Guintoli and Rea win at SBK Assen in complicated races

The World Superbike Championship has held its third round of the season at the Assen Circuit, in a day marked by weather conditions and tyre decisions, with many surprises on the Dutch track, with Sylvain Guintoli winning the first race and Jonathan Rea the second race of the SBK.

The first race was very complicated, hard-fought and, in the end, full of surprises, since rain forced the race to be stopped and the organisation decided to restart the event, and the race resumed over 9 laps, in which Guintoli won with his Ducati, the first victory of the French rider in the SBK championship, in the premier class, and with great merit given the track conditions.

Guintoli built up a lead of more than two seconds over his rivals, with Davide Giugliano second on another Ducatona, while Carlos Checa completed the podium, having taken points from a session that had become difficult for him, with an intense battle against Laverty, Haslam and company, and a very interesting comeback from the back of the field.

Closing the top 5 of this first race were Eugene Laverty 4th and Leon Haslam 5th, so there was a lot of excitement on the track, and also many crashes. Without doubt the conditions were difficult, but our riders managed to overcome the situation, with Checa 3rd and David Salom 13th.

SBK Race 1 classification Assen:

S. GUINTOLI FRA Team Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati 1098R 9 1’57.793 259,8 1’36.875
D. GIUGLIANO ITA Althea Racing Ducati 1098R 9 2.633 1’59.224 243,4 1’41.161
C. CHECA ESP Althea Racing Ducati 1098R 9 3.031 1’59.015 245,0 1’37.156
M. BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 9 3.927 1’58.919 254,3 1’40.231
E. LAVERTY IRL Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 9 4.374 1’59.496 231,9 1’43.947
M. FABRIZIO ITA BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet BMW S1000 RR 9 11.359 2’00.192 237,5 1’37.311
J. SMRZ CZE Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati 1098R 9 26.412 2’03.702 238,5 1’36.566
N. CANEPA ITA Red Devils Roma Ducati 1098R 9 37.562 2’05.317 222,8 1’40.859
M. MELANDRI ITA BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 9 49.896 2’04.480 233,9 1’40.516
L. MERCADO ARG Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 9 1’08.847 2’07.339 222,8 1’41.693

The second race was also very intense for the World Superbike Championship, a race with a wet track, but with the sun drying the circuit, and a feeling that it might dry out completely, which led many riders to decide to start on slicks rather than wet-weather tyres, although some thought it was better to stay on wet tyres because conditions were changing very quickly and the track was still wet.

One of the riders who opted for slicks was Jonathan Rea, the Briton of Honda took a risk and got it completely right, since he rode carefully in the early laps and then was able to deliver the final blow to win the second race of the Superbikes in Holland, despite his hand being injured in the crash in the first race, so a second race to remember for the 65.

Behind him Sylvain Guintoli came in second in this race, completing a spectacular day with a 1st and a 2nd, while behind them was Jakub Smrz, who had decided to fit a rain tyre at the front, and as a result of this decision he went down after overtaking a lapped rider.

The third place was now the target of several riders, and in the end Eugene Laverty got onto the last step of the podium in Assen, while his teammate Max Biaggi finished 8th, and took the lead of the World Superbike Championship after this round, since Carlos Checa made a poor decision at the start of the race, fitting wet tyres on a track that dried out quickly and which left him out of contention, forcing the 7 to pit to change to slicks, finishing in 17th position.

SBK Race 2 classification 2012 Assen: