The third stage of the Russian Cup in road-racing took place on the newest track “Canyon” which is situated not far from Kazan. The newest track was unanimously found by all the participants of the Championship to be the best Russian auto-motordrome.

The racer of the team “Yakhnich Motorsport” Maxim Kiselev #17 who topped the overall standings in Superbike class, in spite of his quinsy, was impressed by the track too: “It is the best track of Russia to which only “Nizhegorodskoye Koltso” can remotely compare and our native but outdated “Myachkovo” is not a patch on it neither in terms of safety nor in terms of configuration. There are a lot of high-speed sections and interesting bends where you feel that the track hasn’t been exclusively designed for car-racing. It is nice! I wish I had had longer practice here before the third stage and felt the track better”.

In spite of his poor health condition caused by the quinsy, Maxim was able to finish second in the qualification but the gap between him and the pole-sitter Maxim Averkin turned out to be big enough. In the course of trainings available after the qualification round the team council had to resolve a dilemma whether to change the set-up cardinally in order to venture and test it in the race or to ride on the proved set-up but not fast enough.

Turmoil was caused by the organizers of the competition held together with a stage of the car-racing series RTCC. On a day of the first combined race of Superbike and Supersport the weather was rainy and the start of the race was put off several times and was finally canceled. After that it was announced that both races of the third stage would be held on Sunday. In this connection many teams didn’t estimate correctly the number of tyres (limited for one racing weekend) and as a result it caused some changes in alignment of forces.

On the final day of the stage – Sunday, 21 August, it was announced that the timetable of the day would be maximally tight in order all the scheduled car- and motor-races could take place. It was also decided to simplify the start procedure.

In the first race Maxim Kiselev started perfectly and in the second bend already he managed to take the lead but not for long. Two laps later the pilot of YMS was caught up and overtaken by Averkin who had picked up speed. Behind Max’s back there still remained Sergey Krapukhin performing in Supersport and the superbiker Andrey Chernov wasn’t able to “constitute any menace” for the top three over the race period. So according to the results of the first race Averkin-Kiselev-Chernov made up the first-race podium.

By the start of the second race the team “Yakhnich Motorsport” had carried out brainstorm and having accomplished some manipulations with a fresh set of tyres let the racer out onto the track “Canyon”. And again Kiselev and Krapukhin took successful start but this time Averkin didn’t vanish in the depths of the peloton and very soon he was able to counterattack his rivals and take back his position which he had won in the qualification.

However, it could be seen with a naked eye that Max Kiselev’s pace was a striking departure from his first-race speed. In the first lap Max decided not to take chances with cool tyres and let his rival overtake him. It may have been a mistake because to the end of the race the racer of Yakhnich Motorsport was able to keep a stable distance behind Averkin’s back. This time Krapukkin managed to catch up with Kiselev only in the last laps – Max’s poor health must have weakened his concentration and physical condition. Finish of the second run became a copy of the first race result: the podium was again shared between Averkin, Kiselev and Chernov.

Kiselev’s advantage which has begun to dwindle slowly is still considerable but it remains obscure how many stages out of the five scheduled are there to be held in the frames of the Russian Cup.

Lets follow events and news of our home road-racing motorsport and root for Maxim Kiselev #17 Yakhnich Motorsport!