Xerox Ducati's Noriyuki Haga dominated the second World Superbike race at Assen this afternoon, finishing three seconds in front of Britain's Leon Haslam who went one better than his first race result with a second place.
Haga was left a clear track when early leader and race one winner Ben Spies crashed out at the start of lap two, losing the front of his Yamaha R1 going into turn one. Haga put his head down and opened a gap, leaving Haslam, Max Neukirchner, Michel Fabrizio and Jakub Smrz to fight over the podium positions.
The four scrapped it out for a couple of laps until Fabrizio put a hard pass on the German and he was forced off the track and down a service road, making it a six-wheel fight for second.
As Haga put in faster and faster lap times, Haslam was looking for a way past Fabrizio but it took until lap 12 before he found an opening. Haslam managed to keep the Italian behind him to cross the line in second but Smrz took advantage of a mistake by Fabrizio on the very last lap to snatch the last podium position.
Haga's win puts him 60 points ahead of Spies in the championship table while Haslam has consolidated his third place - a position that no-one, including Haslam himself, would have dreamed possible.
Brits Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea had a race-long scrap for fifth place after both making terrible starts. The pair fought their way up through the field with Rea just besting the Huddersfield man.
Sterilgarda's Shane Byrne finished eighth just behind Carlos Checa but Stuart Easton crashed out and Tommy Hill retired with a technical problem on the penultimate lap.
