It's back-to-back World Superbike races, with this weekend being the second of the European rounds. The Championship moves to the 'Cathedral of Speed' - Assen in the Netherlands. Just in case you've been living under a rock and missed all the rounds so far - here's what's happened:
World Superbikes
Ducati's Alvaro 'Dave' Bautista set fastest laps in FP1, FP2, superpole qualifying and warmup, won race one, won the superpole race and won race two… again!
Luckily for us, the viewers, there was some great racing and epic battles for the remaining two podium places and Aragon saw some of the closest racing so far with Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea, Yamaha's Alex Lowes, Ducati's Chaz Davies and even BMW's Tom Sykes all holding second place at some point during race one. At the chequered flag, it was Rea and Davies that took the spoils, closely followed by Lowes and Sykes.
The superpole race saw Rea take second once again, but Lowes finish one place better in third just one tenth of a second ahead of Davies in fourth.
In the final race of the round, Davies's improved form continued with another third position behind Rea and just under half a second ahead of Kawasaki's Leon Haslam.
World Supersport
The 600cc SuperSport class keeps providing thrills and super-close racing with four riders leading the field and more overtakes per lap than you can count. At the line, Austrian Randy Krummenacher (Yamaha) snatched a last lap lead and took the win just nine-hundredths of a second ahead of Italian Raffaele De Rosa on the MV Agusta, who in turn was just six-hundredths ahead of Italian Federico Caricasulo (Yamaha). We said it was close!
World Supersport 300
In the opening round of the Supersport300 class (a confusing title as most bikes are 370cc or 400cc and even one or two at 500cc), the reigning championship Ana Carrasco had a disappointing showing, failing to finish the race, after a lap six tumble at turn 13. The racing was close and frantic with five riders taking turns to lead the eleven-lap race.
At the line though the top three were Spain's Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki Ninja 400), France's Hugo De Cancellis (Yamaha YZF-R3) and Dutchman, Scott Deroue (Kawasaki Ninja 400).
Here's how the championship tables stand:
WSBK RIDERS CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE (TOP 10)
|
POS
|
RIDER
|
BIKE
|
PTS
|
NEXT
|
LEADER
|
|
1
|
BAUTISTA, Alvaro (ESP)
|
DUCATI
|
186
|
-
|
-
|
|
2
|
REA, Jonathan (GBR)
|
KAWASAKI
|
147
|
39
|
39
|
|
3
|
LOWES, Alex (GBR)
|
YAMAHA
|
100
|
47
|
86
|
|
4
|
VAN DER MARK, Michael (NED)
|
YAMAHA
|
79
|
21
|
107
|
|
5
|
HASLAM, Leon (GBR)
|
KAWASAKI
|
74
|
5
|
112
|
|
6
|
MELANDRI, Marco (ITA)
|
YAMAHA
|
63
|
11
|
123
|
|
7
|
DAVIES, Chaz (GBR)
|
DUCATI
|
56
|
7
|
130
|
|
8
|
CORTESE, Sandro (GER)
|
YAMAHA
|
56
|
-
|
130
|
|
9
|
SYKES, Tom (GBR)
|
BMW
|
39
|
17
|
147
|
|
10
|
TORRES, Jordi (ESP)
|
KAWASAKI
|
35
|
4
|
151
|
WSSP RIDERS CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE (TOP 10)
|
POS
|
RIDER
|
BIKE
|
PTS
|
NEXT
|
LEADER
|
|
1
|
KRUMMENACHER, Randy (SUI)
|
YAMAHA
|
70
|
|
|
|
2
|
CLUZEL, Jules (FRA)
|
YAMAHA
|
56
|
14
|
14
|
|
3
|
CARICASULO, Federico (ITA)
|
YAMAHA
|
48
|
8
|
22
|
|
4
|
DE ROSA, Raffaele (ITA)
|
MV AGUSTA
|
31
|
17
|
39
|
|
5
|
OKUBO, Hikari (JPN)
|
KAWASAKI
|
28
|
3
|
42
|
|
6
|
GRADINGER, Thomas (AUT)
|
YAMAHA
|
24
|
4
|
46
|
|
7
|
PEROLARI, Corentin (FRA)
|
YAMAHA
|
24
|
-
|
46
|
|
8
|
BARBERA, Hector (ESP)
|
YAMAHA
|
22
|
2
|
48
|
|
9
|
MAHIAS, Lucas (FRA)
|
KAWASAKI
|
21
|
1
|
49
|
|
10
|
VIÑALES, Isaac (ESP)
|
YAMAHA
|
19
|
2
|
51
|
WSSP 300 RIDERS CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE (TOP 10)
|
POS
|
RIDER
|
BIKE
|
PTS
|
NEXT
|
LEADER
|
|
1
|
GONZALES, Manuel (ESP)
|
KAWASAKI
|
25
|
|
|
|
2
|
DE CANCELLIS, Hugo (FRA)
|
YAMAHA
|
20
|
5
|
5
|
|
3
|
DEROUE, Scott (NED)
|
KAWASAKI
|
16
|
4
|
9
|
|
4
|
JAHNIG, Jan-Ole (GER)
|
KTM
|
13
|
3
|
12
|
|
5
|
VERDOÏA, Andy (FRA)
|
YAMAHA
|
11
|
2
|
14
|
|
6
|
STEEMAN, Victor (NED)
|
KTM
|
10
|
1
|
15
|
|
7
|
BONOLI, Omar (ITA)
|
YAMAHA
|
9
|
1
|
16
|
|
8
|
IERACI, Bruno (ITA)
|
KAWASAKI
|
8
|
1
|
17
|
|
9
|
MEUFFELS, Koen (NED)
|
KTM
|
7
|
1
|
18
|
|
10
|
KAPPLER, Max (GER)
|
KTM
|
6
|
1
|
19
|
The season continues this weekend at the Motul Dutch Round at the TT Assen Circuit, Netherlands.
TV coverage is split between Eurosport 2 for live action, and ITV4 for highlights, as follows:
|
Friday 12th April 2019
|
|
Free Practice 1 - LIVE
|
EUROSPORT2
|
09:25 - 10:25
|
|
Free Practice 2 - LIVE
|
EUROSPORT2
|
13:30 - 15:55
|
|
Highlights
|
EUROSPORT2
|
19:30 - 20:30
|
|
Saturday 13th April 2019
|
|
Qualifying and RACE 1
|
EUROSPORT2
|
09:30 - 14:15
|
|
Highlights
|
EUROSPORT2
|
16:30 - 18:30
20:00 - 21:30
|
|
Sunday 14th April 2019
|
|
WSBK SUPERPOLE RACE
WSSP Race
WSBK RACE 2
|
EUROSPORT2
|
09:30 - 15:15
|
|
Highlights
|
EUROSPORT2
|
18:30 - 20:30
|
|
Thursday 18th April 2019
|
|
Highlights
|
ITV4
|
20:00 - 21:00
|
Photo credits:
PSP/Mateusz Jagielski (www.photopsp.com)/FIM/WSBK
