The Hungarian did what he needed to on Saturday as van Crugten takes a home podium and Herrlich overcomes a double Long Lap for third
Kevin Farkas (Agria Racing Team) came into Assen with the momentum and in Race 1, the number 28 only hammered that home. Disappearing at the front for another impressive win, he did what he needed to as points leader Rossi Moor (Fairium Next Generation Riders) had been homing in on match point. But with Jurrien van Crugten (BB64 Academy) taking an impressive and comfortable second, his first NTC podium, and Valentino Herrlich (Busch und Wagner Racing Team) charging back to overcome two Long Laps and take third, Moor was ultimately demoted to fourth as Farkas cut the 31-point gap by a considerable margin on Saturday.
From the off, Farkas was off and the Hungarian had only van Crugten and Herrlich for real company. Herrlich then took one Long Lap – a double given for speeding in pit lane – and dropped back into the freight train behind, fighting back towards the front and then taking the second to face the challenge down all over again. But that he did.
As Farkas crossed the line with some good breathing space of more than five seconds, van Crugten stayed calm to take a home turf podium and the fight behind went right to the wire. Despite his penalties, Herrlich put in a stunning finish to secure third place, beating Moor by just a tenth at the flag.
Loris Veneman (TeamNL Open Line) was a similar distance back in P5 on home turf, with Lenoxx Phommara (Team Phommara) for even closer company in sixth. Dustin Schneider (Goblin Racing) kept the tiny gaps coming as he took P7, just 0.070 ahead of Martin Vincze (Chrobak Motorsport Egyesület,) who kept his consistent form going.
Tibor Varga (Forty Racing) beat Julius Coenen (Helena and Julius Racing) and Maxime Schmid (Schmid Racing) to ninth, the three the last of the bigger group fighting to decide the top five and ten.
