News 25 Apr 2022

Rea and Bautista split WorldSBK wins at dramatic Assen

Aegerter sweeps WorldSSP while Steeman and De Cancellis win 300s.

Image: Supplied.

Assen’s round of the 2022 Motul Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) saw Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista split wins after Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu clashed in race two, while Dominique Aegerter won WorldSSP, plus Victor Steeman and Hugo De Cancellis topped WorldSSP300.

On Saturday, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Rea beat Bautista (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) by 0.103s, with Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) third, just one second behind the race winner.

Rea was again able to come out on top in Sunday morning’s Superpole Race, this time from Razgatlioglu and Bautista, but it was later in race two when the fireworks were in the air.

Fighting at the front in the early laps of the race, Razgatlioglu and Rea battled with Bautista in tow, but it came to an early end on lap six when Rea and Razgatlioglu collided – both riders being forced to retire from the race, leaving Bautista to take the win.

Bautista was able to pull away at the front of the field to win by 8.7s ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and series newcomer Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) in third position. Bautista moved 18 points clear off Rea in the standings, with Razgatlioglu third.

Image: Supplied.

Ten Kate Racing Yamaha’s Dominique Aegerter repeated his successes of last year at Assen, the defending WorldSSP champion claiming wins in both races.

Aegerter won Saturday ahead of Glenn van Straalen’s (EAB Racing Yamaha) and Niccolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing Ducati), before race two’s podium was made up of Aegerter, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. Yamaha) and Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)

Australian rookie Oli Bayliss (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) went 14-11 for the weekend, with Tom Edwards (YART Yamaha) unable to finish either race. Aegerter leads the championship standings with 95 points, with Baldassarri in second and Bulega in third.

Image: Supplied.

In WorldSSP300, Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) won on Saturday over Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) and Mirko Gennai (BrCorse Team).

Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Racing Kawasaki) marginally led Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team Yamaha) and Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) to victory in race two.

Australian Harry Khouri (Team#109 Kawasaki) finished 13th in race one to score world championship points to open the weekend, but unfortunately crashed out of the second encounter.

Detailed results

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