Former WorldSBK king Jonathan Rea emerged victorious from a three-way, race-one thriller at Assen this afternoon, saving enough rear tyre to fend off a last-corner attack from Alvaro Bautista.
The pair fought it out with reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu for the entire 21-lapper in Holland but it was Kawasaki’s Rea who held on to take Britain’s 300th WorldSBK race win.
Razgatlioglu was able to get a good start from pole position and looked to maintain the lead, but soon found himself under pressure from Rea, while Bautista was battling his way back from fifth on the grid. Rea first made his move on lap three on the exit of the chicane to move ahead of Razgatligolu and held the lead for a few laps before Razgatlioglu responded into the chicane on lap 13 - Razgatlioglu had looked for the move at Haarbocht but ran wide.
Rea made a move for the lead on lap 16 at Haarbocht, again on Razgatlioglu, as the race ebbed and flowed between the pair. On the same lap, Bautista made his move on Razgatlioglu for second place with the reigning champion having to settle for third place. As the 21-lap race reached its conclusion, Bautista closed in on Rea on the final lap and looked to make a race-winning move at the chicane, but the six-time king was able to hold on to claim his 99th victory with Kawasaki.
It also means Rea has claimed 16 wins at the TT Circuit Assen while he also claimed the 300th win for a British rider in WorldSBK. Second place for Bautista meant he claimed his 31st podium finish in WorldSBK and, with Razgatlioglu in third, means the trio have shared the podium ten times.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) bagged fourth place after running in the top three throughout the first parts of the race after getting an incredible launch from fourth place. He was 8.7s behind teammate Razgatlioglu but also 7.7s clear of Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) who finished in fifth place and claimed his first top-five finish in WorldSBK. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was the top Independent rider and top BMW rider with sixth place, just half-a-second back from Lecuona in fifth.
It was a strong result for German rookie Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) as he secured seventh place, despite dropping back in the early stages of the race. Oettl was able to move his way up the order to finish ahead of hard-tyre adorned Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in eighth, with Gerloff, like Oettl, fighting back after dropping back in the opening stages of the 21-lap race.
Despite losing ground in the opening stages of the race, Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad) battled back to claim ninth place and the first top-ten finish he has scored on the BMW M 1000 RR with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) rounding out the top ten. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) finished the race in 11th place after trying to move his way up the order, while Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport-Yamaha) took 12th place after putting on a last-lap move on home hero Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad).
Van der Mark, still visibly limping when walking following his broken leg, claimed 13th place on his first round of the 2022 season. He started on the same row as teammate Redding and ran ahead of him in the early stages of the race before Redding made progress. Italian Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing) claimed points with 14th place while Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) rounded out the points. The Frenchman had been running in the points but a late-race crash dropped him down the order.
Leon Haslam was 16th on his first race back with the Pedercini Kawasaki squad, missing out on a point by just two tenths, while he was also only a tenth ahead of Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha). The Japanese rider had to serve a long-lap penalty for a track limits infringement during the race which dropped him down the order. He was still able to finish ahead of rookie Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team), MIE Racing Honda Duo Leandro Mercado and Hafizh Syahrin and Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura).
Wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) was the first retirement of the race. At the end of Lap 8, he was in the gravel at the final chicane before re-joining the race. However, after he got going, he pulled off at Turn 1 and was out of the race. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had been running in the top five during the race but had to pull into the pits at the end of Lap 11 with a technical issue. Michael Rinaldi (Aruba Ducati) was another who had been running in the front group, but a crash meant he did not finish the race. He was able to rejoin but brought his Panigale V4 R machine back into the pits.
Razgatlioglu shatters record on way to pole
Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu bagged pole during Assen’s WorldSBK final qualifying this morning and shattered the lap record for good measure.
The reigning champion became the first WorldSBK rider to go under the 1’33s barrier with s 1’32.934 to beat Alex Lowes by half a second with former king Jonathan Rea third, who previously held the record with a 1’33.505.
With plenty of wind before the action commenced, it was a breezy session for the WorldSBK class. However, the times soon came flying in, with the pace red-hot as usual. It was a Kawasaki 1-2 in the early stages with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and teammate Alex Lowes at the top of the times, before Toprak Razgatlioglu launched in a fast time with his first lap time to go top. Teammate Andrea Locatelli was up into fourth with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fifth. There was a huge accident for his teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, with the two lapping together when Rinaldi suffered a big moment through Turn 14, before bailing out at Turn 15, his bike continuing on its own through the gravel. Thankfully, Rinaldi walked away but his Superpole session was done. Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) was sixth, backing up his strong FP3 showing.
With the final efforts now coming in, there was drama for Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) had a technical issue at Turn 4, whilst Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was in trouble too, running into the gravel at Turn 9. Meanwhile, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) found almost a second compared to his previous efforts across the weekend and was up to fourth, the Italian shining again. However, the big hitters were now coming into action, with Alvaro Bautista in third, whilst Philipp Oettl’s strong showing came to an end with a stunning final chicane save, although his lap and therefore his Superpole session was done.
But there was a storm coming in the shape of Kawasaki, Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes were both on a mission, with Rea going top first before Lowes bettered his teammate. Behind them, Razgatlioglu was on an absolute mission, with the Turkish rider on a storming lap. The reigning World Champion fired in a sensational 1’32.934, the first WorldSBK rider ever to set a 1’32s lap at Assen, thus taking a third consecutive pole and a sixth of his career to equal Cal Crutchlow and John Kocinski’s tally. Lowes and Rea complete the front row, with Lowes taking his first front row since Jerez last year and likewise under the previous lap record.
Heading up the second row of the grid, Andrea Locatelli took fourth after a very strong session, as he looks to fight for the podium, whilst one of the surprises was that Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was only fifth. A 1’34.018s lap time was his best of the weekend but not being able to get down into the mid-1’33s kept him away from a front row challenge. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) broke onto the top six for the first time in 2022 with the American completing the second row of the grid.
The third row of the grid saw the first of the BMW riders with Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) just missing out on the front two rows by less than three tenths of a second. The Frenchman headed of Iker Lecuona (Team HRC), with the Spanish rookie eighth for his second round and setting his fastest lap time of the weekend, albeit not as far up as he would’ve hoped for. The second Ducati on the grid was Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) securing ninth, whilst Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) completed the top ten.
After his big save in the final corner, Oettl took eleventh ahead of a lucky but equally unlucky Michael Ruben Rinaldi, with the Ducati riders completing the fourth row. Scott Redding could only salvage 13th place after he failed to improve his time in the final run, one place ahead of Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), after the home-hero put in a commendable effort in 15th. Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Leon Haslam (TPR Team Pedercini Racing), Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing), Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) and Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport Yamaha) completed the top 20. Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) was 21st, ahead of Roberto Tamburini who couldn’t improve due to his technical issue, Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) and Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team), who had a technical problem at Turn 9.
