2012 World Superbikes - round 3
RACE 1
The opening Superbike race started in the dry, but when the rain started falling, so did the riders, bringing out the red flag and a race restart. Race one was eventually run over nine fully wet laps that showed the class of Guintoli in the slippery conditions. The Frenchman won his first ever race in the WSBK category, finishing a little over 2.5 seconds ahead of Italy's Davide Giugliano and reigning world champion Checa in a Ducati clean sweep of the podium. Both Checa and BMW's Leon Haslam held the lead for sections of the race, with Ayrton Badovini looking a contender for the win before he crashed on lap 6. Guintoli's win was also the first for a French rider in WSBK since Regis Laconi in 2005.
Honda's Jonathan Rea crashed out on the first lap of the restarted race, and was joined by Leon Camier, Leon Haslam, John Hopkins, Badovini and Chaz Davies on the non-finishers list. Rea injured the ring finger on his right hand and required a pain killing injection just to make the grid for the second race.
Kawasaki's Tom Sykes qualified well, and topped the Superpole session, but had a cooked engine (caused by a faulty water pump hose clip) in the first, rain-interrupted race, and did not take the field for the restart. Neither did Effenbert Liberty Ducati's guest rider for this round, Canadian Brett McCormick, who crashed out of the opening race before the rain started falling.
Mark Aitchison finished last, three laps down on the leaders, showing the new Grillini BMW squad still have a lot of development work to do.
RACE 2
Despite the second race being declared 'wet', Rea's crew opted to run with slick tyres on the drying track and the 25-year-old Brit eventually fought his way through the pack to be sitting behind Guintoli and Jakub Smrz. When the Czech Effenbert Liberty Racing rider crashed on lap 19, it opened the door for Rea to pass Guintoli and go on to claim a three-second victory over the Frenchman, with Eugene Laverty taking his first podium for the year in a blanket finish ahead of BMW teammates Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam.
It was Rea's fourth win in the last six races at the 'Cathedral'.
"I'm so happy for the race two result, especially for all the guys back at the workshop. We know that the package isn't where it should be but they continue to push 100 percent. I felt I had a little more oomph this weekend - I've struggled to get a really happy feeling with the front forks but we're getting them to work now."
Sykes was in a podium place for the first half dozen laps, but fell back through the field with wet tyres on the drying track, eventually finishing sixth. After a horror run with crashes and injuries, Hopkins managed to keep it upright for race 2, but finished well down the field in eleventh place.
Aitchison was 16th in race two, but finished ahead of Checa, who entered the pits midway through the race to switch tyres after a gamble with wets didn't pay off, and rejoined in last place.
Although Max Biaggi didn't figure in the podium placings at Assen, his 4-8 finishes were enough, assisted by Checa's race 2 misfortunes, to creep back into the championship lead on 92pts, albeit only one ahead of Checa (91), with Sykes dropping back to third (79) after his disappointing weekend at Assen.
ASSEN WORLD SUPERBIKE RESULTS
Race one: 9 laps
1 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati 18mins 38.395secs
2 Davide Giugliano Ducati +2.633
3 Carlos Checa Ducati +3.031
4 Max Biaggi Aprilia +3.927
5 Eugene Laverty Aprilia +4.374
6 Michel Fabrizio BMW +11.359
7 Jakub Smrz Ducati +26.412
8 Niccolo Canepa Ducati +37.562
9 Marco Melandri BMW +49.896
10 Leandro MercadoKawasaki +1:08.847
15 Mark Aitchison BMW +3 laps
Fastest lap: Guintoli - 1:57.793
Race two: 22 laps
1 Jonathan Rea Honda 36:45.936
2 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati +2.819
3 Eugene Laverty Aprilia +12.638
4 Marco Melandri BMW +12.762
5 Leon Haslam BMW +12.764
6 Tom Sykes Kawasaki +20.393
7 Ayrton Badovini BMW +36.317
8 Max Biaggi Aprilia +37.747
9 Davide Giugliano Ducati +41.350
10 Michel Fabrizio BMW +43.930
16 Mark Aitchison BMW +1 lap
Fastest lap: Checa - 1:38.092
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (AFTER THREE OF 14 ROUNDS):
1 Biaggi 92
2 Checa 91
3 Sykes 79
=4 Guintoli 66
=4 Melandri 66
6 Rea 65
7 Haslam 58
8 Laverty 56
9 Smrz 39
10 Giugliano 37
24 Aitchison 1
The next round of the 2012 World Superbike Championship will take place at Monza, Italy, on May 4-6.
