Jonathan Rea clinches triple winnings at Assen, starring in an incredible comeback in the second race for dodging an incident between Garrett Gerloff and Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The WorldSBK riders arrived in Assen, the Netherlands under cloudy skies, rested and above all, eager to see how the improved track, which has been resurfaced since this championship was last contested in Assen in 2019. Jonathan Rea immediately confirmed that the changes in the asphalt benefited him, as he already did during the first day of action, he made the most of the softer asphalt to obtain a narrow lead of 0.121 seconds over Garrett Gerloff.
Alex Lowes, for his part, continued to get to know his new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR a little more in FP1, to later improve his pace in the second session, finishing the day in ninth position. He came within 0.568 seconds off the best lap of his teammate, Rea, while gaining confidence and experience thinking about the rest of the weekend.
Saturday's race was red-flagged, stopping on lap 19 instead of 21. However, Rea had already taken a sufficient lead, namely three seconds. In addition, that same day, Rea took his fifth consecutive Tissot Superpole of the season, after two attempts to secure the best time of his return. Lowes was fifth in the Superpole, starting the race from the second row of the grid.
Rea crossed the line at the head of the race in each and every one of the laps except one, while Toprak Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding also set a good rhythm along with the Northern Irish rider, who did not have an easy time.
Alex was also running close to the leading group for the first two laps until he suffered a fall, albeit at low speed and without injury. With a damaged handlebar, he was unable to get back on the tarmac and the race was over for him.
Already on Sunday, Jonathan Rea got up wanting to win the third race of the weekend on one of his favorite circuits, also encouraged by the fact that the heavy night rains had given way to a clearer sky. In fact, rain delayed the morning warming, as there were still some flooded areas around the track.
During the race, Rea was forced to pick up the pace to overtake series leader and rookie Andrea Locatelli. Jonathan narrowed his lead until finally winning the 21-lap race by 1,605 seconds. Scott Redding took second place and Rea's closest rival in the championship, Razgatlioglu, was involved in an incident in the first corner in which he fell and did not score.
Lowes didn't end up as happy as his teammate. In fact, on Sunday it was complicated after his first crash in the race. Despite everything, he pushed as hard as he could and took sixth place in the Tissot Superpole Race.
In race two, his seventh place earned Alex enough points to maintain fourth place in the overall championship standings, after the first five rounds of the season had already been completed.
After a weekend off, the WorldSBK riders will race from August 6th to 8th at the Most circuit in the Czech Republic.
As for the WorldSSP300, Ana Carrasco, who had just won at Misano, fell on the last lap of the first Assen race. At the second one, she crossed the finish line in 14th place, but a penalty for going off the asphalt boundary put her one place lower, in 15th. Ana is now 8th in the general classification of the championship, just a few points behind the riders who precede her to fourth position.
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