Smits crash at Euro Moto Oschersleben: it was the Yamaha’s connecting rod

A huge cloud of smoke engulfed Twan Smits and his Yamaha R1 from Team Apreco as his engine literally went up in smoke whilst heading towards Hassenröder at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Florian Alt and Markus Reiterberger, riding in his slipstream, had no chance of avoiding the incident, and shortly afterwards Toni Finsterbusch and Kevin Orgis were also caught up in it. Whilst the riders escaped with minor injuries, the damage to the motorbikes was immense, with some suffering total write-offs.

“It was pretty clear to me straight away,” says Smits, describing the crash. “Just before braking for Turn 3, I heard a mechanical noise from the engine, which I mistakenly thought was a gear change. Everything had been fine up until then. I thought the rear wheel had locked up, but it turned out there was oil on the tyre. The rear wheel skidded out badly, and I decided to jump off before the motorbike might regain grip and throw me off in a highsider. Of course, I wasn’t aware that other riders had crashed until I was lying in the gravel and saw motorbikes flying through the air. That was quite frightening.”

Fault identified and rider injured

“First of all, I’d like to apologise to all the team managers, riders and, of course, to Twan for the accident, which occurred through no fault of those involved,” said team manager Corine Brandhorst in a statement. “Motorsport is a technical sport, and we all know that things like this can happen. Nevertheless, you naturally always hope that it doesn’t happen to you in the very championship where you’re fighting for the title. I’d also like to thank all the mechanics in our team who managed to build a completely new motorbike for Twan within a few hours, so that he would, in principle, have been ready to race in race two. However, it subsequently transpired that Twan had sustained an injury to his right hand. Following further examinations in consultation with medical specialists in the Netherlands, we ultimately had to make the decision to withdraw him from the second race.”

“X-rays and MRI scans have been carried out over the past few days,” said Brandhorst. “These revealed injuries in the so-called tri-scaphoid region of his right hand. Twan will compete in the next two race weekends wearing a special splint and under the supervision of a medical specialist, who will monitor the situation directly at the circuit. We’ll have to wait and see whether he can complete the full race distance on each Sunday, but we’re confident that top-six finishes will be possible.”

“I’m sorry for all the riders involved in the crash, especially Florian Alt and Markus Reiterberger,” adds Smits. “We had a great battle which was really enjoyable, and I hope we can have that duel again one day. Right now, my focus is on my recovery and on scoring important championship points over the next two race weekends, before I aim to be fully fit again at Hockenheim. That’s why I won’t be competing in the FIM Endurance World Championship’s 24-hour race, the Bol d’Or, so that I can concentrate fully on my recovery and the EURO MOTO.”

Further investigation into prevention

“The R1 engines used in the Superbike class are supplied and maintained by Ten Kate at Yamaha’s request,” according to a report by Yamaha representative Wim Vermeulen. “The second engine was fitted during the third race weekend at Most and was a completely new engine meeting the latest technical specifications. Analyses to date show that a connecting rod failed immediately after Twan changed gear. This initially led to a brief loss of power and subsequently to a complete engine failure. All recorded parameters were within the specified operating limits. Both the oil pressure remained within the approved range at all times, and the engine was not over-revved at any point during the entire race weekend. Further investigations will be carried out in the coming days to develop possible countermeasures for the short and medium term.”