Thije Ligtermoed and Timo Suos were clearly a size too big for the rest in the third race of the Yamaha R125 Cup powered by KicXstart. The pair took distance from the rest of the field in both races and it was Ligtermoed who won the races.
Text and photos Mariska Grob/Motography
At the opening race of the season at the TT Junior Track in Assen, it was Thije Ligtermoed and Viggo Megard who set the tone. Ligtermoed won, Megard fell on course for the podium, Riccardo Bosgraaf and Rens Miedema took the cups. Timo Suos was the strongest in the second game in Veldhoven, where Ligtermoed and Milan van der Veen took the podium. Timo Aanraad fought for the win there in the second race but just missed the podium. With these seven names we also named the top seven of the championship, who were also fastest in qualifying on the third day of competition in Assen. Only Tom van Beek managed to settle in seventh place just ahead of Miedema. Ligtermoed should start from pole position, with Suos and Bosgraaf next to him on the front row.
Race 1
It was Ligtermoed and Suos who got away the best at the start. There was bad luck for Bart van Duinen, who started from eleventh place in the first corner and crashed. He could still continue his way, but the chances of a good classification had been looked at for him. Ligtermoed and Suos soon cut a gap on their pursuers, Bosgraaf and Megard, who in turn drove away from Van der Veen and Aanraad. The battle for the win would be between Ligtermoed and Suos. Suos was still able to push and even set the fastest time on the last lap, but Ligtermoed made no mistakes and won the race. Megard finished third without any threat after Bosgraaf dropped out of the race. Aanraad also drove a lonely race after Van der Veen made a slide. Aanraad finished fourth ahead of Van Beek and Miedema. The fight for seventh place was between Maxim van der Pas, Yens van den Bor and Daniël Wouda and remained exciting for a long time. In the end it was Van den Bor who just managed to take seventh place from Van der Pas. Wouda finished ninth ahead of Maxim Westra, Sem Ligtenberg and Van Duinen, who drove a great catch-up race after his slide.
Race 2
The second race gave the same picture as the first. Suos had the best start this time, but a lap later Ligtermoed took the lead and the two immediately opened a gap. Bosgraaf and Megard followed from a distance, while Aanraad and Van der Veen also found the connection and a nice battle ensued between the foursome. In the meantime, it was clear in the battle for the win that it would be between Ligtermoed and Suos, the two would run no less than thirteen seconds this time. Suos seemed to be able to get behind Ligtermoed for a while in the final phase, but again Ligtermoed drove clear and he once again wrote the victory to his name. Behind that Megard and Van der Veen had managed to pass Bosgraaf and Van der Veen eventually outwitted Megard and claimed third place. Bosgraaf finished fifth behind Megard and Aanraad sixth. To defend his seventh place, Miedema had to deal with a strong driving Van der Pas, which he eventually succeeded. Van den Bor finished ninth and Van Duinen closed the top ten.
With two victories, Ligtermoed was also the winner of the daily classification, Suos was second. Third was Megard, who seemed so close to winning last time at Assen but was now allowed to join the podium. And so the entire podium was occupied by rookies and their ranking was the same as the daily result.
Result Assen 21 May
1 Thije Ligtermoed + fastest rookie
2 Timo Suos
3 Viggo Megagard
Thije Ligtermoed took his second day win and took home the fastest rookie cup.“Everything went according to plan today. Did I have any left? Not that, I gave everything, but so did everyone else. Timo and I were clearly a size too big today.”
For Lars Weterings The race day in Assen went anything but according to plan. “No, it wasn’t the best day… In the first qualifying I crashed, in the first race I had just fought my way back to twelfth place after a poor start when I unfortunately crashed again. In the second race I was eager to make up for it and had a false start, which resulted in a penalty.”
Although it was not easy for Lars, he did drive lap times that would certainly have resulted in a big top ten ranking. For him and the other R125 drivers, the next chance for a good classification is on June 6, when traditionally on Whit Monday the race is held at ‘De Tippe’ in Staphorst.
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