SPB: Kitzbichler Reacts Smartly and Claims His First Win

The second race of the EURO MOTO Sportbike series in Assen was a nail-biter right up to the finish. At first, it looked like it was going to be the perfect home weekend for Ruben Bijman. But after a wild finale and a post-race decision by race officials, it was someone else who ended up celebrating: Tobias Kitzbichler (ViVa by Peuker & Streeb) celebrated his first win of the season ahead of Ruben Bijman (Freudenberg RORA PALIGO Racing) and his teammate Stepan Zuda (Freudenberg RORA PALIGO Racing). A mere 0.141 seconds separated the three at the finish line.

Zuda got off to a good start from pole position and took the lead ahead of Bijman and Kitzbichler. For Jakob Rosenthaler (RT Motorsports), however, the race was over as early as the first lap. The Austrian crashed while in fourth place, and his motorcycle slid across the track. Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) was unable to avoid it, ran over the Triumph, and also went down. Both got off lightly, but the race was over for them after that.

Up front, a three-way battle quickly developed between Zuda, Bijman, and Kitzbichler. All three had been unaffected by Rosenthaler’s crash and were thus able to immediately open up a gap to the chasing pack. Kitzbichler found himself sandwiched between the two Freudenberg riders but confidently held his ground. Time and again, he closed the small gap to Zuda, while Bijman, right behind him, was also biding his time, waiting for his chance.

The pace at the front was correspondingly fast. Zuda set the fastest lap of the race in lap eight with a time of 1:45.049 minutes.

The decision won't be made until after the checkered flag

So Zuda entered the final lap ahead of Kitzbichler and Bijman. In the final section of the course, events unfolded rapidly. Kitzbichler passed Zuda, but Bijman took advantage of the situation and slipped through as well. Just one turn later, the Dutchman also closed in on Kitzbichler and took the lead. Zuda then capitalized on the Austrian’s loss of momentum and passed him as well.

Bijman was the first to cross the finish line and, following his victory on Saturday, seemed to have secured a one-two finish on his home track.

“The last lap actually went really well, and things got pretty wild again in the penultimate turn. I guess I went outside the track limits there, and I have to accept the decision. Still, it was a great weekend for me. No one can take away the fact that I stood on the podium in both races and celebrated my first victory on Saturday,” said Bijman.

That’s because the race wasn’t decided once the checkered flag had been waved. Race officials took a closer look at the final lap. Both Bijman and Zuda had exceeded the track limits in the area of Turns 17 and 18 and were each demoted one position. Kitzbichler was the only one of the three who had stayed within the track limits and thus moved up to first place after the fact.

For Kitzbichler, it was his long-awaited first win of the season. The Austrian had come very close several times already this year. In Assen, it initially looked once again as though victory would slip through his fingers in the final meters. This time, however, the very thing that had cost him the win on Saturday paid off: In the final turn, he deliberately held back a bit and stayed within the track limits. “I’m really speechless right now. We had a plan going into the race and a really good pace, but I didn’t think it would stay this close until the very end. Actually, I’d already resigned myself to third place. After my mistake yesterday in the final turn, I didn’t want to take too many risks there again today, so I was a bit more cautious. That makes it all the more amazing that exactly that paid off in the end and even led to the victory,” said Kitzbichler, delighted with his first win of the season.

This means the race is getting really tight behind championship leader Zuda as well. After the weekend in Assen, Kitzbichler and Bijman are locked in a neck-and-neck battle for second place. Both now have 140 points each and are tied in the championship standings.

Zuda, on the other hand, had to settle for third place. “Unfortunately, I made a few mistakes on the last lap that may have cost me the win. But that’s racing. Other than that, I was very happy with the race, and I’m grateful to my team for preparing such a strong bike for me,” said the championship leader, summarizing his race.

Behind the top three, Mika Siebdrath (Freudenberg RORA PALIGO Racing) moved up from tenth to fourth place, just under 15 seconds behind. Kiyano Veijer (Dutch Talent Racing) finished fifth ahead of Maksymilian Palmowski (SP Race Project). Julian van Kalkeren (SRTD Pearle Gebben), Rick Kooistra (SRTD Pearle Gebben), Tom Kuil (RT Motorsports), and Jay Jay den Hoed (Team SWPN) rounded out the top ten.

Luis Rammerstorfer (Freudenberg RORA PALIGO Racing) had to serve his two long-lap penalties in the second race as a result of Saturday's incident and finished in 13th place.

EURO MOTO Sportbike, Race 2