Sander Kroeze (MGM Racing Performance) will start from pole position for the first time in the IDM Supersport 600 class at the TT Circuit Assen. The first of two races in this highly competitive mid-range class—where the bikes deliver around 135 hp at the rear wheel and reach speeds of up to 270 km/h—will take place this Saturday. Max Enderlein (Freudenberg WorldSSP Academy) will start the race from the middle of the front row. To his left, Marc Buchner will start from third place on the grid. If Max Enderlein wins the race, he could be crowned champion of his class ahead of schedule. The Hohenstein-Ernstthal native holds a 73-point lead in the overall championship over Martin Vugrinec (UNIOR Racing Team), who will start from ninth position this time. Enderlein has already secured six victories in 2019, the last three in a row.
Where is Tom Toparis, who won a race at the season opener and is currently third in the overall standings? The Australian won’t be competing. He’s at home this weekend, racing in the local Supersport Championship, which he leads. Toparis wants to keep his chances alive of winning the series at the end of the season.
In Europe, the 19-year-old is a rising star. Following his successful IDM debut with the Dutch Benro-Racing team, he will be competing on the Supersport Yamaha with a wildcard at the BSB in Assen in two weeks.
The Rubin brothers, Daniel and Dominik (Rubin Racing Team), along with guest driver Jeroen Hilster (Oosterveen’s Ashford Formula Racing), will start from the second row. Wayne Tessels (Team SWPN) will lead the third row, followed by Marco Fetz (Däschlein DRC). The Bavarian from Kleinbreitenbronn actually set his best time in the second qualifying session, in which the competition was generally slower than the previous day due to the onset of rain. Fetz was just 0.032 seconds behind Tessels. Yesterday, he had to manage without a gearshift system and blipper. “That makes up about a second.”
In eleventh place is the first non-Yamaha rider on the grid: Gabriel Noderer (Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing Team).
There was a change in the DMSB Superstock 600 Cup. Joep Overbeeke (Team Apreco) matched the fastest lap set by Milan Merckelbagh (MGM Racing Performance) in the first practice session. The rest of the front-row grid remained unchanged. Jan Schmidt (Frankfurt Customs Racing Team) is third and Stefan Ströhlein (Neumann Racing) fourth. Here, too, Yamaha dominates the field. Starting from fifth place in the Superstock 600 field is Paul Fröde (ADAC Sachsen e.V.), the only Honda rider.