After starting the Superpole race in P7, Alvaro Bautista surged to the front making a series of sensational passes. The track conditions were dry and sunny providing the riders with optimum track conditions. Despite starting on pole, Jonathan Rea slipped behind going into the first turn of the race. He continued to move backward before finding an equilibrium and finished P5 from pole. Rea failed to improve on his result of P5 in race 1. In race 2 he finished P19, a disappointing finish to the weekend. Alex Lowes finishing third in Superpole.
Race 2
In race 2 Toprak Razgatlioglu took the win which shook up the championship point standings helping Alvaro Bautista to move into the top spot and Razgatlioglu ending the weekend 6 points back in second place. “Race 2 was like all weekend, really tricky and difficult because conditions were really changing,” Baustista said. “In the morning Superpole Race, I had a good feeling with the bike, and I could push 100%. The conditions were more stable than the rest of the weekend. It was the first time we had normal conditions. I enjoyed it, especially the first laps where I battled a lot with other riders to make a really impressive comeback. In the afternoon, I had a good start.
I tried to keep my pace. I was quite confident, making good lines, but then it started to rain a little bit and it basically never stopped lightly raining during the race. In one part of the race, it started to rain a bit harder in some areas. We slowed down a little bit, then, after I tried to push again, I think the rear tire cooled down too much and I couldn’t get the temperature to push at the end, so I didn’t have the same feeling as the start of the race. To finish on the podium was important. It’s been a really tough weekend.”
Razgatlioglu wasn’t available for comment after race 2 regarding his win.
Superpole Race Results from Assen
Assen Race 2 Results