On January 3, 2019, Sander Kroeze will celebrate his 17th birthday. He received an early gift: the Dutch rider had already found his contract for the upcoming IDM season on the Supersport with Michael Galinski’s MGM Racing team under the Christmas tree. This makes him a teammate of Superbike riders Marc Moser and Maximilian Weihe—albeit with a smaller engine displacement.
Kroeze made an impressive Supersport on the YZF-R6 in 2018 and got faster and faster as the summer progressed. He secured four podium finishes, the last three of which were second-place finishes. They came in a row at the end of the season. In the overall standings after twelve races, Kroeze finished fifth in the IDM Supersport class.
After his debut season, the Dutch rider wants to build on that success in 2019 and aim even higher. Unlike many of his competitors, Kroeze is a late bloomer in racing; he didn’t get on a pocket bike for the first time until he was nine years old. Thanks to his talent, he later made it into the Moriwaki 250 Junior Cup and also into the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup as part of the MotoGP World Championship. His next stop was the Italian CIV Moto3 Championship. However, as Kroeze not only became more successful over time but also shot up in height, it was time a year ago to look into larger classes. Since then, he has been racing in the IDM Supersport .