Twan Smits: “Pole and a one-two – it’s been a long journey to get here”

When it came to timing, no one could match Twan Smits of Team Apreco at the Euro Moto in Assen. With just a few seconds of practice time remaining in Superpole 2, the Dutchman dashed out for one last lap at the very last minute and returned to his pit just over 1.5 minutes later with pole position. “Yes, in the end it was a good lap,” he said afterwards, hardly surprised. After all, it was his first pole since moving up to Euro Moto Superbike – and at his home race, no less. It could have been worse.

In the early sessions, he’d been up against Markus Reiterberger and only really got into his stride on the second day. “I did so much daft stuff at the start,” he said, describing his start to the weekend. “In the end, I actually managed it really well. Pole position at home – that means a great deal to me. When you consider where we were this time last year, it’s now completely the other way round. Back then, I would never have dared to dream of this position. That’s why I’m very grateful.”

Smits holds his own under pressure

The Yamaha rider wasn’t worried about his pace in the race or the tyres’ durability over the distance. He was a little concerned about his hand, which he’d injured slightly in Oschersleben during a crash caused by his own engine blow-up. But even that was to be a thing of the past by the following day. Because even though Lukas Tulovic and, in the second race in particular, Markus Reiterberger put the Dutchman under considerable pressure, he didn’t let it rattle him and bagged both victories.

Twan Smits kassiert doppelt

Foto: Smits/Facebook

“It’s hard,” he said after his first win, “to find the words for this. I’m speechless. It’s been a really long journey to get here. We started this project 1½ years ago and even yesterday I couldn’t have imagined winning here. Thanks to Yamaha for believing in me. And to Team Apreco, who support me in everything.”

Gifts from the competition

In Race 2, Markus Reiterberger came very close to him, but the Bavarian squandered his own chance to knock the Dutchman off his throne. “It really was a dream weekend,” the double winner then confirmed. “Pole position and two wins – what more could you want? Simply incredible. The World Championship wildcard at the start of the year helped a lot. The second race was quite difficult. I had to fight from the start, but the others were in a similar situation.”

If the Balance of Performance rule is applied, Smits should be able to race again at the Nürburgring with this bike set-up. Yamaha had struggled a bit against BMW, Honda and Ducati in recent years and was therefore allocated the most concession points this year, just as it was last year. Should Smits put his foot down like that again at the Nürburgring, he’ll probably have to give back one or two parts on his Yamaha.