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Assen BSB: A double Dutch victory for Kawasaki's Haslam

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam has closed the gap in the overall championship standings to seventeen points on fellow title challenger, Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne, after doing the MCE British Superbike double at Assen.

Haslam bagged maximum points once again, and in a repeat of race one out-paced Byrne to take the victory for the second time today. Showdown rider, Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran completed the Dutch podium.

Initially it was pole-man O’Halloran who got the hole-shot from team-mate, Linfoot and Ellison. It was not a good start for Byrne who found himself outside the top ten on the opening lap. Ellison then soon charged ahead and on the second lap at Haarbocht went into the lead with O’Halloran, and now Haslam close behind. Then Haslam made a move to go past the two riders on the penultimate corner to take the lead for the first time, only for Ellison to bite back at Geert Timmer on lap three of eighteen.

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Mossey was another rider who was ploughing on ahead and edged into fourth after passing the Fireblade of fellow Showdown rider, Linfoot. But on lap four Byrne was making waves on track and was up to eighth. In a repeat of race one, all the rider’s opted for the harder rear SC1 tyres. Haslam, Linfoot and O’Halloran went with the harder SC2 front compounds. Meanwhile Ellison went wide allowing Mossey and O’Halloran to go back through with twelve laps remaining.

But Australian, O’Halloran was not giving up and charged down Haslam at Hoge Heide and found himself heading the pack once again on lap eight. Meanwhile Ellison regained his composure and overtook Haslam to go into second and was hot on the heels of the leading Fireblade.

Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper was having a solid race out on the TT circuit and was up to seventh on lap nine and was holding off the attacks of title challenger, Byrne. The lead changed multiple times with the fight turning into a three-way battle for the win between Haslam, Ellison and O’Halloran. But Linfoot also wanted to join the party and was matching the pace of his team-mate to turn the fight for maximum points into a four-way powerhouse on the Dutch track.

Elsewhere a bit further down the field, Byrne overtook both Cooper and Mossey to go into fifth with five laps left to the final race of the day, and was closing down on the two Honda’s and JG Speedfit machines.

Now Byrne was surging ahead and at Haarbocht made a move that stuck on Linfoot on lap fourteen and had the other Fireblade of O’Halloran as his next target. But the likeable Aussie was not having any of it and went into second after overtaking Ellison, and Byrne followed suit to go into third, then a lap later passed the Honda at Haarbocht to propel his Panigale into second.

On the penultimate lap Byrne closed the gap on rival, Haslam and the title fighters found themselves locked in a duel once again, and it was a case of déjà vu, just like in race one and it was Haslam who took the win again.

When the chequered flag appeared O’Halloran held on to the final podium spot, with Linfoot, Mossey, Laverty completing the top six. Ellison fell off the pace and finished seventh, with Iddon, Parkes and Cooper rounding off the top ten. Smrz, Irwin, Jackson, Hickman and Hopkins all ended the day inside the points too. With two strong races, Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty leads the Riders Cup challenge, going into the final round at Brands Hatch.

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