Source: Supplied.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) put in the most dominant performance in the 2018 season of the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) so far, recording fastest lap after fastest lap in race two to score his first win of the campaign, ending Jonathan Rea’s (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)’s Assen winning streak in the process.

Behind the KRT riders, Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) recorded his second successive podium in front of his home crowd.

Since Sylvain Guintoli in race one of 2014, nobody had managed to question Rea’s authority at the Cathedral. That streak, eight successive wins here including race one yesterday, was finally closed by Rea’s teammate, the only other rider on the grid who had previously won here (2013, race one).

Yesterday Sykes stressed how fast his bike could be, with his issues only coming whenever he needed to overtake his rivals, particularly the Ducatis. This wasn’t a problem here: Sykes started from pole, didn’t allow Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) to squeeze forward at the start, and then pushed hard until opening a 5-6 gap with his closest pursuers, consistently riding two to three tenths of a second faster than Rea and van der Mark.

The pair held an exciting duel yesterday for the win, and from the start they were paired together again: eighth and ninth on the grid, third and fourth after lap one, and competing for second for the latter two thirds of the race. Eventually, Rea managed to open a gap with his Yamaha rival, completing the first KRT one-two since Laguna Seca/R2 2017.

He now leads the championship by 30 points, and despite not beating Carl Fogarty’s historic 12 Assen wins, the reigning champion will be pleased to have opened a gap here in the Netherlands.

Van der Mark couldn’t fight for the win today, but pleased the home fans with a third place, his fifth Assen podium finish, and moves into fourth in the championship standings. The man he overtakes this weekend, Xavi Fores, came in just behind in fourth position, the first Ducati rider and, as in most races so far this season, the best independent rider.

The Ducatis, in fact, struggled under the Assen heat, with both Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) encountering trouble at the start and moving back to eighth and 10th respectively. Eventually, Davies fought back to fifth, but will be frustrated at not being able to get closer to the podium.

Melandri suffered more, however, falling back and never really escaping from the middle pack of five riders that closed the top 10 positions. He finishes seventh, behind the MV Agusta of Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) – best personal finish of the season – and only just ahead of Loris Baz (GULF Althea BMW World Superbike Team) in eighth, his second successive top 10 finish.

That group was closed by Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in ninth, followed by Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) in 10th.

The Dutch fans witnessed an epic contest with a fourth Supersport winner of the year, and when the dust settled, it was Jules Cluzel (NRT) who made it out on top. Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) was the star of the race, charging from the rear of the field and finishing just shy of win.

Behind him it was Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag), Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) and Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing), who were all within a second of the leader. Australian Lachlan Epis (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) was forced to retire from the race, while compatriot Anthony West (EAB Antwest Racing) was unable to complete the round after a significant crash earlier in the weekend forced him to retire.

Luca Grunwald (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) grabbed his maiden FIM Supersport 300 World Championship win in only his second race in the category, after a notoriously chaotic last lap left three riders of the front group on the floor, including poleman Mika Pérez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team), MotorLand Aragon winner Koen Meuffels (KTM Fortron Junior Team) and Australian 16-year-old Tom Edwards (Nutec Benjan Kawasaki).

Edwards gained the lead on the final lap after charging from P15, however it unfortunately came to premature end. Glenn van Straalen (KTM Fortron Racing Team) repeated his second-place finish from last year, while Ana Carrasco (DS Junior Team) fought back from a poor start to finish the race in fourth behind Scott Deroue (Motosport Kawasaki). She was just ahead of Walid Khan (Nutec Benjan – Kawasaki) in fifth, the third Dutch rider in the top five.

The Superbike World Championship will return to action on 11-13 May at Pata in Italy, marking the fifth round of the series.