Race report
World Superbike Assen
Assen WSBK: Rea beats home hero van der Mark to win
Jonathan Rea triumphed in the first World Superbike race at Assen, after withstanding race-long pressure from Michael van der Mark and Chaz Davies.
David Gruz
Edited: Apr 21, 2018, 2:59 PM
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Kawasaki rider Rea was up to the lead on the opening lap from second on the grid with van der Mark, starting seventh, making quick moves on Alex Lowes and Xavi Fores to run second.
The local rider put pressure on Rea in the first half of the race, and managed to take the lead at Turn 15 for two laps before the reigning champion retook first with an identical move.
Van der Mark's Yamaha teammate Lowes held third up until that point but then he started to dramatically lose pace with Chaz Davies taking his position.
Ducati man Davies then also passed van der Mark for second but, with five laps remaining, the duo switched places again.
However Rea was then able to pull away and he eventually took the chequered flag by 0.981s.
Van der Mark collected his 12th WSBK podium in second, with Davies holding off the second Kawasakk of Tom Sykes for third.
Sykes passed Ducati duo Xavi Fores and Marco Melandri, who struggled for pace during the late stages, to finish fourth.
Althea BMW's Loris Baz was seventh, followed by Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing), who beat Jordi Torres (MV Agusta) by four tenths.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) completed the top 10 with Lowes dropping as low as 12th behind Roman Ramos.
The two crashers of the race were Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia), who fell at Turns 7 and 5 respectively.
Race 1 results:
Pos.RiderBikeTime/Gap 1 
Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 33'40.360 2 
Michael van der Mark Yamaha 0.981 3 Chaz Davies Ducati 1.282 4 Tom Sykes Kawasaki 1.413 5 
Xavi Fores Ducati 8.625 6 
Marco Melandri Ducati 14.903 7 
Loris Baz BMW 17.301 8 
Leandro Mercado Kawasaki 21.482 9 Jordi Torres MV Agusta 21.938 10 
Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki 24.939 11 Roman Ramos Kawasaki 27.049 12 Alex Lowes Yamaha 33.226 13 Davide Giugliano Aprilia 35.630 14 
PJ Jacobsen Honda 38.480 15 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 38.604 16 
Yonny Hernandez Kawasaki 44.690 17 
Ondrej Jezek Yamaha 51.135 Ret Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 16 laps
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