The hero of the day is Twan Smits. The 22-year-old Dutch rider from the Apreco-Yamaha team won the first Superbike race of his career on his home track. Lukas Tulovic finished second at the TT Circuit Assen, riding with the brakes on. Markus Reiterberger rounded out the podium.
And yet Smits had been full of energy that morning. During the warm-up, a faulty ECU fuse brought his Yamaha R1 to a standstill on the very first lap. By race time, the problem had been fixed—and Smits was ready.
Tulovic (Triple M Racing Ducati Frankfurt) got off to the best start on his Ducati and took the lead. However, because the engine speed was limited to 15,600 rpm, he had to brake his Panigale V4R with his right hand. The measures required following the race at Oschersleben and four consecutive victories have not yet been implemented as planned by Ducati in Italy. So Tulovic’s wrist became the rev limiter.
The defending champion emerged from the first lap in the lead. He was followed by Smits, who had started from pole position, Markus Reiterberger (Masteroil Alpha Van Zon BMW), Marcel Schrötter, Jan-Ole Jähnig, Toni Finsterbusch (all GERT56 by RS Speedbikes), and Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion). The Honda rider had already moved up three spots. After several minor technical issues, his mechanics had completely disassembled and rebuilt the Honda.
The tenth starting position was anything but to the 2023 champion’s liking. He said, “I can barely see the lights. We’ve never been that far back before.” Aside from that, Alt has never been particularly fond of the TT Circuit. He had already seen his title hopes dashed here in the past.
The field remained stable until the midway point of the race. Reiti had optimistically spoken of his chances of winning, but clearly didn’t want to burn his bridges too soon. Everyone knew that tires would be a key factor over the 15-lap distance.
In lap seven, Smits struck. He took the lead from Tulovic. The Yamaha R1 was flying like a rocket. Three laps later, Reiterberger passed the Ducati rider. The counterattack came immediately. Reiterberger pushed too hard, nearly lost the front end, and fell back.
Two weeks after his spectacular crash in Oschersleben and with a wrist brace, Twan Smits was on his way to his first Superbike victory on a Yamaha. The last Yamaha victory in the class had been claimed by Dominique Aegerter a year ago as a guest rider for SWPN. Toward the end, Tulovic made no further attempt to challenge his rival for first place. Reiterberger, who finished third, said: “That was better than any other race. We knew that Ducati and Yamaha are strong here. I was pushing beyond my limits, but then I played it safe.”
Behind the podium came Schrötter and Jähnig, part of the GERT56 team. Alt made sure that Finsterbusch wasn't the only one ahead of him—not the entire trio. Bad luck for Jan Mohr: he crashed on the final lap.
EURO MOTO Superbike, Round 1
1. Twan SMITS (NED/Yamaha)
2. Lukas TULOVIC (GER/Ducati)
3. Markus REITERBERGER (GER/BMW)
4. Marcel SCHRÖTTER (GER/BMW)
5. Jan-Ole JÄHNIG (GER/BMW)
6. Florian ALT (GER/Honda)
7. Toni FINSTERBUSCH (GER/BMW)
8. Kevin ORGIS (GER/BMW)
9. Leon ORGIS (GER/BMW)
10. Lorenzo ZANETTI (ITA/Ducati)
11. Milan MERCKELBAGH (NED/BMW)
