Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Team Ducati) secured his first pole position of the season - the 3rd of his career in STK1000 - with a last lap effort which placed him 0.015 ahead of team mate Niccolò Canepa, who was first at the time. Reigning and defending champion Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team) completes the front row for tomorrow's race and was the last rider in the timesheets to lap within the 1'38 bracket.
The Supersport World Championship riders were on track this afternoon for Qualifying 1 on the rain-soaked TT Circuit of Assen. Andrea Antonelli (Team Goeleven Kawasaki) stormed to the first place at the very end of the session, snatching the top-spot in the timesheets from Christian Iddon (ParkinGO MV Agusta Corse) - who led morning's Free Practice 1 ahead of the Italian - for just 0.085 seconds. Assen is not a new track for the English rookie, as Iddon raced last year the British Supersport round on the Dutch track with impressive results (a win and second place in the two races).
The first qualifying session for the second Round for the Superstock 600 European Championship was held today at the TT Circuit of Assen under wet track conditions and cold temperatures. Light but continuous rain and strong winds hampered the 4542m of the Dutch track, with red flags displayed four times during the 45 minutes on track due to several crashes.
Tom Sykes is renowned for his amazing skills on the wet and in World Superbike Qualifying 1 at Assen the Kawasaki Racing Team rider has shown his whole potential with these track conditions. Sykes has topped the timesheets courtesy of a 1'57.190 lap-time, 1.634 seconds faster than current Championship Leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), who scored his maiden WSBK victory on the wet at Assen last year. The two riders finished same way in the morning's Free Practice 1, dominating the field on Day 1 at the TT Circuit.
The first qualifying session for the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup at Assen saw the domination of 2007 Champion Niccolò Canepa (Barni Racing Team Ducati), who rode his Ducati 1199 Panigale to an impressive 2'01.830 on the wet Dutch track. The difficult weather condition proved to work well for Eddi La Marra as well, as 2012 runner-up finished second despite a 0.957 gap from his team mate. A completely turn around in terms of performance for current Champion Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), who has been by far the quickest in the morning Free Practice on in-between track conditions: the French rider ended up Qualifying 1 with an unusual 11th place and a crash at Turn 8.
The Pata Honda team is heading to The Netherlands for this weekend's third round World Superbike championship races at the TT Circuit Assen. It's only a short journey to the circuit for the Dutch team, which is based at the Ten Kate workshops in Nieuwleusen, just 60km to the south.
The World Superbike riders are famous all over the world for their spectacular manoeuvres on track, but the challenge some of them had to face today went beyond their knowledge of riding on two wheels. World level bike trial rider Rick Koekoek, who lives in Hoogeveen, 40km from TT Assen Circuit, held a Master Class of the discipline to a selection of WSBK riders: Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) representing the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki), home riders Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) and wild-card Kevin van Leuven (United Gebben Racing) for the Supersport World Championship and Tony Covena (Nito Racing Kawasaki) for the Superstock 600 European Championship.
Just over a week after the successful Sunday at MotorLand Aragon circuit in Spain, the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team now heads to the iconic 'TT Circuit Assen'. The Dutch track will host the third round of 2013 eni FIM Superbike World Championship this weekend. Factory riders Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies aim to confirm the potential of their BMW S 1000 RRs by racing at the very front again.
The 'Cathedral' of motorcycle racing hosts World Superbike for the third round on the calendar. The first four races gave Aprilia the current leadership of both Rider's and Manufacturer's standings.
The Dutch WSBK event will be the venue for Round 2 of FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, European Superstock 600 Championship and the Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda. After an exciting Season Opener at Aragon, the upcoming race at Assen will tell more about the main forces of 2013 season and the potential candidates for this year's titles chase.
WorldSBK.com takes a quick look at the facts & figures that emerged from the second round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship at Aragon.
The unpredictable outcome of the Aragon race has mixed up the cards on the table in the World Supersport Championship, putting even greater importance to this weekend's round at Assen. After the unfortunate faux pas of both Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) and Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha), whose race came to an early end by technical issues, the current Championship Leader is now none other than Sofuoglu's team mate Fabien Foret, who rode to his 16th race win of the career after a gear shift problem forced an indomitable Sam Lowes to throw the towel in (the Brit was leading the race despite a painful hand and wrist injury).
Page 5 of 157
