WSBK Superbike Assen Course Sprint: Jonathan Rea sprints like a cannibal, Bautista penalized.

De Paolo Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com

Jonathan Rea was fast and aggressive on the last lap and got rid of Álvaro Bautista. Toprak Razgatlioğlu third again.

Superbike gave us another exceptional race and the same podium as the day before. Jonathan Rea passed Alvaro Bautista on the final lap to claim his 100th Kawasaki victory (115 overall). A result that was in play until the last meter: for the Northern Irishman, it is the seventeenth victory on this circuit: it has been 23 consecutive races that he has been on the podium here! Toprak Razgatlioğlu took advantage of the pole, he was in the lead for half a distance but even this time he could not contain his two rivals. The Turkish driver finished third, for the fifth time in a row, but after the race he gained a place: Álvaro Bautista was penalized for violating the track limits by the millimeter in the last corner. For Rea, this means +7 in the championship (instead of +5).

 

Jonathan Rea returns
The six-time world champion had a tricky start, as he had to follow pole sitter Toprak and Bautista, who started from the second row, who managed to place his Ducati in front of the Kawasaki in the first corner. For a few moments, Jonathan was also behind his teammate Alex Lowes, who was quickly overtaken and then forced to retire. Halfway through the race, Bautista attacked Toprak and that's when Rea realized that if he didn't follow in his footsteps, the Ducati rider would run away. It's said and done. Final lap verdict: Rea took the inside at turn eight and in the final sector, the Ducati courtyard, he expertly closed the gate. « Rea is so strong here, it's hard to beat him “admitted Bautista.

Shortened sprint
The race took place over nine laps instead of ten. The initial start was aborted due to a technical problem on Gabriele Ruiu's BMW, which left the grid. Before the mechanics returned to the grid for the 'fast start' procedure, Jonathan Rea moved to the front of the Kawasaki to try and keep the front tire warm: when they say you have to think of everything …

Race 2, a new program
The program for the second act of World Superbike is completed by race 2, which will start at 15:15 p.m. There are 21 laps left to go, and on Saturday Jonathan Rea completed the distance in 33'22″865 compared to 33'27″685 during the victorious race 2 a year ago. That's an improvement of almost 5 seconds, which shows just how high the bar has been set during this fantastic season.

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Classification credit: WorldSBK.com