Assen WSBK: Rea wins again in Superpole race
Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea took another straightforward World Superbike victory in Sunday morning's Superpole race at Assen to further extend his points advantage.
Watch: WSBK: Razgatlioglu slams Gerloff's "stupid mistake" after clash
Coming off the back of a relatively easy win on Saturday, Rea was again unstoppable in the 10-lap race encounter to determine the grid for Sunday's second full-distance race of the weekend.
From second on the grid, Toprak Razgatlioglu initially led the way, but it was Ducati's Michael Ruben Rinaldi who led the opening laps after an early pass on Razgatlioglu's Yamaha.
But neither were able to get away from Rea, who was soon back into second position before snatching the lead away from Rinaldi on the third lap.
By the end of the following tour, Rea was eight tenths to the good, and in the end he finished 2.8s clear of the field to grab his fourth Superpole race in five attempts so far this season.
Razgatlioglu initially dropped to fourth behind the second Ducati of Scott Redding, but fought his way back up the order to challenge Rinaldi for the runner-up spot on the final lap.
The Turkish rider made his move at the Turn 11 left-hander, crossing the line second, but a track limits violation meant he was retroactively demoted a position, allowing Rinaldi to keep the spot after all.
Razgatlioglu's Yamaha teammate Andrea Locatelli had also passed Rinaldi but was handed the same punishment, dropping him to fourth - albeit still the Italian's best result in WSBK so far.
Redding slumped to a disappointing fifth place, ahead of the second Kawasaki of Alex Lowes.
Tom Sykes (BMW) and Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha) once again battled their way up the order from the back of the grid to finish seventh and eighth respectively, while satellite Ducati riders Chaz Davies and Axel Bassani completed the top 10.
Michael van der Mark was an early crasher on the second BMW, while Honda suffered a wretched outing with Leon Haslam its top finisher in 12th.
Race results:
Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 |
Jonathan Rea
|
Kawasaki | 10 | |
2 | 21 |
Michael Ruben Rinaldi
|
Ducati | 10 | |
3 | 54 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu
|
Yamaha | 10 | |
4 | 55 |
Andrea Locatelli
|
Yamaha | 10 | |
5 | 45 |
Scott Redding
|
Ducati | 10 | |
6 | 22 |
Alex Lowes
|
Kawasaki | 10 | |
7 | 66 |
Tom Sykes
|
BMW | 10 | |
8 | 31 |
Garrett Gerloff
|
Yamaha | 10 | |
9 | 7 |
Chaz Davies
|
Ducati | 10 | |
10 | 47 |
Axel Bassani
|
Ducati | 10 | |
11 | 53 |
Tito Rabat
|
Ducati | 10 | |
12 | 91 |
Leon Haslam
|
Honda | 10 | |
13 | 32 |
Isaac Viñales
|
Kawasaki | 10 | |
14 | 36 |
Leandro Mercado
|
Honda | 10 | |
15 | 3 |
Kohta Nozane
|
Yamaha | 10 | |
16 | 9 |
Andrea Mantovani
|
Kawasaki | 10 | |
17 | 84 |
Loris Cresson
|
Kawasaki | 10 | |
18 | 19 |
Alvaro Bautista
|
Honda | 10 | |
60 |
Michael van der Mark
|
BMW | 0 | ||
View full results |
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