Reigning Champion Alvaro Bautista battled his way back from fourth on the grid to claim Race 1 victory at Assen ahead of Rea and Razgatlioglu. Then went on to score the weekend hat-trick, winning the Superpole race and taking a commanding victory during race two! Check out all the action below…
Race One
There was no shortage of thrilling action in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the iconic TT Circuit Assen in Race 1 during the Pirelli Dutch Round as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed a hard-fought victory in the Netherlands. He overcame his rivals and a three-place grid drop to fight his way from fourth place on the grid to finish ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the 21-lap race.
Bautista was given a three-place grid drop for the Race 1 grid for slow riding on the racing line in the Tissot Superpole session, which dropped him from pole position to fourth place. He was into the top three from the start before fighting with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who passed him into the chicane on the opening lap. Bautista was able to respond at Turn 1 to move back into the top three, before he started chasing down Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK).
Razgatlioglu was running in second place and looked to close down Rea to put a bike between him and Bautista but the reigning Champion overtook Razgatlioglu at the chicane on Lap 5 to move into second place, before moving into the lead on Lap 9 when he overtook Rea at the high-speed right-hander of Turn 6 to move into the lead. Although Rea tried to keep the pressure on Bautista, the Spanish rider pulled a gap on the six-time Champion with the trio setting into their respective positions.
Bautista’s victory was his 38th WorldSBK win and puts Ducati on 398 in WorldSBK with the Italian manufacturer just two away from a milestone 400th victory. It was also Ducati’s 698th race on the podium, meaning they could hit 400 wins and 700 races on the podium in the same race. Rea’s second place was his 247th in WorldSBK, as well as his 24th at Assen which puts the track level with Aragon and Portimao.
Fourth place went to a charging Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) after he moved up the order. He had been running in seventh place, behind Lowes, Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) but, as the laps progressed, he made his way up the order. Locatelli made a move on Lowes at Turn 5 on Lap 15 before following that up two laps later by overtaking Redding. He closed the gap to Bassani and overtook him on the last lap to claim fourth spot; continuing his record of not finishing outside the top five in 2023 and at the TT Circuit Assen. Bassani was fifth at the end of the race, ahead of Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who passed Lowes and Redding in the closing stages, in sixth.
Lowes claimed seventh place at the end of the race, just over a tenth behind Aegerter, while Aegerter’s teammate, Remy Gardner, was eighth after a strong Race 1 for the Independent Yamaha team. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was another who made moves late on in the race as he claimed ninth place with Redding eventually finish in tenth. Redding had been fighting for fourth in the early stages of the 21-lap race but he fell down the order in the closing stages of the 21-lap race, finishing 0.259s behind Petrucci.
Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) was 11th after he bounced back from an incident with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) where Vierge ran wide at the chicane and lost positions when Rinaldi overtook him. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW), like a lot of riders, made moves in the latter stages of the race as he took 12th place; finishing just 0.187s ahead of Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) in 13th. Two Ducati riders completed the points-paying positions with Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) in 14th and Rinaldi in 15th.
Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) finished in 16th place after a late-race battle with French rider Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW), with Baz making his return from injury. Rookie Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) was 18th in his first race for Yamaha although he was fighting in the points during the early stages of the race. Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) was 19th ahead of Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO), Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team), wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) and Isaac Vinales (TPR by Vinales Racing) in 23rd.
Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was the first retirement of the race when he crashed out at Turn 1 on Lap 6, forcing him to retire from the race. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) retired after bringing his bike back to the pitlane after he suffered a technical issue.
WorldSBK Assen Race One Podium (Full Results Here)
1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +3.148s
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.891s
Tissot Superpole Race
The shortened Tissot Superpole Race in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was a fierce fight between Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) for victory at the TT Circuit Assen during the Pirelli Dutch Round. The pair could barely be separated throughout the eight-lap race as they secured a front row start for this afternoon’s Race 2 following their battle.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) got the holeshot as the lights went out and jumped into the lead of the race but Bautista was able to respond on the opening lap to re-claim first place before looking to build a gap. Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) both kept the pressure on Bautista while Rea’s teammate, Alex Lowes, was also in the four-rider group for victory.
As the race approached the final few laps, Bautista started to pull out a gap over Rea to claim victory in the Superpole Race and claim first on the grid for Race 2, ahead of Rea in second and Razgatlioglu in third. Victory for Bautista moved Ducati onto 399 wins in WorldSBK history and 699 races on the podium, while Rea’s second place set a new record for podiums at one track with 25. Razgatlioglu claimed his 89th podium in WorldSBK with third place.
Lowes finished in fourth place after losing time to Razgatlioglu, Rea and Bautista but he also had a margin of more than two seconds over Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) in fifth place after he had a fight with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). Locatelli got through on Lap 6 while Bassani and Aegerter were fighting and separated by just 0.273s at the end of the line.
Aegerter took seventh and he will lead the third row in Race 2 as he withstood a charging Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in eighth place. Aegerter held on by just 0.071s to take seventh spot in the eight-lap Superpole Race to secure a third-row start for Race 2. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) will start from ninth in Race 2 after taking the same position in the Superpole Race as he looks to emulate his podium from Mandalika.
The race was shortened to eight laps following a technical issue for Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) with possible fluid on the track, with the start delayed for this to be checked. Baz did not take part in the shortened Superpole Race following the issue.
WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race Assen (Full Results Here)
1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.916s
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +1.757s
Race Two
The battle for the lead involved Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the early stages of the race with all three taking their chance to lead throughout the race. Razgatlioglu made his move for the lead on Lap 3 but Bautista responded quickly, before Rea made his move on Lap 5 at the same Turn 8. Bautista was able to respond almost immediately to re-claim the lead and Rea’s race would come to an end on the following lap. He lost the front of his Kawasaki machine at Turn 9 on Lap 6 which put him out of the race.
It meant the fight for victory became between Bautista and Razgatlioglu, but the reigning Champion was able to pull out a gap over Razgatlioglu as he claimed his 40th WorldSBK win and Ducati’s 400th win in WorldSBK. Razgatlioglu was unchallenged as he took second place in Race 2 to continue his run of podium finishes, now at six races. He was directly ahead of teammate Andrea Locatelli in third, matching his podium tally from 2021 and doubling his count from 2022. Locatelli had to fend off a challenge from Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) who took fifth place.
Not only did Bautista’s victory give Ducati their 400th WorldSBK victory, it was also their 700th race on the podium to hit two milestones in one race. As it was Bautista’s 40th win, all on Ducati, he has exactly 10 per cent of Ducati’s WorldSBK victories. Razgatlioglu now has 90 podiums to his name while teammate Locatelli has ten, putting him level with Simon Crafar and Max Neukirchner while equalling his best podium tally to date.
Bassani had been running in the lead group during the first half of the race and was promoted to third following Rea’s crash but Locatelli made his way past his compatriot on Lap 8 at Turn 5 with a similar move to the one he made on Saturday against Bassani. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) backed up his sixth-place finish in Race 1 with fourth in Race 2. At the final chicane, the pair made contact with Bassani taking to the green and Aegerter staying on track. The incident was looked at and Bassani, who crossed the line in fourth, was demoted one place due to a track limits infringement on the final lap; Aegerter was therefore classified in fourth place, his best WorldSBK finish, with Bassani in fifth. It was yet another strong result for GRT Yamaha as Aegerter’s teammate, Remy Gardner, took sixth place after fighting his way through the field.
Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed seventh spot after a hard-fought race for the British rider, finishing just over a second behind Gardner but also withstanding a late charge from rookie Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team). Petrucci finished in eighth place but was only 0.075s behind Redding at the end of the 21-lap race as he charged through the field. Ninth belonged to Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) after a dramatic race for the Brit. On the sighting lap, Lowes went into the gravel and he was able to bring his bike back to the pits for the team to work on. He was able to start the race from the back of the grid, rather than fourth place where he had been scheduled to, but was able to slice his way through the field to ninth place. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) took tenth place to end a difficult weekend in the top ten.
German rider Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) took 11th place, just over a second behind Rinaldi, while he had to fend off Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who finished in 12th place and only four tenths behind Oettl. Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) took 13th place ahead of Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) was 14th ahead of Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing); Sykes claiming his first point since returning to WorldSBK for the 2023 campaign.
Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) was 16th and almost 10 seconds down on the points-paying positions and he had to fend off Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) in 17th place. Isaac Vinales (TPR by Vinales Racing), making his first start of the 2023 campaign, was 18th after a late fight with wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing). Ruiu was just 0.020s behind Vinales at the end of the race.
Three riders crashed in quick succession on Laps 2 and 3 in separate incidents. Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) crashed at Turn 9 on Lap 2, Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) crashed at Turn 16 and Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) crashed at Turn 1 on Lao 3. Van der Mark was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash and he was subsequently transported to hospital for further assessments on a suspect left femur fracture. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was another who retired from the race when he crashed at Turn 15 on Lap 8, while Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) crashed at Turn 4 on Lap 12; he did re-join the race but brought his bike into the pits and retired.
WorldSBK Assen Race 2 Podium (Full Results Here)
1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.915s
3 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +7.416s
Championship Standings After Assen (Full Standings Here)
1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 174 points
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 118
3 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +104
