WorldSBK Assen: ‘I couldn’t walk, happy to do race distance’ - van der Mark

In the minds of many there was no way BMW Motorrad’s Michael van der Mark was going to get on the grid for his home WorldSBK event at Assen. Not just a few weeks after he broke his lower right leg badly in a mountain bike accident in mid-March. He needed two plates and lots of large screws to hold it together after his crash. And hold his ankle joint immobile for a time.

But he not only showed up at his home venue - hobbling very badly - but took advantage of the good weather at the TT Circuit to get cleared to ride (in stages, to make sure he was up to it). And then perform way better than anybody but himself expected.

Speaking to me on Thursday he spotted an ‘old step’ through bicycle at the back of his team pitbox and decided to see if he could ride it. One confident lap of the race trucks later he came back and said it was fine.

He looked far from fine in the lower leg department as he walked off, but went on to ride his factory M1000RR, qualify 15th, and then race to results of 13th, 15th and then a remarkable eighth.

Yes, some riders crashed, in race two in particular, but ten finished behind him. Most of them fully fit. He even won his personal three-rider-fight in the last laps.

It was, of course, no walk in his local park, but his grit and speed shone through.

“It was tough,” said Michael, even though his grin was fully back in the debrief area of the Media Centre. “Especially Friday, it was tough for me. I couldn’t do longer than four or five laps. So yesterday when I did the whole race distance, I was really happy with that.

“I scored some points, but I was just happy to be able to do the whole distance.

“Also fitness and training-wise, I couldn’t do a lot the last couple of weeks because I could not cycle a