Jonathan Rea took his fourth win in the last six races at Assen in the Netherlands in the second of today’s two third round World Superbike championship races at the Dutch circuit.

The first outing was won by Sylvain Guintoli after it was red flagged when rain began to fall on the 4.542km circuit. Rea had been well-placed in the dry, first part, opting to run with a harder compound rear tyre. In the restart, however, despite a strong start in the wet conditions, Rea crashed out of second place, injuring the ring-finger on his right hand.

The tough 25-year-old from Northern Ireland opted to start the second race, but was forced to sprint to the medical centre for a pain-killing injection after his sighting lap to the grid.

Although the race had been declared wet, Rea’s crew opted to run with slick tyres on the drying track, again with the harder rear compound. After dropping a few places in the early stages, Rea fought his way back to the front, taking a three-second victory over race one winner Guintoli.

Rea’s Honda World Superbike team-mate, Hiroshi Aoyama, took points in both outings, despite starting from 21st on the grid. A lack of rear grip in race one prevented him finishing higher than 12th, and the option of intermediate tyres took him to 13th in race two.

Jonathan Rea – DNF and 1st

I felt pretty confident with our strategy in race one and I was feeling quite comfortable when the rain arrived and stopped the race. The rain caught out a few people in the second part, including me, and I was just pushing a little too hard when the rear broke away. I’m so happy for the race two result though, especially for all the guys back at the workshop. We know that the package isn’t where it should be but they continue to push 100%. I’m so grateful for that, because nobody’s given up and we just try to make the bike better every race. I felt I had a little more oomph this weekend – I’ve struggled to get a really happy feeling with the front forks but we’re getting them to work now. The new one-bike rule also makes it difficult to develop the package, so to get a day here last week with two bikes was really useful. It gives me more confidence and we’re now operating in a new area with the bike. I’ve moved the bars and myself further back to get a bit more edge grip and I think the testament to all that is that we worked all weekend on a strategy with the harder rear. Nobody considered this for the race but, if race one had stayed dry today, I was sitting comfortably, in a good position, ready to pounce at the end. It’s really nice to give a little something back to the team, but we’ve still got work to do.

Hiroshi Aoyama – 12th and 13th

It’s been quite a difficult weekend for us and we were struggling to get rear grip. We worked on it a lot but every time we found something better the conditions changed so we could not really improve the base feeling on the bike. Race one was my first on Pirelli rain tyres so I went a little bit carefully and saw many riders start to crash. At the end I finished 12th which was not too bad, starting from 21ston the grid. In the second race we also started in damp conditions, so tyre choice was critical. Carlos Checa gambled a bit with rain tyres and we also gambled a bit, choosing a cut slick, but in the end there was no more rain so it was really conditions for slicks and we couldn’t find good pace. I’m a little bit sad for myself but, for the team, Johnny did a really good job, so I want to congratulate him. Next time, I’d like to fight for the podium and celebrate with him!

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Race one today started dry and with Jonathan we made a different tyre choice to our rivals. He maintained a good pace but had some quite scary moments before the red flag came out. Part two was full wet and Johnny got a really good start but unfortunately crashed and hurt his hand. Hiroshi had no grip at the rear in the wet, so he did what he could. Race two was wet but it was drying quite fast so we were keeping a close eye on the weather, helped by our experience here. At the very, VERY last minute, we decided to go with slicks – in fact, we only just had time to get the front tyre in on the grid. Jonathan held his nerve after dropping back a few places and he started to build his race, hunting down the other riders one by one. It ended in a spectacular victory, which everyone is really happy about. I think we need to try Jonathan’s settings with Hiroshi, who managed to speed up during the race, even though the tyres were dropping off. But Jonathan showed again today that the Honda is still a winning package.

Pole position : 1m35.399s (171.398Km/h) Tom Sykes, Kawasaki
Fastest lap : Race 2 : 1m38.092s (166.692Km/h) Carlos Checa, Ducati
Circuit record lap : 1m36.312s (169,773Km/h) Jonathan Rea (Honda, 2010)
Circuit Best Lap : 1m34.944s (172,219km/h) Jonathan Rea (Honda, 2010)


Event results - Round 3 - Race 1

1 Sylvain Guintoli 18m38.395s (9 Laps) FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
2 Davide Giugliano 2.633 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
3 Carlos Checa 3.031 SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
4 Max Biaggi 3.927 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Eugene Laverty 4.374 IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
6 Michel Fabrizio 11.359 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
7 Jakub Smrz 26.412 CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
8 Niccolo Canepa 37.562 ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma
9 Marco Melandri 49.896 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
10 Leandro Mercado 1'08.847 ARG KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
11 Maxime Berger 1'11.760 ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
12 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'13.988 JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
13 David Salom 1'27.019 SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
14 Lorenzo Zanetti +1 Lap ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
15 Mark Aitchison +3 Laps AUS BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
16 Ayrton Badovini DNF - 3 Laps ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
17 Chaz Davies DNF - 6 Laps GBR APRILIA ParkinGO MTC Racing
18 Leon Haslam DNF - 7 Laps GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
19 John Hopkins DNF - 8 Laps USA SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
20 Leon Camier DNF GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
21 Jonathan Rea DNF GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team


Event results - Round 3 - Race 2

1 Jonathan Rea 36m45.936s GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
2 Sylvain Guintoli 2.819 FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
3 Eugene Laverty 12.638 IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
4 Marco Melandri 12.762 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
5 Leon Haslam 12.764 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
6 Tom Sykes 20.393 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
7 Ayrton Badovini 36.317 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
8 Max Biaggi 37.747 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
9 Davide Giugliano 41.350 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
10 Michel Fabrizio 43.930 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
11 John Hopkins 57.515 USA SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
12 David Salom 1'32.593 SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
13 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'33.576 JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
14 Leon Camier +1 Lap GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
15 Leandro Mercado +1 Lap ARG KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
16 Mark Aitchison +1 Lap AUS BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
17 Carlos Checa +1 Lap SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
18 Lorenzo Zanetti DNF - 2 Laps ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
19 Jakub Smrz DNF - 4 Laps CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
20 Chaz Davies DNF - 11 Laps GBR APRILIA ParkinGO MTC Racing
21 Maxime Berger DNF - 11 Laps ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
22 Brett McCormick DNF - 13 Laps CAN DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
23 Niccolo Canepa DNF - 15 Laps ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma

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