Lennox Lehmann⁠ experienced a weekend of two very different sides at the EuroMoto Supersport round in Assen. After showing the pace to fight for victory throughout the weekend, the Team APRECO ⁠rider crashed out of the lead on the final lap of Race 1. Despite pain in his leg and ankle following the accident, Lehmann returned on Sunday and secured third place in Race 2.

The Assen weekend started positively for Lehmann and the Yamaha R9⁠, although the team initially had some work to do on the setup.

Strong progress throughout practice

Lehmann started Friday with some rear grip issues as well as chattering from the front of his Yamaha. Together with his crew, however, he was able to make significant progress before the second Free Practice session and qualifying.

In the combined Free Practice classification, Lehmann finished third with a 1:41.437. Teammate Dirk Geiger⁠ led the session with a 1:40.547, while Luca Göttlicher separated the two APRECO riders in second.

“Overall, it was a good weekend. We started solidly in FP1, although we had some problems with rear grip and chattering at the front. My crew did a great job fixing those issues for the second practice and the first qualifying.”

Saturday morning then brought wet conditions to Assen. While the lap times from the session would ultimately not decide the starting grid, the laps in the rain provided valuable information for Lehmann and the team.

“The wet qualifying on Saturday morning also helped me personally. We have had a few problems in the rain so far, so the session gave us some useful data.”

The decisive qualifying result came from Q1, where Lehmann secured third on the grid with a 1:40.925. He finished 0.574 seconds behind pole-sitter Geiger and only 0.135 seconds behind Göttlicher.

Race 1: victory slips away on the final lap

Race 1 developed into what looked set to become one of Lehmann’s strongest races of the season.

While Geiger had to start from the pit lane due to the remaining penalty following the engine change in Oschersleben, Lehmann was able to fight at the front from the beginning.

For almost the entire 13-lap race, Lehmann was in control at the front and put himself in a strong position to take the victory.

“In the first race, everything was perfect until the final lap. I led almost every lap, and both the feeling on the bike and the strategy were exactly right to take the win.”

But on the final lap, the race changed completely.

While leading, Lehmann suffered a highside and was thrown from his Yamaha R9⁠. The crash immediately ended his race and what had looked like a potential victory became a DNF.

Lehmann escaped without a serious injury but took pain in his leg and ankle into Sunday’s second race.

“Then, on the final lap, my talent left me for a moment! I had quite a big highside and was thrown pretty painfully into the grass.”

The incident also opened the fight for the Race 1 victory behind him. Geiger, who had charged through the field after starting from the pit lane, eventually inherited the win after Daniel Blin received a three-second time penalty for a shortcut.

Fighting through the pain in Race 2

Despite the physical consequences of Saturday’s crash, Lehmann returned to the grid for Race 2 on Sunday.

This time Geiger controlled the race at the front, while Lehmann remained part of the battle for the podium together with championship rival Daniel Blin.

The effects of the crash became increasingly noticeable towards the end of the 13-lap race. Lehmann lacked the strength to challenge Blin in the closing stages but continued to bring the bike home in third position.

He crossed the line 3.628 seconds behind race winner Geiger and 1.826 seconds behind Blin, securing another podium for Team APRECO⁠.

“The second race on Sunday started with quite a bit of pain in my leg and ankle. In the final laps, I simply didn’t have enough strength left to fight with Blin. But I was still quite happy to finish the weekend on the podium.”

Third in the championship after Assen

Despite losing valuable points with Saturday’s DNF, Lehmann remains third in the EuroMoto Supersport championship.

After Assen, Geiger leads the standings with 193 points, followed by Blin with 180. Lehmann sits third with 140 points.

The result does not fully reflect the pace Lehmann showed during the weekend. With third place in both Free Practice and qualifying, almost an entire race spent at the front on Saturday and a podium despite riding in pain on Sunday, Assen once again demonstrated the potential of Lehmann and the Yamaha R9⁠.

For Team APRECO⁠, Sunday also provided a strong conclusion to its home weekend, with Geiger taking victory and Lehmann completing a double podium for the team.