Superpole: Carlos
Checa (Althea Racing) secured his third pole in three race meetings
with a fabulous 1 minute 35.292 second lap in the final Superpole
session, leading home Jakub Smrz (Effenbert - Liberty Racing Ducati) and
Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team). The final place on the
front row for Sunday's races was taken by Noriyuki Haga (Pata Racing
Team Aprilia).
Last year's double winner Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) went fifth fastest, and world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) was sixth. Top Kawasaki rider was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) but Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) lost his chance of pole by crashing in the final minutes and he now starts the races from the back of row two.
Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) and Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) just missed out on the final period of Superpole qualifying but made it into the top ten.
The
first Superstock 600 race of the season was a thrilling three-rider
fight all the way, with Michael van der Mark (Ten Kate Junior Honda)
holding off a last chicane charge from Romain Lanusse (MRS Yamaha Racing
France) and a race-long challenge from Aussie Jed Metcher (MTM-RT
Motorsports Yamaha).
After 12-laps of intense
competition the local 18-year-old rider enjoyed a margin of victory of
0.540 seconds from Lanusse, with Metcher almost snatching second place
as an audacious move by Lanusse on van der Mark saw the Frenchman have
to run wide and fight hard to keep second place.
Superstock: Ducati riders hold off BMW challenge. In the opening race of the Superstock season Davide Giugliano (Althea
Racing Ducati) held off a strong challenge from Danilo Petrucci (Barni
Racing Team Ducati) to secure the win at Assen. Pole man Sylvain Barrier
(BMW Motorrad Italia Superstock) slid back from his early challenge to
go third.
Lorenzo Baroni (Althea Racing Ducati) had an eventual clear fourth but Bryan Staring (Pedercini Team Kawasaki) had an impressive ride through from 12th on lap one to give the new Kawasaki Ninja a fifth in its race debut. Andrea Antonelli (Team Lorini Honda) was the top Honda rider, sixth, having been passed by Staring late on.
Superbike Race 1: Rea takes his first win of the 2011 season. Jonathan
Rea (Castrol Honda) overcame the early battles at Assen to record his
and Honda's first win of the 2011 season, beating Max Biaggi (Aprilia
Alitalia) by 0.7 seconds and championship leader Carlos Checa (Althea
Racing) by 3.5 seconds in race one.
Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike) overcame a slow start to claw his way back to fourth, just ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare). With Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) behind Fabrizio there were six different machines inside the top six places. Top Kawasaki runner was Mark Aitchison (Pedercini Team Kawasaki) in tenth. Leon Haslam, Corser's team-mate, survived a fast early crash to recover to a top-12 finish.
Second was Fabien Foret (Hannspree
Ten Kate Honda) some seven seconds back, with third closely place
contested but eventually taken by Broc Parkes (Kawasaki Motocard.com).
Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Honda) went fourth. In the championship standings,
crashes from some of the leading contenders closed up the points totals,
with Davies' team-mate Luca Scassa still leading on 50, Parkes on 47,
and Davies on 45.
Supersport: Chaz
Davies (Yamaha ParkinGO) took his first win in the WSS category after
heading up a 16-lap race that was restarted twice after red flag
incidents.
Superbike Race 2: Points leader takes win after a day of drama. A
delayed start to the second Assen race made no difference to the
outcome, as Checa and Biaggi played a high-speed game of cat-and-mouse.
Biaggi looking to have it wrapped up as he passed long time leader Checa, only for the Spanish rider to reassert himself on the final lap and win his fourth race of the year.
A battle between Rea and Melandri ended when the Italian star fell, leaving Rea on the podium in third. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) was fourth, while a multiple rider fight for fifth went to Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport), from Laverty, Fabrizio, Haga, Smrz and Guintoli.
In the points standings Checa now
leads by 132 to Biaggi's 89. Melandri is third on 85, Rea jumping to
fourth with his new total of 79 points.
