Another WSB round, another injured Brit. Poor Leon Haslam had an Assen nightmare as his leg got entangled with the bike during a fairly innocuous looking wet weather highside. The resulting broken tib and fib looks likely to rule Leon out for around nine weeks, but at least they are pretty clean breaks. Get well soon Leon.
Out on track Tom Sykes was busy showing everyone the way around during qualifying, sticking his Kawasaki ZX-10R on pole for the second time this year. Would he be able to convert that one lap speed into consistency and a race win?
A good day for Sykes in race one at Assen
from Aragon
must have stowed away in the BMW team's flight cases as Marco Melandri's S1000RR didn't even make the start of race one, breaking down on the sighting lap and forcing Melandri to watch the race from his pit box.
The Ten Kate Pata Honda team is based around the corner from the Assen track and Jonathan Rea always goes well at his team's home race, so it was no surprise to see him up at the front for the first few laps along with Sykes, Laverty, Giugliano and Guintoli. Down the field Chaz Davies was making good progress after a poor qualifying.
Having built up a four-second lead in the first half of the race, Sykes just needed to keep his momentum and hope his tyres held on for the second half - but with the super fast Aprilias of Laverty and Guintoli behind this was never going to be an easy task. Well it wouldn't be if they weren't busy tripping each other up! A few trades of position saw not only Sykes escape to take a clear win, but also Jonathan Rea zip past the Aprilias and make a bid for second place. After being caught by Guintoli, a cracking last lap overtake by Rea saw him take, on paper at least, an unlikely second with Guintoli in third and Laverty fourth.
Sykes and Laverty duelled in second race
Race two and another great start saw Sykes take the lead with Laverty and Rea behind but no Guintoli after the French/Brit rider dropped down the order in the first few laps. As in race one, Sykes concentrated on putting the hammer down to make a gap, although this time Laverty stuck with him and the pair broke clear of the chasing pack.
A superb bit of mid-race entertainment provided by a burning Aprilia after Fabrizio threw it up the road briefly threatened a red flag, but luckily the fire went out and the two Brits kept their lead - meaning it was all down to the final lap.
Laverty led the way but Sykes was far from out of it and by mid-lap he was right behind the Aprilia. Would it be another Assen last corner do or die overtake? A small slide from Sykes as he hit the kerb at the final chicane was enough to give Laverty the few metres he needed to take the win.
Over in Supersport, Brit Sam Lowes took a well deserved race win with a stunning last corner overtake. Although his celebration stand up wheelie almost topped the overtake, great skill young man...
Race one
1. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
2. Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike)
3. Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team)
Race two
1. Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team)
2. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
3. Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team)
Championship places
1: Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team)
2: Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team)
3: Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK)
Brit watch
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) - 4, 1
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) - 1, 2
Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) - 9, 7
Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) - DNS
Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) - 2, 4
Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) - 7, 5