Guest rider Koen Meuffels (KTM) won by a narrow margin of 0.092 seconds ahead of his Dutch compatriot Rick Dunnik (Yamaha). While the World Championship rider, competing as a guest, failed to score any points, second-place finisher Dunnik—a full-time IDM Supersport 300 rider—took home the full 25 points.
Who is Dunnik? A 16-year-old junior from the Netherlands whose sister is in a relationship with Joey Litjens, the national Yamaha R3 Cup coordinator. The former racer, unsurprisingly, coaches the Dunnik family’s young motorsports prodigy.
Colin Velthuizen (Kawasaki) rounded out the all-Dutch podium and brought the third motorcycle brand into the spotlight. Defending champion Toni Erhard (KTM) had already worked his way up to fourth place but was forced to retire early in the fifth lap. He headed for the pits with a broken gearshift linkage. For the rider from Saxony, the IDM season opener thus began without earning any points. He’ll try again tomorrow.
The top German rider was Troy Beinlich (Kawasaki), who finished in seventh place.