Assen: Long-distance duel on Friday between Smits, Reiterberger and Schrötter

The Euro Moto Superbike field had shrunk to just a dozen riders at the third-last event of the year. Tight budgets or longer-than-expected injury problems had severely decimated the field. The remaining riders made up for their colleagues’ absence with some fast lap times.

The first free practice session

During the first free practice session at Assen, the summer temperatures were still bearable; all the riders were familiar with the circuit and were therefore able to get off to a flying start. As was to be expected, it was local rider Twan Smits from Team Apreco who took the lead. The Yamaha rider had already competed at the International Dutch Championship (IDC) race in Assen the week before and had worked out a suitable set-up. With a time of 1:37.758, Smits took the lead. By the halfway point, Markus Reiterberger had closed the gap to the Dutchman to 0.717 minutes. Meanwhile, Leon Origs ended up in the gravel. A tenth of a second behind Reiterberger, Lukas Tulovic was completing his laps.

With six minutes to go, Reiterberger clocked a lap of 1:37.765, closing the gap to Smits to a manageable 0.076 minutes. Smits remained the fastest with a time of 1:37.689 from his sixth timed lap. Tulovic was just under a second behind the Yamaha-BMW duo. With two minutes remaining on the clock, Reiterberger had moved into first place, leaving Smits, Tulovic, Toni Finsterbusch, Marcel Schrötter and Florian Alt behind him with a lap time of 1:37.607.

Markus Reiterberger

Foto: Thorsten Horn

The second free practice session

The Planet hit the Dutch tarmac at full throttle and all 12 riders took to the track on time. This included Orgis and Tulovic, who had crashed earlier that morning. The Ducati rider limited his activity to two laps. Markus Reiterberger once again took top spot with a time of 1:37.788, with Twan Smits hot on his heels, just 0.088 minutes behind the Bavarian. Florian Alt, who had been riding with the black replacement fairing on Friday, finished third with a time of 1.38.108 minutes. However, the race organisers disallowed one or two of his laps, as the riders did not always adhere strictly to the track limits.

Topic of the week

Topic of the week: Aprilia comeback? The truth is: Aprilia never went away!

Four weeks ago, Aprilia headed into the summer break from Germany with a badly injured Marco Bezzecchi. The response came from the heart of British motor racing: ‘Together we are strong!’

Thomas Kuttruf

Read more

The Pre-Practice

Following the two free practice sessions in the morning, the action continued in the afternoon with the pre-practice session. The top six riders were guaranteed immediate entry into Superpole 2. For the rest, the aim was to complete the lap of honour in Superpole 1 on Saturday afternoon. All twelve remaining Superbike riders took part in the pre-practice session, including the Ducati duo Lukas Tulovic and Lorenzo Zanetti, who have had to contend with 500 fewer revolutions since this weekend due to Tulovic’s winning streak.

Twan Smits and Markus Reiterberger continued their long-distance duel for the fastest time during pre-practice as well. Smits took the lead with a time of 1:37.200, whilst Reiterberger clocked 1:37.596 on his first timed lap. Shortly afterwards, however, Marcel Schrötter joined the fray and overtook his brand-mate Reiterberger with a time of 1.37.574 minutes. Then it was time for the general pit stop.

In the final four minutes, the field was back to full strength and spread out across the TT Circuit. Smits made another attempt at the fastest time but was unable to beat his own time from Lap 2. His place in Superpole 2 was therefore secured in any case. He will be joined there by Schrötter, Reiterberger, Jähnig, Tulovic and Finsterbusch. Alt, the Orgis brothers, Zanetti, Mohr and Merckelbagh will have to settle for Superpole 1.

Marcel Schrötter

Foto: Thorsten Horn