Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista cruised to the second WorldSBK race win at Assen this afternoon as title rivals Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu crashed out.
Leader Razgatlioglu ran wide into Haarbocht and Rea took advantage, making a dash for the number one spot but the Yamaha man came back on to the track, and they both went down and out of the race, which handed Bautista the win.
Razgatlioglu bgot a good start from second on the grid and moved into the lead of the race ahead of Rea (Kawasaki). The pair, also running with Bautista, battled it out for the lead of the race in the early stages of the race. With the trio swapping places throughout, the battle came to a premature conclusion on lap six.
The incident allowed Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) to move into the lead of the race ahead of Bautista, although the Ducati rider soon made his move on the rookie to move into the lead of the race. From there, Bautista was able to pull away at the front of the field to win by nine seconds ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) after the Italian passed Lecuona on lap 18. Bautista’s victory is his 19th win in WorldSBK, running the #19 plate, and now the only rider to finish on the podium in all six races run so far.
Second for Locatelli means he has now scored his best WorldSBK result to date, and his fifth podium so far. Lecuona’s podium means Honda have claimed a podium finish for the first time since 2016 when Michael van der Mark (now BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed third. It also means Spain now has 150 podiums in WorldSBK, and Honda have now featured on the podium in 340 races. Lecuona also became the first Spaniard on a Honda on the podium at Assen since Carlos Checa in 2008, with third in race two. Checa was also a rookie in that season and also with the #7.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) finished in fourth place as he bounced back from two technical issues in race one and the Superpole race after a mega battle with Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). Redding finished in fifth place, his best finish since switching to BMW, after Bassani was given a three-second time penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits throughout the race.
Michael Rinaldi (Aruba Ducati) finished in seventh place to end a difficult weekend for the Italian rider, finishing five seconds clear of van der Mark in eighth place. Van der Mark was making his first appearance of the 2022 season and is still recovering from his leg fracture but will take home a top eight finish for his efforts in front of his home fans. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) claimed ninth place with two Hondas inside the top ten, while Frenchman Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) rounded out the top ten.
Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing) claimed his best WorldSBK result to date with 11th place, finishing just 0.004s clear of Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport-Yamaha) who claimed 12th place. Leon Haslam (TPR Team Pedercini Racing), making his WorldSBK return, took the team’s first points of the season as he finished in 13th place. San Marinese rider Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team) claimed two more points in his debut campaign with 14th place, with Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) in 15th and rounding out the points.
Wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) was 10 seconds away from scoring points at Assen, although he had to fend off a challenge from Malaysian rookie Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) with just a tenth between them at the end of the race. Rookie Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) rounded out the classified runners.
Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha) crashed out of the race on the opening lap at Haarbocht, with the Japanese rider taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash. Nozane was diagnosed with a fracture of the right fifth metatarsal bone. On the same lap, team-mate Garrett Gerloff made contact with Rea=, with the American rider not finishing the race after sustaining damage to his bike. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) crashed out of the race on lap two, while Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) was out of the race with a technical issue on the same lap.
