Euro Moto Assen: Twan Smits follows in Aegerters’ Yamaha footsteps to claim first victory

For Twan Smits of Team Apreco, this was his first pole position in the Euro Moto Superbike at his home race. During the warm-up, his electronics played up, and a quick service was required before the race. Following his injury at Oschersleben, the Yamaha rider had prepared for the third-to-last Euro Moto weekend the previous week with a guest appearance in the Dutch Championship.

Lukas Tulovic, whose rev limit was restricted to 15,600 rpm, started alongside him, whilst Marcel Schrötter took third place on the grid. Tulovic didn’t waste any time and took the lead as soon as the lights went out, aiming to minimise contact with the competition. After all, it’s easier to keep an eye on the rev counter that way than in a direct battle. Smits immediately stuck to the rear wheel of the Ducati. Reiterberger overtook Marcel Schrötter on his first lap and slotted in behind Tulovic and Smits. The pursuers from Team GERT56 were already a second behind after two laps.

Lukas Tulovic

Foto: Thorsten Horn

The leading trio continued to pull away. Among the chasers, Florian Alt – who had to start from the back of the grid after a difficult practice session – had now caught up and was already saying ‘Grüß Gott’ to Toni Finsterbusch. On the sixth lap, the positions at the front changed. Smits overtook Tulovic and immediately made up a few metres. Behind Tulovic, Reiterberger was pressing hard but couldn’t get past just yet.

At the halfway point, Smits maintained a manageable lead of half a second, whilst the Tulovic/Reiterberger duo refused to be shaken off. The chasing trio had now become a duo consisting of Jan-Ole Jähnig and Marcel Schrötter. Toni Finsterbusch and Alt were riding alone, each a second behind. Reiterberger attempted to overtake Tulovic, but the latter successfully countered. Shortly afterwards, Reiterberger made a mistake coming out of the final chicane, lost a fair bit of time and consequently lost direct contact with the Ducati rider.

Markus Reiterberger

Foto: Thorsten Horn

Smits and Tulovic battled it out for the lead between themselves. Reiterberger was unable to close the gap in the final laps. Instead, he had to be careful that Schrötter didn’t get within striking distance. On the penultimate lap, Smits’ lead stood at 0.801 minutes. He went into the final lap with a 2.242-second lead; Tulovic accepted the situation and let the Dutchman pull away. The race’s unlucky rider was Jan Mohr, who threw away a ninth-place finish by ending up in the gravel.

Dominique Aegerter had shown the way the previous year on his Yamaha during his guest appearance in the IDM Superbike series. Twan Smits followed in his footsteps a year later, securing his first Superbike victory. Second and third places went to Lukas Tulovic and Markus Reiterberger.