Maik Duin has become Dutch Supersport Champion! Second and third-place finishes in the final two races in Assen were more than enough to secure the title. The 18-year-old rider and Racing Team Rijssen had a strong season in the Dutch Supersport class with their FIM Next Generation Supersport-spec Suzuki GSX-R750, which resulted in a great end result.
Duin started Saturday 5 October as leader in the Dutch Supersport Championship at the IDC season finale at the TT Circuit Assen. During this last race day of the season, there was one qualification session and two races on the program. On Friday during the training day, just like on Saturday morning in the qualification, Duin had a very good feeling with the bike. Unfortunately, due to a lot of traffic, the ideal lap time did not come out in the qualification. The Racing Team Rijssen rider recorded a fourth-fastest time, but more importantly, he could start the last races of the season with confidence.
In the first race, Duin had an excellent start and immediately ran in third place. The Suzuki rider managed to catch up with the leading positions and soon took over second place. This position would give Duin a very good starting position in the title fight for the second race. That is why the young rider decided not to take any unnecessary risks. Maik finished in second place and that meant that a top-10 result in the last race was enough for him to become Dutch Supersport Champion.
Duin also got off to a good start in the second race. For a while the 18-year-old rider from Rijssen rode in second place and that later became third, but this was still more than enough. Duin remained calm and finished third, which means he is the 2024 Dutch Supersport Champion! A great result partly due to the excellent cooperation between rider, team, and tuner.
Maik Duin: “Dutch Champion: Unbelievable! We had to work hard for it. We had a very good season and that resulted in this mega great result. I would like to thank all my sponsors who made this possible. And of course I would also like to thank my team and Marc Hoegee. See you at the Championship party!”
(Note: Racing Team Rijssen built their FIM Next Gen Supersport Suzuki GSX-R750 using a kit produced by Alabama-based Team Hammer, Inc.)