The second day of WSBK in Assen ended with this Saturday dedicated to the first race. Despite a penalty which deprived him of a pole position acquired on the track, Alvaro Bautista continued his harvest of victories in front of Jonathan Rea already happy to be able to compete for a podium again. The relative disappointment comes from Toprak Razgatlioglu who admitted at the end of the Superpole that he was still in the lead after his two days of testing in Jerez on the MotoGP M1… Here are the words of the riders who got on the Batavian podium.
« I am very happy because I really enjoyed the race. It wasn't easy, because starting from fourth place I had to be very careful in the first laps, but fortunately I got a good start and gained a position » begins the official Ducati who still returns to his penalty inflicted by WSBK officials: “ I was a little nervous before the race, because of the penalty” admitted Baptist. " In any case, the penalty gave me more motivation and more aggressiveness at the start of the race" He gives his version of the facts: “ I was coming out of the pit lane and I had drivers behind me. I saw Bassani very close and Gerloff and Baz attacking turn 1. If I had cut, I would have risked Bassani hitting me. So I opened the throttle more to make turn 2 faster and stay clear of the line. I did it and I don't think I bothered Gerloff and Baz. The one who disturbed them was Bassani who was behind me and did not slow down to stay behind me. I couldn't turn off the gas because of Bassani, who disturbed the other two, so I don't think it's fair to penalize mer ”.
However… " Today the conditions were a little different from yesterday and this morning. During the first laps I tried to understand how the bike felt and where the limits were. ". He pursues : " then, when I was behind Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea, I understood that I could follow them and fight. Halfway through the race I felt like maybe I could push a little more. I took the lead, pushed to keep my pace and, with five laps to go, I started to have a bigger gap. Finally, I won. I am happy. My team gave me a very good bike and I had a lot of fun. Let's see if tomorrow's weather conditions remain the same ».
Alvaro Bautista considers his penalty imposed by WSBK officials unfair
The official Kawasaki completed: “ it was a tough battle. I gave everything. I have to thank my team, they gave me a very good bike and we made the most of it. I did everything I could to be with Alvaro, he had advantages at certain points of the track. I just cooked the front tire, but I gave it my all. Thanks to my team. I hope tomorrow we will be better in the last stages of the race ».
The final word goes to the factory driver Yamaha : " In my opinion, it was not an easy race, I did my best, but I'm not very strong in racing and I'm trying to get the best position possible. In the last laps I got closer to Jonathan Rea, but I still needed two laps to fight. At any rate, we finished the race in third position ».
See you tomorrow, Sunday for a Sprint then a second round in Superbike.
WSBK Assen J2: ranking of course 1
