Jonathan Rea won today’s opening race of the third round World Superbike event at Assen in the Netherlands today and followed it up with a podium in race two to kick start his season in style.

Assen marked the home race for Rea’s team and his victory was his first of the season and the first for the newly branded Castrol Honda squad, which is based just 50km to the south of the historic 4.452km circuit.

Spaniard Carlos Checa took victory in race two, as front tyre problems prevented Rea from pressing for his second win of the day to follow up his double at Assen in 2010. Meanwhile, Rea’s Castrol Honda team-mate Ruben Xaus finished eighth in the first 22-lap race today, but could only manage 14th place in race two.

After qualifying in fifth place on the grid, Rea made a good start to race one and passed Checa for the lead on lap four, before powering to victory from second placed Max Biaggi. In race two, the 24-year-old had a slower start and, as he tried to get by fellow Ulsterman, Eugene Laverty, Checa and Biaggi were able to open a gap which Rea was unable to bridge after his tyres went off.

Jonathan Rea – 1st and 3rd

First and foremost, I’m really proud to give the famous Castrol Honda name the first victory on its comeback to this championship. We spent all weekend developing the bike for the races, and that strategy paid off. I got a good start but couldn’t decide whether to let Max past and let him dictate the pace. In the end I made the right decision to stay in front and take the win. We had to dig deep in race two because I got held up for a while and the front guys got away. I was matching their lap times but we ran into some tyre problems later in the race. I’m really happy with the weekend though, and really grateful to everyone who has helped to get me here – it’s been a long hard winter coming back from injury. The team has worked really well and that’s exactly the right sort of confidence and momentum that we need to take to the next races. I’m happy to be back where I belong, in the winners’ circle, and I look forward to trying to get more wins for the team.

Ruben Xaus – 8th and 14th

Of course, I can’t be satisfied when my team-mate is first and third and I am eighth and fourteenth. Yes, he won twice last year and has a great rhythm here and knows where the problems arise, but still I can’t be satisfied. Race one was OK and we found a way but almost as soon as race two started the clouds came and the track temperature dropped. We had tyre allocation problems here this weekend and we didn’t have the right set up to make the soft tyre last or the harder tyre work properly. The A tyre was the good option for race one, even though the performance dropped off at the end. In race two, the tyre was like it was at the end of race one, only after five laps. So we fought hard to bring the bike home with a slightly better set-up. Hopefully we will get more consistent track temperatures at Monza and other races. Now I know the bike much better, the team is working well and the gap is closing to the riders at the front.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

There was some very solid work by the team to get a good set up for Jonathan, with everything focused on the races. Race one was almost inch perfect from him – he rode really well and made no mistakes. It would have been great to double up like he did last year but, honestly, with the problems he had with the front tyre in race two, he made the right decision not to push and collect instead some good points. During the weekend we talked about putting momentum into our season and getting the big wheel turning and I’m sure we’ve kick-started the season here. Hopefully we can carry this into the next rounds, too. Ruben’s set-up and riding style seemed only to work with the soft tyre, which gave him grip. Unfortunately, that tyre didn’t work the whole race distance. We hope track conditions will be a bit more normal in the next couple of rounds to give him that grip with other tyres because, for sure, he’s not in the position that we would like him to be.


Pole position : 1m35.292s (171.590km/h) Carlos Checa, Ducati

Fastest lap : Race 1 - 1m36.476s (169.485km/h) Leon Camier, Aprilia

Circuit record lap : 1m36.312s (169,773Km/h) Jonathan Rea (Honda, 2010)
Circuit Best Lap : 1m34.944s (172,219km/h) Jonathan Rea (Honda, 2010)