ADAC Northern Europe Cup: Buis and Soppe victorious in thrilling finale at Assen as Georgi is crowned GP champion

• Jeffrey Buis celebrates maiden win in Standard category
• GP class: Walid Khan Soppe efficiently converts pole into win
• Tim Georgi claims GP title

Assen: The ADAC Northern Europe Cup reached its climax on Sunday with two gripping final races on the TT Circuit Assen staged as part of the British Superbike Championship. Jeffrey Buis (15, NED), riding on his home track, registered a maiden series win in the Standard category, while Walid Khan Soppe (17, NED) won the GP class. Tim Georgi (17, GER) at last made sure of the Grand Prix class title on an exciting final weekend.
 
In the second Standard class race of the weekend and last one of the season, Dirk Geiger (15, GER) started from pole position after wrapping up the title on Saturday. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé soon found himself caught up in thrilling wheel-to-wheel action which continued from the first to the final lap and led to numerous changes of position.
 
Leon Orgis (16, GER), Luca de Vleeschauwer (15, BEL), Toni Erhard (16, GER), Philipp Freitag (20, GER), and Geis and Buis were locked in a titanic struggle from the very first lap. De Vleeschauwer was first to take the chequered flag but was immediately hit with a 0.5-second penalty for having strayed off track limits on the last chicane. This promoted Buis to race winner. Meanwhile, Orgis came home ahead of Kiefer Racing team-mate Geiger by just 0.049 seconds to take second place. Geiger finished third, followed by de Vleeschauwer, after the time penalty had been factored in, and by Erhard in fifth place. 
 
Having already secured the title on Saturday, Geiger boosted his final points tally to 222. That left Freitag and Orgis to scrap over the runner-up spot. Orgis finished on 166 points ahead of Freitag on 152. Erhard and de Vleeschauwer complete the Top Five in the Standard championship on 134 and 128 points respectively.
 
In the GP class, Walid Khan Soppe (17, NED) immediately converted his pole position into a race lead. Tim Georgi (17, GER) followed in P2 and effortlessly retained the position through to the end. While Soppe was securing the race win, his Freudenberg Racing team-mate Georgi banked the vital 20 points for second, which was more than enough to see him clinch the title in the GP class of the ADAC Northern Europe Cup.
 
Guest starter Maximilian Kofler (17, AUT) got himself onto the podium for a third-place finish, albeit one that did not count towards the championship. Sasha de Vits (15, BEL) once again gave of his very best in the GP class, but fell 0.383 seconds short of making it onto the podium. Ruben Bijman (14, NED) completed the Top Five.
 
ADAC Sports Foundation protégé, Georgi thus takes the GP class title after eleven exciting races, having scored 165 points to Soppe’s 146. Ernst Dubbink (28, NED) finishes the season in third place on 131 points, followed by Jan-Ole Jähnig (16, GER), who was unable to compete at Assen but whose 128 points scored during the campaign were enough to put him in fourth place. Kevin Orgis (17, GER), who had a frustrating weekend in the Netherlands, rounds off the Top Five on a score of 109 points.

Comments from the Top Three

Jeffrey Buis (15, NED), winner, ADAC NEC Standard:
“That was a fantastic race. After the start, I thought I’d hang back and see the lines being taken by the others before I got involved in any overtaking. But in any case, I didn’t really have any other choice, as it was all pretty hectic, especially on the final corner. But in the end, I managed to win. I just took my chance and was able to claim a maiden victory. I am very happy about that. My start to the season was a bit difficult, but I was gradually able to improve, and this has been the perfect finale.”

Leon Orgis (16, GER), second, ADAC NEC Standard:
“My start was OK but not really perfect, and on the first corner, I lost a lot of positions and contact with the leading group due to a brush with another rider. Over the course of the next six laps, though, I managed to catch up with them, but only with a lot of effort. On the last three laps, I was able to go on the attack again, and going into the final corner of the final lap, I chose the ideal line while everyone else was scrapping with each other, and that gave me the necessary momentum to get to the line ahead of Dirk. I am very happy about this, but also about finishing the season as championship runner-up, which I made sure of with this great result.”

Dirk Geiger (15, GER), third, ADAC NEC Standard:
“My start was relatively good, and I was in among the leading group. We had some really great wheel-to-wheel action which kept swinging one way and then the other. However, I had a few problems in keeping to the ideal line, but I did my very best to get a great final result. On the last lap, I was in front of Leon, but Luca suddenly came roaring up behind in the chicane and that caused me to open up. That gave Jeffrey the chance to pull past on the inside. I didn’t come out of the corner very well, and then Leon also went past. Third place is certainly good, but second would obviously have been even better. On the whole, it was a really great race. “

Walid Khan Soppe (17, NED), winner, ADAC NEC GP:
“What a fantastic race! I fought hard against the two fast British riders who were ahead of me. I was battling with one of them for the whole duration. On the last lap, though, I made a mistake in the chicane and I almost came off my bike. But in the end, I managed to stay on and get the win in our class. I am very happy about the victory. The season in general has been really good. I’ve learnt a lot, and I am delighted to have come away with P2 in the championship.”

Tim Georgi (17, GER), second, ADAC NEC GP:
“The whole race was really fun. In the beginning, it was difficult to make any progress from eighth overall. I gradually tried to build up a good rhythm and to play it safe, because I wanted to bring this result home, especially after things went so badly wrong yesterday. I wanted to stay out of any scraps. I’ve made things incredibly difficult for myself in the last few races, but that’s also part of racing. Now we have clinched the title, and I am very happy about that.”

Maximilian Kofler (17, AUT), third, ADAC NEC GP:
“I spent the whole race in among a huge bunch where there were constant battles for position and overtaking attempts. It was really fun. In the end, I managed to come through all right and get myself onto the podium. In the first race yesterday, things did not go all that well. I started from way back and had problems in the rain. But now I can be really satisfied with the way the weekend turned out.”