Who can match Reiterberger?
STK1000 season heads to its second stop at the MOTUL Dutch Round
The European Superstock 1000 Championship returns to Assen for the second race of the season, after an action-filled Sunday race lined up a thrilling season ahead. With a healthy mix of rookies, returnees and veterans, the 2018 season started off without last year’s winner and runner-up, leaving a space for one of 21 hungry candidates to fill.
First to strike was Markus Reiterberger (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW), who had already made his intentions known at Jerez last year with the final win of the 2017 season. At the Aragon relaunch and with a permanent ride secured for the year, he dominated free practice and qualifying before shooting to the win on Sunday, albeit not as easily as he would have hoped. The former WorldSBK rider will want to open a gap with all his pursuers early on, and Assen will prove to be vital.
Hot on his heels at MotorLand Aragon (and even in front for a few laps), Maximilian Scheib (Aprilia Racing Team) was unlucky to suffer an apparent technical failure with just a couple of laps to go, with his bike nearly coming to a halt enough time for the Chilean to just miss out on the podium. Still, he brought the battle to the German, and seems prepared to do so again this Sunday.
Florian Marino (URBIS Yamaha Motoxracing STK Team) was just 19 points away from taking the STK1000 crown last year, before an untimely accident in the final race left him out of the points and out of contention for the title. The Frenchman should be a clear favourite this year, but at MotorLand Aragon he finished 20 seconds off the lead, back in fifth position. A good result at Assen will be crucial if Marino wants to stay close to the runaway group of riders ahead.
Making the best out of their front row grid start, Italians Roberto Tamburini (Berclaz Racing Team SA) and Federico Sandi (MOTOCORSA Racing) stormed to second and third-place finishes in Spain. Both the BMW and the Ducati kept up well with Reiterberger and Scheib and proved to be a step above the rest of the field. Tamburini doesn’t have his best record at Assen, with a ninth place last year his best finish to date (yet his worst for the 2017 season), while Sandi has one Assen race to his name, an 11th place last year.
Jan Buhn (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) had an unlucky start to his season, going down on the first corner and ultimately abandoning the race with a lap to go. He will be encouraged by the pace shown by his teammate, however, and will be hopeful to record his first STK1000 points this weekend.
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