The Superbike World Championship returns to Assen on the weekend of 19-21 April for the third round. In Holland, Ducati comes top of the class with Bulega and Bautista. Razgatlioglu, after leading BMW to victory in Barcelona, will try to catch up with the Ducatisti. A great show is expected on the track where we will also find Iannone, Locatelli, Rinaldi and Bassani while Petrucci will be missing, recovering from a scary injury while training on the cross bike. The whole weekend live on Sky and streaming on NOW
Pyrotechnic start of the world championship Superbike 2024 with three races, of the six played, being decided on the last lap. Overall there were four different winners: Bulega, Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Lowes demonstrating a hard-fought world championship. The conditions for the show at Assen are therefore all there.
Ducati world leader, Bulega ahead of everyone… as a rookie
Nicolò Bulegaa rookie with “big bikes”, arrives in Holland as world leader with a victory and two second places which allowed him to collect 87 points, leaving his teammate and two-time world champion behind him Alvaro Bautista (75 pts). The Spaniard definitely recovered in the last round in Barcelona after a start to the championship in Australia where he always fell off the podium. Last year, Race 2 at Assen coincided with Ducati’s 400th victory in WSBK. If Bautista were to replicate the podium this weekend he would reach 94, equaling Troy Bayliss, certainly no mean achievement in the Ducati world (and certainly also in that of WSBK).
Toprak transformed the BMW, Rea looking for redemption on the friendly track
The two factory Ducati riders, to whom we must undoubtedly add at least Andrea Iannone (Ducati independent team Go Eleven) who made a fantastic return to racing, they will have to deal with Toprak Razgatlioglu more and more comfortable with the BMW taken to its first victory in Barcelona. The German manufacturer has never achieved a podium at Assen just as the Turkish champion has never won here, statistics which seem destined to be erased between Saturday and Sunday.
Who is looking for redemption in the Dutch round certainly is Jonathan Rea who would never have thought (no one would have) such a terrible start to the World Cup with the Iwata team. After six races, the champion has collected zero podiums, only eight points and some great beatings. However, if there is a track where Rea can chase away nightmares by asserting himself with the R1 that belonged to Razgatlioglu, this is Assen. Here the Northern Irishman has already won 17 times (best ever) and with one or more top-3s he would equal or even surpass his own record of 26 podiums on one track (now Aragon). We’ll see if the TT will be the beginning of the recovery.
Iannone and Locatelli ready for the podium, Petrucci out (and how scary!)
Andrea Iannone arrives at Assen to consolidate a return to racing that is nothing short of fantastic, enhanced by two podiums in six races always run at the front, fighting in the top-5. Let’s not forget that in addition to the four-year stoppage, the former MotoGP rider is also serving the debut with the new category and with different tyres. By now a consolidated presence in the WSBK is that of Andrea Locatelliwhose moment is well described by the words of the Yamaha factory boss: “He has never ridden as well as he is doing now”, only the final step is missing to reach victory.
With regard to Danilo Petrucci, sixth in the world championship after six races embellished by the podium in race 2 in Barcelona, the worst seems to be over. The after-effects of the fall while training with the cross bike in Cingoli are very serious and will require time to heal. Jaw broken in several parts as well as collarbone and shoulder blade, a nerve in the jaw was also severed but as Petrux says “I’m leaving the hospital and I’m so happy because first of all I’m alive and for a moment when I was falling I didn’t think I could tell it ”. We will see the Barni Ducati team rider back on the track, if the recovery proceeds as we all hope, in the Misano round.
Round d’Olanda, live su Sky Sport MotoGP
Friday 19 April
Ore 10.15: Superbike – Prove libere 1
Ore 14.05: Supersport 300 – Superpole
Ore 14.55: Superbike – Prove libere 2
Ore 15.55: Supersport – Superpole
Saturday 20 April
Ore 10.55: Superbike – Superpole
Ore 12.40: Supersport 300 – Race 1
Ore 13.45: pre Superbike
Ore 14: Superbike – Race 1
Ore 14.35: post gara
Ore 15.10: Supersport – Race 1
Sunday 21 April
Ore 10.45: pre gara
Ore 11: Superbike – Superpole Race
Ore 11.15: post gara
Ore 12.40: Supersport 300 – Race 2
Ore 13.45: pre Superbike
Ore 14: Superbike – Race 2
Ore 14.35: post gara
Ore 15.10: Supersport 300 – Race 2
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