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+--- Thread: Rea Wins Again But Sykes Finds Misfortune (/showthread.php?tid=22037)
Rea Wins Again But Sykes Finds Misfortune - Malcolm - 16-04-2016
![[Image: kawasakiwsbhdr.jpg]](http://www.ttwebsite.com/gifs/kawasakiwsbhdr.jpg)
KRT rider Jonathan Rea took his fourth race victory of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship campaign today, enjoying a 1.662 second margin of victory after 21 windy and competitive laps at Assen. Tom Sykes was in contention for the top spots in the early laps but fell after missing a gear on the approach to the final chicane on lap nine.
Rea had started well from his second row qualifying position after finishing this morning’s Superpole contest just one place from a front row start. With significant changes to his machine’s set-up for the dry first race, after a fully wet Friday in qualifying, Rea put himself in position to win on raceday. He found challenges to his eventual lead from all directions, as five riders formed a breakaway group from the start, in a race where the lead changed hands several times.
Tom also had good pace despite both Friday practice sessions being fully wet and was looking to score heavily once again. After missing a downshift shortly after being passed into the final sector of the track he fell, after running out onto the dirty part of the circuit while braking heavily.
In Superpole qualifying, held shortly before race one, Sykes had taken his third pole of the year on the new model Ninja ZX-10R, and the 33rd of his WorldSBK career. Rea had qualified fourth.
In giving the 2016 model Ninja ZX-10R its latest race win Rea extended his championship lead to 31 points, from second place Assen race finisher Chaz Davies. With one more WorldSBK race to come on Sunday 17th each KRT Rider has another chance to go for a win at the classic Dutch venue.
Rea had started well from his second row qualifying position after finishing this morning’s Superpole contest just one place from a front row start. With significant changes to his machine’s set-up for the dry first race, after a fully wet Friday in qualifying, Rea put himself in position to win on raceday. He found challenges to his eventual lead from all directions, as five riders formed a breakaway group from the start, in a race where the lead changed hands several times.
Tom also had good pace despite both Friday practice sessions being fully wet and was looking to score heavily once again. After missing a downshift shortly after being passed into the final sector of the track he fell, after running out onto the dirty part of the circuit while braking heavily.
In Superpole qualifying, held shortly before race one, Sykes had taken his third pole of the year on the new model Ninja ZX-10R, and the 33rd of his WorldSBK career. Rea had qualified fourth.
In giving the 2016 model Ninja ZX-10R its latest race win Rea extended his championship lead to 31 points, from second place Assen race finisher Chaz Davies. With one more WorldSBK race to come on Sunday 17th each KRT Rider has another chance to go for a win at the classic Dutch venue.
![[Image: jonrea-Assen-race1.jpg]](http://www.ttwebsite.com/gifs/TT2016/jonrea-Assen-race1.jpg)
[align=justify=Jonathan Rea stated:
“It was great to win another Assen race. Our bike set-up was new because we changed the bike just for the race after warm-up. I put my head down with a few laps to go. It is really hard to lead but I was so-so happy because I feel we have been a bit on the back foot now since Aragon and before so to score 25 points here is great. I think the potential of this bike is huge but I have yet to get it into a really good window I am comfortable with. This race has given us a lot of information and to score 25 points when it really matters is incredible for me, for my strength inside, and for my championship. I want to thank all the Dutch fans because they give me a great reception every time we come here and thanks to my team for their hard work and keeping my spirits up. After Aragon I felt we were a bit deep in the sea and now I feel our heads are above water.”
Tom Sykes stated:
“It was windy out there but I was able to enjoy some great speed in some areas of the track. On one corner I was missing some confidence and unfortunately that was on the run back to the pits. That was slowing me up into where I was good in the next part of the track. It was a difficult race like that but I was just getting settled down and really understanding where everyone was good. I was not necessarily thinking about the pass into the final chicane but unfortunately when I braked and went to backshift, I missed the initial backshift, which meant the engine was quite free. I just tried to get it stopped and get the gear selected. Any other day I would have been OK but unfortunately because we have had some bad track conditions it was really, really dirty and I lost the front. That was a small mistake on my behalf but it was unfortunate that we had such a dirty track off line. That is the way racing goes and there are positives to take from it as we were strong in some areas.”
Roman Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) placed his privateer Ninja ZX-10R into a strong ninth place while substitute pilot Lucas Mahias (Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was tenth, scoring six points as he rode in place of the injured Sylvain Barrier. Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) just missed a point by one position, finishing in 16th place.
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