First Pole, Double Win: A Perfect Home Weekend at Assen
What a home weekend for Twan Smits. After a heavy crash at the previous round in Oschersleben and several medical checks, the Dutchman was cleared to start at Assen — and delivered a perfect weekend: his first pole position and two wins in EURO MOTO Superbike, the maximum possible result at his home race.
Friday
First free practice ran in warm conditions on Friday morning. Smits immediately showed his confidence was back, setting the second-fastest time. His 1'37.689 was just 0.082 seconds off Markus Reiterberger.
Conditions stayed tough for second free practice as temperatures climbed further, and times didn't improve. Smits again posted the second-fastest lap, a 1'37.876, again behind Reiterberger, while focusing mainly on race pace — where he showed a strong run of consistent lap times.
In Pre-Superpole practice, Smits then set the fastest time of the session. His 1'37.146 was 0.428 seconds quicker than Marcel Schrötter in second. He set that lap on just his second flying lap, leaving the rest of the session free to keep working on race pace.
Saturday
Conditions were completely different for third free practice — heavy rain left the circuit fully wet. Smits waited it out before heading onto the track later in the session. He completed nine laps in total, good for fourth, with the times from the earlier dry sessions understandably out of reach.
First pole
By the afternoon, conditions for Superpole were excellent again — around ten degrees cooler than Friday, which brought lap times tumbling.
It looked as though Smits had pole in hand, until Lukas Tulovic dipped to the fastest time just before the chequered flag. With barely a second left on the clock, Smits crossed the line and had one more attempt in him.
It was enough. A 1'37.016 gave Smits his first EURO MOTO Superbike pole position, with Tulovic denied by just 0.067 seconds.
Double win
Starting from pole in race one, Smits lost the lead at the start to Lukas Tulovic. For five laps Tulovic, Smits and Reiterberger ran close together, until Smits attacked with ten laps to go and took over the lead.
He didn't give it back. With consistent lap times, Smits rode to a superb win — a result that carried plenty of confidence into the second race.
That confidence paid off again on Sunday afternoon. Reiterberger and Tulovic applied pressure for a long stretch, but Smits kept his pace up. Both eventually made mistakes, letting Smits take the race unchallenged.
A big weekend in the championship
The second win of the weekend completed a perfect home round: pole position, two wins, and 50 crucial championship points. It's Smits' best result of the season, and he now sits third in the standings with 131 points — 25 behind second-placed Marcel Schrötter, with Markus Reiterberger just one point further back. The battle for the podium places remains extremely tight.
After a difficult weekend in Oschersleben, Smits answered in the best possible way at Assen: his first pole, and two home wins.
"It was a strong start right from Friday," Smits said. "We can be happy and proud of what we put together this weekend."
