WSBK Superbike Assen Race 1: Rea wins the race, Bautista and Razgatlioğlu are beaten by the strongest.

De Paolo Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com

Another fantastic duel in Superbike: Jonathan Rea wins the first race, beating the usual Álvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioğlu. Sixteen triumphs in Assen…

Guys, is this how it's going to be until November? In the second of twelve rounds of the 2022 season, Superbike put on another breathtaking spectacle. Jonathan Rea, Álvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioğlu continued in Assen the close duel which began two weeks ago at Motorland Aragón. They continued, caught up and overtook each other until the final sprint which rewarded the King of Holland, Jonathan Rea. It was there that the Cannibal reached the astronomical milestone of sixteen victories. That's 114 in total, 99 of which have been made since he rode for Kawasaki in 2015. The Northern Irishman regains the lead in the world championship, two points ahead of the indomitable Alvaro Bautista.
Soil Razgatlioğlu, for his fourth third place in a row, is losing ground: he is now 23 points from the lead. This year will be difficult for the Turkish runner, who proudly wears number one.

Álvaro Bautista uses it hard
The three aces made different tire choices. Soil Razgatlioğlu, on pole, and Jonathan Rhea, on the front line, chose soft tires (SCX at the rear), whileAlvaro Bautista opted for SC0 medium, the only alternative. Obviously the Ducati would not have handled the softer tires well at this circuit, and that is a factor that will be taken into account as the season progresses. Initially, the three men had troublesome companions: Andrea Locatelli, who finished fourth detached, as well asAlex Lowes (technical problem) and Michael Rinaldi (fall) who were forced to give up. From mid-race, the three musketeers faced each other, with a constant back and forth which delighted the spectators present on the circuit and all the others at home.

Jonathan Rea shifts gears
Kawasaki has done a great job this winter. With the correct gearbox ratios, unlike 2021 where cutting the engine speed unbalanced all the references at the last minute, the Ninja gained traction and especially stability when braking. Last year, Soil Razgatlioğlu was like a butterfly, but this time, every time he tried to get ahead, he broke his teeth. On the last lap, the Turkish rider retired, giving way to Bautista. The Ducati rider tried until the last meter, but at the chicane, Jonathan Rea was too effective to attempt a miracle. We are now at two ties between Jonathan and Alvaro, while Soil Razgatlioğlu is still dry: the confrontations on Sunday will be hot.

The world championship of others
Rea, Bautista and Toprak are at a different level, while the others are in a different league. After saying that Andrea Locatelli, which is really effective here, we must mention the excellent fifth place of Iker Lecuona, which with the Honda absorbed the two crashes of the tests well. Easy, however, to consider the Fireblade outside the tunnel: also in Assen Bautista had managed to bring it to the same position. There was also a ray of light for BMW, thanks to the talent of the courageous Loris Baz, who took seven seconds for the highly anticipated team leader, Scott Redding, only ninth.

Read the original article on Corsedimoto.com

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com