of Sprint Party with DJ set from Jens & Jörn. Open dance floor in front of SoS area.
21:30 – Sultans of Sprint Party Monster bonus challenge [ SoS area ]

SUNDAY
all day : Race bikes exhibition in our paddock [ SoS area ]
13:00 – “Best of the Best Race”: Sultans of Sprint Freak Class winner will race against the fastest bikes from other classes [ Race track ]

The all week end our  Sultans of Sprint merch shop will be opened if you want to get some good Sultans of Sprint gears.
We are looking forward to meet you there !!!

video report by Agence Push.
images by Benjamin Guimond & Antoine Elizabé.
sountrack by The Madcaps.

video report by Agence Push.
images by Benjamin Guimond & Antoine Elizabé.
sountrack by The Madcaps.

This Sultans of Sprint  2018 season opening in Italy hosted by The Reunion in the beautiful Autodromo di Monza has been truly  awesome.

The weather was not on our side on saturday and the race has been cancelled because of rain & much too slipery track conditions. We have been able to postpone the Sultans of Sprint races on sunday thanks to the support of Matteo from the Reunion & the great work of our Race Management crew who did a perfect work the all week end.

Despite the cancellation of races on Saturday, the all Sultans of Sprint circus did a great show enhanced by color smokes & the unexpected oriental dance show performed by the beautiful Emanuela. The mood of all racers & teams was positive also thanks to the hospitality & our bartenders in the booth. The « Party Monster bonus » which took place Saturday night .

For this round all the riders were supposed to enter a limbo contest … and most of them did it with a big enthusiasm despite a complete unfair rule based on the height of their race bike. But this is a bonus for fun & all the participating riders got the 10 points of this « Party Monster Bonus ». Pure Sultans of Sprint spirit.

The Sultans of Sprint Factory Class full filled expectations with awesome sprintracers presented by BMW Motorrad, Indian Motorcycle, Triumph Motorcycles Germany & Yamaha Motor Europe.

The rules are simple as the tuned bike has to be based a twin cylinder 4 stroke water or air cooled which keeps a limited power to weight ratio set by the organization.

The thrilling races proves the power to weight ratio rules concept works as planned. All participating bikes of this Factory Class have been successfully controlled on the power bench & weight measured (including rider) before the races. All plugs from ECU, supercharger pulleys … have been then marked with a special paint paste made in collaboration with RM Paint.

The battles on the dragstrip have been tight but always fair and none of the bike was dominating the races for the pleasure of all spectactors as the suspense was at its best.

Big suprise has been for all the performances of the Indian FTR1200 Custom. Despite a rear flat track knobby tire the rider Lorenzo managed to take very good starts and won in the finals against the outstanding BMW R1200R “Spitfire” from team VTR Customs ridden by Amelie.

Third place at the sprintrace for Triumph Motorcycles / Mellow Motorcycles Team with the customized Triumph Thruxton R named « Phantom Blaze » and ridden fast by Paul Sauter.

Nicolo Canepa was intended to be the rider of the mighty Yamaha XSR700 « Sakura » built by Workhorse Speed Shop representing Yamaha Motor Europe. Unfortunately he was booked on Sunday & has been replaced by Andy Geeroms from Hermanus. Without test Andy finished to a nice fourth place after battling hard and demonstrating that choosing the smallest twin was rather a good idea.

Fifth place for Rolf Reick representing BMW Motorrad with his customized BMW R nine T « Little Go Beep ». You will hear more soon of this bike with its very interesting modular bodywork concept.
Indian Motorcycle Team is 2nd of the general rankings behind Triumph Motorcycles team which took a little advantage thanks to their mascot (+5 points) and BMW Motorrad / VTR Customs team is 3rd.

Freak Class is the historical category of Sultans of Sprint. In this category the rules are a bit less restrictive but the bikes have to be 4 stroke air cooled twin cylinder engine powered with a maximum capacity of 1700 cc for naturally aspirated engines & 1100 cc for supercharged engine (nitrous oxyde, turbocharger or supercharger). The other main limit is the rear tire which can not exceed 160mm width for square profiles and 190mm for round profiles.
Freak Class participants performed also a big show on the track at The Reunion with a line up of insane sprintracers.

In the freak class, many new awesome bikes were presented & raced for the first time in Monza : too much new machines to mention but we invite you to discover them soon on our website !

The track conditions were perfect with the refurbished tarmac of the straight line of the historical Monza track.

FCR Original team from France with Mathieu Ménard on the Triumph « Crazy Bonnie » #9 was the fastest of this week end finishing to a well deserved first place ahead Philipp Ludwig from Kraftstoffschmiede Team from Germany with the BMW « Hercules » #46.

Third place on the podium for a newcomer : Yong « Macaco » Kim from Schlachtwerk Team (Germany) on the Yamaha « Skinny Beast » #7 which performed well despite some troubles with the exhaust header.

Taking a little advantage thanks to the bonus for their mascots, « Hercules » #46 is leading the general standings in front of « Skinny Beast » #7 & « Crazy Bonnie » #9 !

All these crazy sprintracers built by professional workshops or super talented private enthusiasts have really impressed again by their velocity. The team’s macots associated with the Sultans of Sprint mascot « Andy Baba » but also the lovely Emanuela who performed an unexpected oriental dance with swords formed a real crazy freak show of the turbocharged flying carpets : this is Sultans of Sprint ! Velocity, creativity, poetry and speed !
Sultans of Sprint had also the pleasure to welcome SHOEI Europe which was releasing the brand new vintage full face helmet EX-Zero … a world premiere which raised already a lot of attention from participants & visitors in Monza !
Our partners A-XOC were also having a super nice surprise for all the riders offering to each of them a complete set of their high tech protective underwear gears.

The Sultans of Sprint lifestyle collection made in collaboration with french artist Nikibi was also presented for the first time and will be available online soon.

Last but not least, our partners & friends from Indivisual Creative agency did not only a wonderful work on all Sultans of Sprint info sheets, team boards and graphics but also took care of social media « lives » followed by thousands of enthusiasts online !!!

Photos by Marc Holstein & Christine Gabler, Ben Ott, ZJerome & Mike C. > find out more HERE !

We are now looking forward to see the visitors of Bike Shed London this week end and then to gather all teams again at the second round hosted by Bikers’Classics on 29/30 june & 1st july in SPA Francorchamps (Belgium).