Affable Aussie Troy Bayliss has taken a double win at Assen this afternoon but was run nailbitingly close by Noriyuki Haga on the final lap. Haga built a last-corner pass from halfway round the final lap and was within spitting distance of Bayliss’ rear wheel but the Xerox Ducati man had just enough drive to outdrag Haga across the line.
Bayliss lead from start to finish and looked to have the measure of Haga’s Yamaha right through the race, building leads only to have Haga cut the advantage back again. The Aussie looked to have broken the Japanese with five laps to go, lapping six-tenths of a second quicker, but Haga proved to have Bayliss’ measure and came right back - only crossing the line four-tenths behind.
Ten Kate’s Carlos Checa rallied in the closing stages of the race to take third. In what is becoming a habit, Checa came from mid-pack, putting in fastest laps towards the end as his tyres came to him, and went past Max Neukirchner and Ruben Xaus with a handful of laps to go.
Spain’s Gregorio Lavilla, a former British Superbike Champion, managed to grab eleventh in front of Max Biaggi. His Stobart Honda was the fastest through every speed trap this weekend, so there’s obviously some set-up work to do.
Results:
1 1 21 T. BAYLISS AUS Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098 F08 22 1’39.562 276,5 1’38.428 276,5 25 25 178 1
2 2 41 N.HAGA JPN Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Yamaha YZF-R1 22 0.082 1’39.717 279,3 1’38.546 287,5 20 67 6
3 6 7 C. CHECA ESP Hannspree Ten Kate HondaHonda CBR1000RR 22 6.336 1’39.880 278,6 1’38.864 277,9 20 16 108 2
4 3 111 R. XAUS ESP Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 RS 08 22 7.575 1’39.648 274,4 1’38.587 271,6 13 81 5
5 5 76 M.NEUKIRCHNER GER Team Alstare Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 22 8.011 1’39.798 281,5 1’38.840 280,8 16 11 66 7
6 7 34 Y. KAGAYAMA JPN Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 22 13.999 1’39.860 280,1 1’39.029 282,3 13 10 41 11
7 15 36 G.LAVILLA ESP Ventaxia VK Honda Honda CBR1000RR 22 15.215 1’40.188 282,3 1’40.377 279,3 7 9 48 9
8 8 96 J. SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing by Grifo’sDucati 1098 RS 08 22 16.376 1’40.113 277,9 1’39.058 275,8 10 8 35 14
9 10 100 M.TAMADA JPN Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 17.269 1’39.977 279,3 1’39.307 275,8 8 7 28 15
10 4 11 T. CORSER AUS Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Yamaha YZF-R1 22 18.380 1’39.980 275,8 1’38.761 275,8 11 6 89 3
11 9 10 F. NIETO ESP Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 22 18.926 1’40.307 276,5 1’39.189 278,6 5 85 4
12 18 3 M.BIAGGI ITA Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 RS 08 22 21.452 1’40.106 277,2 1’40.673 275,1 6 4 54 8
13 19 31 K. MUGGERIDGE AUS D.F. Racing Honda CBR1000RR 22 23.794 1’40.362 274,4 1’40.695 272,3 2 3 25 17
14 22 44 R. ROLFO ITA Hannspree Honda Althea Honda CBR1000RR 22 29.847 1’40.370 276,5 1’40.869 273,0 2 20 19
15 17 38 S. NAKATOMI JPN YZF Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R1 22 30.252 1’40.396 280,1 1’40.657 277,2 1 1 9 21
16 11 55 R. LACONI FRA Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 31.249 1’40.118 275,8 1’39.613 276,5 5 21 18
17 23 194 S. GIMBERT FRA Yamaha France Ipone GMTY 9a4maha YZF-R1 22 31.328 1’40.888 270,9 1’40.906 269,6 3 24
18 20 86 A. BADOVINI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 39.814 1’40.945 274,4 1’40.714 272,3 3 3 23
19 21 54 K. SOFUOGLU TUR Hannspree Ten Kate HondaH Jor.nda CBR1000RR 22 49.956 1’41.095 277,2 1’40.741 278,6 4 26 16
20 24 83 R. HOLLAND AUS D.F. Racing - Bertocchi Honda CBR1000RR 22 51.554 1’41.288 274,4 1’41.633 271,6 10 20
21 26 88 S. AOYAMA JPN Alto Evolution Honda SuperbHiokenda CBR1000RR 22 51.642 1’41.202 276,5 1’42.203 273,7
22 29 77 L. NAPOLEONE FRA Grillini PBR Team Yamaha YZF-R1 22 1’02.682 1’41.845 264,3 1’43.414 273,0
23 25 28 A. VOS NED Fabricom - MCT Racing Ducati 1098 RS 08 22 1’02.729 1’41.678 267,5 1’41.662 274,4
—————————————————————————Not Classified:—————————————————————————
RET 12 84 M.FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098 F08 10 12 Laps 1’40.694 273,0 1’39.859 276,5 37 13
RET 13 23 R. KIYONARI JPN Hannspree Ten Kate HondaHonda CBR1000RR 8 14 Laps 1’39.791 281,5 1’40.000 279,3 9 39 12
RET 27 22 L. MORELLI ITA Alto Evolution Honda SuperbHiokenda CBR1000RR 4 18 Laps 1’42.289 263,6 1’43.030 266,2