WSBK – The Mondial Superbike sets Assen on fire! – First Superbike race

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The Mondial Superbike sets fire to Assen !

WSBK - The Mondial Superbike sets Assen on fire! - First Superbike race

Yesterday in Assen, Rea, Toseland, Camier, Haslam, Corser and their comrades gave us two of the most beautiful races in the history of the World Superbike. In Supersport, the three strong men of the championship also fought hard… Reports !

First Superbike race

Troy Corser started off the grid better and took the lead in the race ahead of Leon Camier. The two drivers took advantage of the fight behind them to take a few steps ahead from the first turns. Jonathan Rea leads the charge ahead of Jakub Smrz, Max Biaggi, James Toseland, Leon Haslam, Shane Byrne and Carlos Checa.

From the second lap, the leading BMW n ° 11 and Aprilia n ° 2 were joined by the n ° 65 Honda and the n ° 96 Ducati. This quartet widens a slight gap on the rest of the peloton led by Biaggi but does not quite manage to separate.

Glued to the rear wheel of the "old" Corser for five laps, the young Camier downgraded to 4th place on the 6th lap but remained in contact with Rea and Smrz, now 2nd and 3rd behind the S1000RR. Behind, Toseland lets Biaggi explain himself with fellow GP star Carlos Checa.

The Spanish rider, alone on the track, has just set the fastest time in the race on the handlebars of his private Ducati! But once back on the leading men, El Torro is unable to continue his comeback: "Unfortunately in terms of acceleration there was an obvious difference between us (the Ducati twin cylinders of Team Pata B&G, Editor’s note) and 4-cylinders", he will deplore when getting off his 1098R.

Meanwhile, championship leader Leon Haslam faces a difficult situation: "I had a problem with my front axle and I was struggling in 16th position after five laps", will tell the pilot Suz ‘, faithful to the outposts since the start of the season.

"After the race, the team discovered that air had escaped from the front tire", continued Leon, forced to fight in second – even third – rank … His direct opponents remain nonetheless prestigious: in addition to his teammate Sylvain Guintoli, Haslam must fight against Fabrizio and Haga, the two officials of Ducati !

James Toseland, on the other hand, is on the right track this Sunday: starting from 10th place on the grid, the No. 52 Yamaha takes aspiration – inspiration? – from his compatriot Leon Camier from the 8th lap! Just in front of them, Jakub Smrz has achieved flawless performance for the moment and retains his 3rd place. Leading the way, Jonathan Rea joins Troy Corser…

A little too much in a hurry, the Irishman momentarily loses contact but glues the backsplash of the Behème in less than a lap. Camier, on the 10th lap, made a larger gap on the track and had to give up his 4th place to Toseland.

With a handful of seconds of this Top 5, Checa takes the advantage over Biaggi. And the show continues a few meters ahead: Toseland and Camier take advantage of a small fault by Smrz to overtake him! "I think I could have fought for the win but a shifter problem got me out of my way a few times", will reveal the Czech pilot.

In the same 11th lap, Jonathan Rea executed a superb interior in a quick break over Troy Corser and stole the lead. "It was great to lead a race again, and not on a single lap !", will rejoice Troy.

Head in the handlebars, Johnny tries to pack up but cannot drop his opponent and his overpowered S1000RR … At halfway, five pilots draw attention to them: Lanzi, Sykes, Guintoli, Haga and Haslam are fight for 10th place and some points … which could prove very useful at the end of the season !

In front, Toseland came back like an arrow on Corser and passed him before the end of the 15th lap. Rea takes advantage of the fight between his two direct competitors to grab them half a second but cannot once again drive home the point….

Behind, Checa, Biaggi and Smrz come back very hard on Camier while Crutchlow and Byrne are fighting for 8th place. A little further, Haga isolated himself in 10th position and left his teammate Fabrizio to fight hard with the two Suzuki of the Alstare team, and the official Kawasaki of Sykes.

With four laps to go, Toseland turns the suspense up a notch – the British crowd coming in droves can’t take it anymore! – and sticks to Rea’s rear wheel. Corser on the contrary loses ground and is successively overtaken by Camier and Checa.

"My rear tire didn’t last long enough in the first race so I had to adjust the electronics to compensate for everything, and it slowed me down a bit in the second part of the race", explained the Australian Crocodile.

In the last chicane of the 19th lap, James slides his Yamaha in front of Rea’s Honda, but the R1 cannot resist the acceleration of the Dutch CBR in "its" pit straight. Camier tries an attack on Toseland in the next round but cannot convert his try … Thus Rea gains a few decisive steps ahead !

At the start of the last lap, Jonathan Rea is more than half a second ahead of Toseland – a boulevard ?! – and a full second on Camier. Checa gets dangerously close to the young Briton in this final loop but ultimately fails to dislodge Leon from his first WSBK podium.

Jonathan Rea thus wins ahead of James Toseland and Leon Camier: Great Britain reigns supreme in the Netherlands! Carlos Checa finished 4th a few hundredths behind Aprilia n ° 2 while Troy Corser completed the Top 5 just ahead of Max Biaggi.

Leon Haslam for his part finished a distant 11th place and scores four – precious? – points during this particularly hotly contested first round. Biaggi returns to 13 points in the general classification but a second round is preparing and the driver Suz ‘has not yet said his last word…

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