In Race 2 of WorldSBK Tom Sykes on Kawasaki is back on the top step of the podium, Jules Cluzel on Yamaha wins WorldSSP600, victory in WorldSSP300 and STK1000 go respectively to Grunwald and Reiterberger

In Race 2 the riders confirmed the Pirelli tyres already chosen for Race 1, in WorldSSP600 the standard soft solutions dominate both on the front and the rear; Sykes back on top after nineteen races

Assen (Netherlands), 22 April 2018 – On the Dutch TT Circuit Assen, the fourth round of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship came to an end today.
In the WorldSBK class, after a dry streak of nineteen races, 2013 World Champion Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was back on the top step of the podium, winning Race 2 ahead of teammate Jonathan Rea, Race 1 winner yesterday, and hometown hero Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team). Jonathan Rea now leads in the overall standings with a 30 point advantage over Chaz Davies and 44 over Marco Melandri.
 
In WorldSSP600 the win went to Frenchman Jules Cluzel who, with his team NRT Yamaha YZF-R6, but leading the overall rider standings is compatriot Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team).
In WorldSSP300 after a race full of surprises and close-quarter battles, German rider Luca Grunwald (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) triumphed, while in the FIM Superstock1000 European Championship, victory went to another German rider, Markus Reiterberger (Alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW), winner of the opening race in Aragón.
 
The Pirelli tyres also performed well on a demanding track like Assen, especially for the front, letting the riders go race distance without any particular difficulties. Both in the top class and in the WorldSSP600 category, the riders made very similar tyre choices, demonstrating the versatility of the solutions brought by Pirelli in adapting to all of the different bike brands.
 
In Race 2, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) got off the grid well from pole position ahead of Xavi Forés (Barni Racing Team) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).
At the start of the second lap, the Italian Ducati rider went wide on a turn and was overtaken by several riders, leaving third place to Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team).
In the meantime, Race 1 winner Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), starting from the ninth spot on the grid due to the inversion system between Race 1 and Race 2, moved up to fourth place behind Van Der Mark, who he managed to overtake shortly thereafter, catching up to Spaniard Xavi Forés.
Tom Sykes led the race with a two and a half second advantage ahead of Forés and more than three seconds ahead of teammate Rea.
During the seventh lap, Rea managed to snatch second place from Forés and a little later, Van der Mark also overtook the Spaniard, setting off to chase down the Kawasaki riders.
During the thirteenth lap, hometown hero Michael Van Der Mark battled reigning World Champion Jonathan Rea for second, managing to overtake him, but in the fourteenth lap Rea too back the position.
Tom Sykes led the race all alone at the front with a gap of more than six seconds ahead of his teammate and Michael Van Der Mark. Behind the leading trio were the Ducatis ridden by Xavi Forés and Chaz Davies.
The final laps of the race held no surprises and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) finished first with a five and a half second lead over teammate Jonathan Rea, second, and more than seven and a half seconds ahead of Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), third.
 
WorldSBK Race 2 standings:
 
1) T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
4) X. Forés (Barni Racing Team)
5) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
6) J. Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
7) M. Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
8) L. Baz (GULF ALTHEA BMW Racing Team)
9) T. Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
10) L. Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia)
11) D. Giugliano (Milwaukee Aprilia)
12) M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing - Junior Team)
13) P. Jacobsen (TripleM Honda World Superbike Team)
14) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
15) O. Jezek (Guandalini Racing)
16) Y. Hernandez (Team Pedercini Racing)
RT) L. Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura)
RT) R. Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki)
 
At 11:30 AM local time, before Race 2 of WorldSBK, the FIM Supersport World Championship race was held with Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) starting from pole position.
At the start, the German Yamaha rider started well, but shortly thereafter, Frenchman Jules Cluzel (NRT), also on Yamaha and starting from the fourth spot on the grid, managed to move into the race lead. Behind him, defending World Champion Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) was ahead of pole man Cortese, who had dropped back to third place in the meantime.
At the mid-race point, Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag), who had started from the third spot on the grid, got back in the mix, besting both Cortese and Mahias to move into second place behind race leader Cluzel.
During the thirteenth lap, Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team), after starting from the sixth spot on the grid, overtook Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) virtually moving into position at the foot of the podium, but a few turns later, the Italian GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team rider was forced to retire due to a crash on turn 6.
Jules Cluzel, Raffaele De Rosa, Sandro Cortese, Randy Krummenacher and Lucas Mahias led the front group in that order, all within a second and a half of one another.
In the final laps, Randy Krummenacher managed to get past Cortese, moving into third place, and shortly thereafter he overtook Raffaele De Rosa, setting off to chase down Cluzel on the last lap. The German BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team rider pulled out all the stops, but in the end, the race win went to Jules Cluzel (NRT) ahead of Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) and Italian rider Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag).
 
WorldSSP standings:
 
1) J. Cluzel (NRT)
2) R. Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team)
3) R. De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag)
4) L. Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team)
5) S. Cortese (Kallio Racing)
6) N. Tuuli (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda)
7) R. Hartog (Team Hartog - Against Cancer)
8) T. Gradinger (NRT)
9) L. Cresson (Kallio Racing)
10) H. Soomer (Racedays)
11) A. Badovini (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag)
12) A. Irwin (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda)
13) W. Tessels (Chromeburner Wayne's Racingteam MtM)
14) E. Lahti (Sterkman Motorsport by HRP)
15) L. Stapleford (Profile Racing)
16) S. Hill (Profile Racing)
17) N. Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura)
18) V. Van Der Valk (Benro Racing)
19) P. Sebestyen (SSP Hungary Racing)
20) A. Coppola (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Junior Team)
RT) M. Canducci (Team GoEleven Kawasaki)
RT) F. Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team)
RT) H. Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
RT) L. Epis (Team GoEleven Kawasaki)
RT) K. Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini)
RT) S. Morais (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
RT) J. Van Sikkelerus (GEMAR Team Lorini)
 
In the third race of the day on Sunday, the Supersport 300 World Championship race, German rider Luca Grunwald (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) finished on the top step of the podium with his KTM RC 390 R after a spectacular race filled with surprises and crashes. The KTM rider finished ahead of Dutchmen Gleen Van Straalen (KTM Fortron Racing Team), second, and Scott Deroue (Motoport Kawasaki), third.
 
As always, the closing event of the race weekend was the FIM Superstock1000 European Championship race. In this second round, it was once again German rider Markus Reiterberger (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) on BMW winning ahead of Italian Roberto Tamburini (Berclaz Racing Team SA) and Chilean rider Maximilian Scheib (Aprilia Racing Team).
 
 
The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders for WorldSBK Race 2 and WorldSSP:
 
In Race 2, partly because of the weather conditions which were similar to yesterday, all the riders confirmed the choices made in Race 1, with the exception of Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)who changed his front tyre, going with the hardest of the available solutions, namely the X0120 SC3 development solution (option D).
On the front, the most used solution was still the V0952 SC1 development tyre (option B), whereas on the rear, all the riders used the W1050 SC0 development solution (option A).
 
In the WorldSSP race, the riders made very similar choices to one another. On the rear, they basically all used the X0093 SC1 development tyre (option A), whereas for the front, 22 out of the 27 riders on the grid opted for the X0012 SC1 development solution (option B). Only 5 chose the standard SC1 (option A).
 
 
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 2:
 
• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK),in 1'35.218 at the 3^rd lap
 
• Most used front solution: development SC1 V0952 (17 out of 18 riders)
 
• Most used rear solution: development SC0 W1050 (18 out of 18 riders)
 
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 289.5 km/h, achieved by Patrick Jacobsen (TripleM Honda World Superbike Team) in the 1^st lap
 
• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSBK class: 6 front and 7 rear
 
Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 76, including 39 front and 37 rear
 
• Air temperature: 23° C
 
• Asphalt temperature: 32° C
 
 
Pirelli statistics for WorldSSP race:
 
• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team), in 1'38.108 in the 11^th lap
 
• Most used front solution: development SC1 X0012 (22 out of 27 riders)
 
• Most used rear solution: development SC1 X0093 (26 out of 27 riders)
 
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tyres: 257.8 km/h, achieved by Loris Cresson (Kallio Racing) in the 6^th lap
 
• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSSP class: 5 front and 4 rear
 
Number of tyres available for each WorldSSP rider: 47, including 26 front and 21 rear
 
• Air temperature: 20° C
 
• Asphalt temperature: 24° C