Dubai: After clinching a second back-to-back European crown, Victory Team’s Kevin Reiterer has his gaze fixed firmly on defending his world title this season.
The 26-year-old Reiterer set a record of sorts when he won all nine motos in the three rounds of the 2019 UIM-ABP Aquabike European Continental Championship. Last week, the rider from Austria won all three motos to register yet another smooth triumph in Zagreb, Croatia and end the European competition with maximum 225 points.
Heading into the third and final Moto of the Ski Division GP1 category, Reiterer ensured he had everything under control with yet another dominating display that saw him finish 32 seconds clear of Stian Schjetlaein of Norway and Lukas Binar of the Czech Republic.
“This season has been awesome for us so far. I’ve been undefeated in all motos and I doubt this has happened before in the records of the UIM-ABP Aquabike Championship. I feel this is a huge plus for us and I feel relieved to win my eighth European crown and my first European title with Victory Team,” Reiterer told Gulf News.
“This season is very special as it’s a great achievement for a perfect race season so far. Now it is time to take some time off racing and then start focusing on the remainder of the season,” he added.
This has been the year of the 26-year-old Austrian as Reiterer has been unbeatable in any of the races that he has participated in so far. He started off winning all three motos at the season-opening round of the European Championships in Penafil, Portugal, in the first week of May to follow up with another dominating performance at the opening round of the World Championship in Portimao, Portugal.
Another superb performance in Olbia, Italy from Reiterer at the beginning of June saw the Austrian stay at the top of the standings at the end of two rounds of the UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship. With very little activity to look forward to during the summer, Reiterer opted to participate in the entire European series that saw him win all three motos of Round Two in Nyiregyhaza-Levelek in Hungary in the middle of last month.
Last weekend in the third and final round, Reiterer was once again in a class of his own once again winning all three motos to be crowned the European champion for a second successive time. “I have my focus set on taking one step at a time. I plan and then execute the game plan on the water with the inspiration to ensure a win all the time,” Reiterer related.
“We’ve lined up a few races from now on, but those will be only for training purpose. I should be in Dubai later this summer for some testing, after which we will depart for the Asian rounds starting in Qingdao, China. We’ve already won the European title. Now it is time to focus on the world championship,” he added.
After Qingdao (October 10-13), Reiterer’s next assignment will be the fourth round of the UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship in Amaravati, India (November 12-14) and then the season finale in Sharjah from December 17-20.
