Assen produced a powerful case of déjà vu with the results sheets as World SBK Champion Jonathan Rea again prevailed at the flat and historic track in the north of the Netherlands to utterly own round four of the series. Number ‘1’ was again a double race winner for the second year in a row and for the third time in total around the Assen kinks but the manner of the victories again satisfied even the largest appetite of any road racing fan.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Rea spearheaded an action-packed tussle for the podium on Saturday and reached the chequered flag by 1.6 seconds ahead of the rider who obliterated the rest of the field two weeks previously at Aragon in Spain; Chaz Davies. The triumph continued Rea’s 100% rostrum record, which – including his feat on Sunday at Assen as well – now stands at five fixtures and ten sprints, the only rider to appear in the top three from every start in 2016.
“To score 25 points when it really matters is incredible for me, for my strength inside, and for my championship,” JR said on his fourth victory of the campaign. “I want to thank all the Dutch fans because they give me a great reception every time we come here and thanks to my team for their hard work and keeping my spirits up.”
“After Aragon I felt we were a bit deep in the sea and now I feel our heads are above water,” Rea added on Saturday and the watery imagery would almost come back to haunt him.
The often-turbulent climate at Assen erupted on Sunday morning (with rainfall having coated the paddock during Friday practice) and threw the second World Superbike outing into the unknown. The grid started on wet tyres and the Kawasaki duo of Rea and Tom Sykes fronted the pack until drying conditions forced riders to start entering the pits to swap to slick rubber. Rea dropped back through the field until he elected to make an early wheel change, rejoined the race down in fourteenth and then started slicing up the ranking to lead by the fourteenth lap of twenty-one. It was a superb example of judgement and bravery that allowed Rea become just the second athlete to boast more than seven wins at one track in World SBK and on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the circuit playing host to the series.
“I said to Pere, my crew chief, before the start of the race that the track should dry out pretty fast,” said Rea. “We have had previous experiences like that. I have no idea why I go so well at Assen. It is nothing to do with the track itself. We got a double victory but it was not like Australia where I had more pace than the rest. We controlled the situations this weekend when we had to, we were calm and clever when we had to be, and as a team our strength shone through to get two strong results. We got the maximum from what we could achieve here so I am super, super, happy.”
Tom Sykes set off from Pole Position at Assen and made an uncharacteristic slip on Saturday that saw his Ninja ZX-10R suffering from severe gravel rash. On Sunday Sykes accompanied teammate Rea through the same tyre drama as the Kawasakis formation-flew to the front, the rear and then back to the peak of the SBK contingent. Sykes recovered some ground in the championship standings to Davies thanks to his about-face on Sunday and is now just fourteen points behind the Ducati man. Rea controls the series to the tune of forty-five points.
“Our pace was very strong and second position is not too bad,” the 2013 world champ said. “Yesterday we were in the gravel and today finishing in second place is a good result. We have had strong pace all weekend, in the wet and the dry, and in warm-up we found a good rhythm this morning. It has just been one of those weekends where the results do not fit what we deserve – but that is racing.”
Yamaha’s Alex Lowes went a decent 8-7 on the new R1 and after having set the pace at Assen through the initial sessions; his seventh position in the second race was his second-highest classification of the season so far.
World SBK reconvenes in a fortnight around the exciting combination of sweeps and chicanes that formulate the renowned layout at Imola, Italy.
Credit: Monster