Be Wiser Ducati’s Scott Redding re-took the Bennetts British Superbike series lead with a cruise to victory in the first race at Assen - helped in no small measure by a crash from title challenger Tommy Bridewell.
Redding and Bridewell, on the Oxford Racing Ducati, had pulled clear of Josh Brookes and Luke Stapleford but at half-distance, Bridewell lost the front into De Bult but he and the Panigale V4R escaped relatively unscathed.
Oppositely, Christian Iddon went down in the same place second later but his Tyco BMW cartwheeled through the gravel, spewing parts which will give his crew something to do at lunchtime.
All this enabled Redding to cruise away from the Brookes and Stapleford battle, which was joined with three laps to go by McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran.
The three swapped places a couple of times with the Buildbase Suzuki man leading on the last lap. Brookes took second halfway through the lap and O’Halloran followed him through but Brookes just had enough to take 20 points with O’Halloran beating Stapleford by 0.039s.
The former British Supersport Champion battled hard for the entire race and will be disappointed to go from second to fourth in a couple of laps.
WorldSBK refugee Xavi Fores fought his way through to fifth place and swapped paint with Showdown contender Danny Buchan’s FS-3 Kawasaki.
Tarran Mackenzie got faster as the laps ticked down and he kept his title hopes alive with seventh place, finishing one ahead of Peter Hickman’s Smiths BMW.
Bradley Ray and Hector Barbera completed the top ten. Dan Linfoot had to retire the TAG Yamaha after being in the podium fight early doors.
Ryan Vickers crashed on lap two which brought out the safety car but the RAF Reserves Kawasaki rider didn't look too badly injured.
