IN
THE
WIND
P28
VALE RALF
WALDMANN
R
alf Waldmann has died at the age of 51 from
a suspected heart attack.
The German won 14 Grands Prix during a ca-
reer that saw him compete in 125cc, 250cc and
500cc competition, but he is best remembered
as being one of the main protagonists of 1990s
250GP racing, where he twice finished runner-
up to Max Biaggi.
Waldmann's victory in the 2000 British 250cc
Grand Prix has gone down as one of the best
wet-weather performances in history, where he
came back from 21st place to snatch the most
unlikely of victories from Olivier Jacque in the
final corner.
Waldmann's last appearance as a Grand Prix
rider came also at Donington Park, where he
Ralf
Waldmann
was a star of
1990s 250GP
racing, an
era that was
stacked with
racing talent.
filled in as an injury replacement at
Kiefer Racing at the age of 43.
Waldmann had been working at an
expert commentator for Eurosport up
to the time of his death.
Cycle News sends its deepest con-
dolences to Waldmann's family and
many fans across the globe. CN
SUTER BACK AT THE ISLE OF MAN TT
S
uter will return to the Isle of Man TT in 2018 with the MMX500.
The Swiss team last raced the event in 2016 with veteran, multi TT-winning rider Ian Lougher at
the helm, who piloted the 580cc V4 two-stroke to 34th place in the Senior TT and will once again be
the man charged with racing the exquisite machine.
"It goes without saying, I am excited to
be racing the Suter MMX500 again at the
Isle of Man TT races," Lougher said. "I feel
that after all the hard work put in by the
entire Suter team and myself, it's very much
unfinished business and I can't wait to go
testing. It's two years since our last episode
together, and the engineers say they have
managed to squeeze even more power out
of the engine and iron out all the problems
we encountered in 2016. I'm ready to go
down Bray Hill and give the spectators that
two-stroke experience again." CN
Suter plans to return to the Isle of Man
with the new MMX500.
