WorldSBK Assen SPole Race Results | Double Dutch for Jonathan Rea at Assen

Kawasaki's Jonarhan Rea increases his recovered 2021 WorldSBK Championship lead with a second Assen win in the Superpole Race

Jonathan Rea - Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10RR, Assen, WorldSBK 2021
Jonathan Rea - Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10RR, Assen, WorldSBK 2021

Jonathan Rea swelled both his 2021 WorldSBK Championship advantage and his new record for victories at Assen as he claimed his second win of the weekend in the Netherlands.

With his comfortable Race 1 success re-establishing his advantage in the overall standings, it also marked his 13th career WorldSBK win at Assen, which in turn makes him the all-time ‘winningest’ rider at any single WorldSBK circuit in the world.

Sunday morning, however, brought him a 14th win at the “Cathedral of Speed’, Rea recovering from being bullied down to third position on the opening lap to pick his way back up the order over the following revolutions.

Relieving brief leader Michael Ruben Rinaldi on Lap 3, Rea quickly made his break as the Italian came under pressure from Aruba.it Ducati team-mate Scott Redding and Toprak Razgatlioglu on the Yamaha.

Keeping that forward momentum to cross the line some 3.5secs clear of the opposition, Rea now leads the overall standings by 12 points.

Having crashed out of race one, while Rinaldi on the softer combination seemed destined to be swallowed up by the chasing pack, the double Misano winner held his ground to persistently rebuff team-mate Redding to such an extent it allowed Razgatlioglu to mount his own attack on the British rider.

Allowing Rinaldi to scamper ahead, Razgatlioglu eventually got the job done on Lap 7 with a clearly ailing Redding picked off again on Lap 8 by the second Pata Yamaha R1 of Andrea Locatelli.

Released into clear air, Razgatlioglu rapidly bridged the gap to Rinaldi coming into the final lap and was even able to get the jump on the Italian just five corners from home, with Locatelli following him through for what appeared to be a well-deserved maiden podium for the Italian rookie.

However, stewards would consider the Yamaha pair to have gained their position over Rinaldi illegally, thus promoting the Ducati man back into second place with Razgatlioglu in third and Locatelli an unlucky but still season-best fourth.

Alex Lowes completed the top six ahead of Tom Sykes and Garrett Gerloff, who both made big gains from having started on the back row of the grid, the legacy of technical problems and a crash respectively in qualifying. 

Chaz Davies secured ninth to earn a spot on the third row for the final race of the weekend ths afternoon. Outside the top nine and therefore outside the points, Axel Bassani, Tito Rabat, Leon Haslam and Isaac Vinales filled positions 10th to 14th.

There was frustration again for Alvaro Bautista, who suffered his second crash in as many races on lap one, while home hope Michael van der Mark was another to slip off on the first revolution much to the disappointment of the Dutch locals.

2021 WorldSBK Assen | Superpole RACE RESULTS

2021 WorldSBK Assen | Superpole RACE RESULTS | Round 5 / 13
PosRiderNat.WorldSBK TeamSuperbikeTiming
1Jonathan ReaGBRKawasaki Racing TeamKawasakI ZX-10RR10 Laps
2Michael Ruben RinaldiESPAruba Racing DucatiDucati Panigale V4 R+3.542
3Toprak RazgatliogluTURPata Yamaha by BRIXXYamaha YZF-R1+3.600
4Andrea LocatelliITAPata Yamaha by BRIXXYamaha YZF-R1+4.343
5Scott ReddingGBRAruba Racing DucatiDucati Panigale V4 R+4.501
6Alex LowesGBRKawasaki Racing TeamKawasakI ZX-10RR+5.215
7Tom SykesGBRBMW Motorrad WorldSBKBMW M1000RR+8.010
8Garrett GerloffUSAGRT Yamaha WorldSBKYamaha YZF-R1+9.126
9Chaz DaviesGBRTeam GoElevenDucati Panigale V4 R+11.891
10Axel BassaniITAMotocorsa RacingDucati Panigale V4 R+12.103
11Tito RabatESPBarni Racing TeamDucati Panigale V4 R+13.553
12Leon HaslamGBRTeam HRC HondaHonda CBR1000RR-R+15.585
13Isaac VinalesESPOrelac Racing VerdNatura KawasakI ZX-10RR+20.175
14Leandro MercadoARGMIE RacingHonda CBR1000RR-R+23.075
15Kohta NozaneJPNGRT Yamaha WorldSBKYamaha YZF-R1+23.130
16Andrea MantovaniITAVince64KawasakI ZX-10RR+28.596
17Loris CressonBELTPR Team Pedercini RacingKawasakI ZX-10RR+43.204
18Alvaro BautistaESPTeam HRC HondaHonda CBR1000RR-R+1m >
DNFMichael van der MarkNEDBMW Motorrad WorldSBKBMW M1000RRCrash
DNSLucas MahiasFRAKawasaki Puccetti RacingKawasakI ZX-10RR 
DNSJonas FolgerGERBonovo MGM ActionBMW M1000RR

Sponsored Content