It was the second consecutive podium finish for the reigning world champion as he shrugs off an unfortunate start to the campaign in the early rounds of the series. Jordi earnt a good choice of start gate with a strong ride to third place in the Qualifying race and used this to good effect as he quickly took over second place in race one, retaining that position until he was passed by fellow Kawasaki rider Max Anstie on the eleventh of seventeen laps. Initially seventh in race two Jordi moved forward relentlessly to again be classified third, his consistency earning him second overall on the day and lifting the Frenchman to ninth in the series standings.
Teammate Dylan Ferrandis battled hard against adversity to retain second place in the series standings. The French youngster recovered strongly to finish fourth in the Qualifying race despite a few "moments" on the rugged track and his first race effort as he charged from an initial eighth place to cross the finish line in fourth position was a credit to his determination. After another forceful ride from eleventh place on lap one to third place at the chequered flag did not bring the expected rewards as officialdom was unhappy with a race incident and demoted Dylan ten places to thirteenth in the official classification.
Max Anstie had a superb ride to pass Tixier for second place late in the first moto as he confirmed his speed in sand on the Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki, and the twenty-two year old Englishman advanced quickly into the top ten from an initial twelfth in race two before issues caused his retirement from the race.
The recent prolonged spell of dry weather in the Netherlands created an unusual track surface and presented US teenager Thomas Covington with yet another new challenge as he endeavours to come to terms with the unusual racing conditions sometimes encountered in Europe. After a difficult Qualification he responded positively on race day and raced to solid fourteenth and twelfth placings to retain his top ten series ranking.
Jordi Tixier: “It’s great to have a second podium in a row after Italy last weekend. I’m back and happy to be there of course after a tough first part of season. My starts were both pretty good this weekend, and I was able to race for the podium in both races. In the second moto I lost some engine power during the last ten minutes so I had no chance to fight with Tonkov for the second position, but my confidence is back and a big thanks to the work of the team; I’m very pleased with our set-up so I hope these two podiums are just the beginning of a long series.”
Dylan Ferrandis: “This weekend we struggled with the suspension settings, and I never felt comfortable on this track. I nearly crashed hard on Saturday during the qualifying race, and today I didn’t push as hard as I could because of this. In the second race I found a strong rhythm in the last fifteen minutes, and took fourth place when I passed Jonass; I was faster than him but he tried to push me, so I put my leg between us to prevent any contact. I finished the race in third place but the officials gave me a penalty of ten places, so I lost points and a podium result. In my opinion the attitude of Jonass was dangerous as we were full speed, and I find it difficult to understand this penalty.”
Max Anstie: “All weekend we’ve been solid, a little bit better than last week in Italy to be honest. I did solid ride, solid laps and the first race was really good even if I never felt I was pushing hard so the feeling was nice! Unfortunately we had some troubles with the bike in the second moto and I had to retire, but I know that everyone in the team is working hard; it’s the way it is and next week we’ll race the British championship to prepare the Spanish GP.”
Thomas Covington: “The track wasn’t really sand, but very rough with big ruts before some of the jumps; it was a lot more difficult than last year. To be honest I was a little scared on the track on Saturday, but today I rebounded a little and scored a fourteenth and a thirteenth position. It's not too great but also not too bad for me in the sand, and I’m now looking ahead to be back on hardpack in Spain.”