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The king of Superbike is back: Álvaro Bautista crowns a sensational comeback and wins the Superpole Race at Assen by force. The Spaniard climbs to the top of the world championship and takes the best position on the starting grid for race 2. Nicholas Bulega dominated the proceedings until a lap and a half from the end, then he lost grip and could not contain the assault of the world champion. What a race!
Back to normal
In the end, Assen gave us a normal race, with sunshine and a dry track, even if the asphalt remained very cold, barely 13°C (7°C in the air). This is an important fact, because the entire grid has adopted the SCQ rear tire, the super-soft, which in such cold temperatures must be handled sparingly. Baptist
was the most aggressive, precise, merciless, but without compromising grip. He made a mistake on the first lap and found himself in ninth place. But he is not discouraged, on the contrary, he launches into the attack with the ferocity of a tiger. One by one, he makes them bend, and with a lap and a half to go, he makes short work of his teammate Nicolò Bulega. The Ducati rookie is in the middle of a crisis after a race that he largely led. There was no dispute.
From 7th on the grid to FIRST 😳😳😳😳 @ 19Bautista #DutchWorldSBK 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/JxCyFz311l
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) April 21, 2024
Bautista 60
This is the 60th triumph of a Álvaro Bautista in dazzling form. The five kilos of ballast have already been digested, the combination with the Ducati is once again close to perfection. The ideal Sprint podium was completed by a alex lowes became solid on the Kawasaki, which once again made the defector cry
Jonathan Rhea. Riding his Yamaha, he got off to an excellent start, leading the chasing group behind Bulega, before finishing fifth, also overtaken by his famous teammate Remy gardner. Here the six-time world champion has won 17 times, but today he is far from those levels. Was leaving Kawasaki a mistake? Doubt is creeping in more and more, probably also in his head.
Iannone: chemistry is difficult
The particular environmental conditions played a bad role in
Andrea Iannone, who entered into crisis from the start, finishing the race in an inconsolable 15th place. This Dutch weekend, strewn with pitfalls and traps, showed the former MotoGP rider how difficult the Superbike environment is. Reconciling the use of the softest tire with asphalt conditions, temperatures and settings is a complicated alchemy. It took years for the current giants to learn how to do it, Andrea is only on her third outing.
Toprak Razgatlioglu also paid the price, being very aggressive at the start, then dropping to ninth place. In race 2, he will start from the third row.
Iker Lecuona offside
Iker Lecuona
did not start, having been deemed unfit to return after a big crash during the third practice session on Saturday morning. here is photo sequence of the incident. The Spanish Honda HRC rider suffers from a sprained right knee. One more zero in the balance between the driver and the team. Lecuona will now have plenty of time to recover, as Superbike will be away for almost two months: the next event will take place on June 15 and 16 in Misano. Previously, a test session will take place at the Cremona circuit, on May 23 and 24, in which all the teams will participate.
Result of the Superbike Superpole race in Assen:
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Paul Gozzi
Classification credit: WorldSBK.com
