Strong Qualifying Cut Short by a Heavy Crash in Oschersleben
Twan Smits showed strong pace during the EURO MOTO Superbike round at Germany's Oschersleben circuit, qualifying second overall. A catastrophic engine failure by another rider during race one then triggered a multi-rider crash that ended his weekend early.
Free practice
Smits posted a 1'27.116 in the first session for 12th, over 1.8 seconds off the pace. He improved significantly in the second session with a 1'25.762 for ninth, closing the gap to 1.2 seconds. Combined, that left him ninth heading into qualifying.
Qualifying
In Pre-Superpole he narrowly missed a direct route into Superpole 2, finishing seventh at 1'24.949, before securing his spot through Superpole 1 with a 1'24.952.
In Superpole 2 Smits found real pace, improving to 1'24.188 to take second on the grid for race one.
Race one
Starting from the front row, Smits got away well and briefly led before dropping to third, then recovering to reclaim second on lap six. Soon after, a rider's engine failed catastrophically, spilling oil onto the track and causing a serious multi-rider crash.
End of the weekend
Smits sustained a hand injury and underwent medical checks in Rotterdam to assess whether it was fractured and how long recovery would take.
