Sensationally strong Rea wins 1st race ahead of Redding and Toprak
Jonathan Rea had already scored over 400 points in the “Cathedral of Speed” when he was on the hunt for his thirteenth victory in Assen on the afternoon of July 25, 2021. He was still missing one thing to be the sole record winner ahead of Carl Fogarty. With his fifth pole in the fifth race of the season, the cornerstone for this was laid, even if his toughest opponents so far were hot on his heels. With Toprak Razgatlioglu, however, the world championship leader had already shown nerves in the first third of the Superpole with a crash, while Ducati hope Scott Redding made a strong impression on Friday. However, nobody was as strong as the reigning world champion on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR. But after the start it was Toprak who was ahead of the curve in the first corner, but before Strubben Rea passed the Turk who, like the Northern Irishman, had to catch a violent slide on the exit. Rinaldi was in third place ahead of Aruba.it Ducati team-mate when the first one fell on Turn 7 with Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda). The next was Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) and a little later the third-placed Rinaldi also got hit.
The three-way battle for victory in the first run of the weekend
With 18 laps to go, Razgatlioglu took the lead again before Turn 1 and Redding was only a hair’s breadth behind Rea. But only one deal later the Kawasaki ace countered and for a short time Toprak even fell back to P3, but was able to push his nose past Scott immediately. In the back of the track, the Northern Irishman was able to pull away again and again, while Toprak was overtaken by Redding for the first time 14 laps before the end and was relegated to P3 for more than one corner. The leader’s tire choice was very risky with the SCX tire developed for the Superpole Race, while the Turk and the native of Germany had relied on the conventional SC0. In the last twelve laps, the Yamaha rider, who was on P3, had a violent slide, but attacked Scott a little later, who was initially able to defend himself. When there were still 10 laps to go, Rea was more than a second ahead and behind that, Redding tried to keep up with Razgatlioglu.
Mahias and Nozane also fell – van der Mark and Folger fighting for the top five
In turn 15 the race was over for Lucas Mahias when he, like Kohta Nozane shortly afterwards, flew into the gravel trap on turn 16. Local hero van der Mark was in a safe fourth place ahead of Locatelli and Folger, who was overtaken by Garrett Gerloff, who started at the bottom of the field five laps to go. Sykes was also a little behind his BMW brand colleague. At this point “Magic Michael” was getting closer and closer to the Turks who were on P3 and of course the domestic spectators hoped that he could still catch Toprak. Of course, the Turk tried with all his might to catch up with the leader. In the third to last lap, Folger fell and Razgatlioglu was already close to Redding when red flags came due to the Bavaria’s crash. The following is the result with an outstanding record winner, new World Cup leader and now the only 13-time record winner in Assen.
The first interviews
Toprak had a scowl and also openly said he was unhappy. The front tire was destroyed, and he had no chance of fighting for victory. Of course, he was also annoyed that he was fighting for P2 when the red flags came. Runner-up Scott Redding was much happier. Unfortunately, according to his own statement, he lost the connection to Leader Rea in the fight with Razgatlioglu, but second place is definitely a good result. He is happy to be able to drive in front of fans again and will of course try his best again on Sunday. The now sole 13-time Assen winner Rea, of course, had no complaints. As he stated on the record, he hoped above all that the fallen follower was OK. Although he had a so-called drop at the rear with the SCX tire and this subsided, he was sure that his pace was slightly better. That’s why he wanted to drive on the open road and tried to break away, which would have worked out brilliantly in the end. With a satisfied smile, he waved to the audience and politely said goodbye before work continued on Sunday, and then he would give everything again.
Stand in the WorldSBK world championships after race 1 in Assen
P, Rider, Points
1 REA 206
2 RAZGATLIOGLU 199
3 REDDING 137
4 LOWES 114
5 GERLOFF 103
6 SYKES 98
7 RINALDI 94
8 VAN DER MARK 94
9 DAVIES 71
10 LOCATELLI 62
11 BAUTISTA 57
12 BASSANI 53
13 HASLAM 49
14 MAHIAS 36
Result of the first race of the WorldSSP 300
For the former Supersport 600 rider Chris Stange, as well as for ex-world champion Ana Carasco and many other crashed drivers, things did not go as desired. As the last classified rider, Tom Booth-Amos was also one of the big losers. After his second zero in a row, he lost important points and the connection in the interim classification to World Championship leader Adrian Huertas, but is still in second place. While pole sitter Victor Steeman only took 8th place on the KTM, his two compatriots Jeffrey Buis and Koen Meuffels made it onto the podium behind winner Huertas (all Kawasaki). Below is the result with the drivers without championship points in italics.
P, No, Rider, Bike, (Gap/next), km/h
1, 99, HUERTAS Adrian, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 194
2, 1, BUIS Jeffrey, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 0.107, +0.107, 198
3, 17, MEUFFELS Koen, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 0.959, +0.852, 200
4, 54, SOFUOGLU Bahattin, Yamaha YZF-R3, 0.962, +0.003, 194
5, 85, SABATUCCI Kevin, Yamaha YZF-R3, 1.317, +0.355, 195
6, 46, DI SORA Samuel, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 1.363, +0.046, 195
7, 20, LOUREIRO Dorren, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 1.480, +0.117, 197
8, 72, STEEMAN Victor, KTM RC 390 R, 1.558, +0.078, 194
9, 87, KAWAKAMI Ton, Yamaha YZF-R3, 2.276, +0.718, 195
10, 10, ORRADRE Unai, Yamaha YZF-R3, 3.683, 1.407, 198
11, 2, CARRION Alejandro, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 15.224, 11.541, 195
12, 52, KONIG Oliver, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 24.139, 8.915, 193
13, 7, GIMBERT Johan, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 24.142, +0.003, 193
14, 43, KHOURI Harry, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 24.268, +0.126, 194
15, 15, COPPOLA Alfonso, Yamaha YZF-R3, 24.309, +0.041, 193
16, 59, ZANCA Alessandro, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 29.244, 4.935, 194
17, 5, SMITS Twan, Yamaha YZF-R3, 29.322, +0.078, 192
18, 4, DOORNENBAL Sven, KTM RC 390 R, 29.468, +0.146, 192
19, 93, GAGGI Marco, Yamaha YZF-R3, 29.520, +0.052, 194
20, 81, MOLENAAR Thom, KTM RC 390 R, 35.438, 5.918, 193
21, 14, MCMANUS James, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 36.380, +0.942, 194
22, 55, FRAPPOLA Antonio, Kawasaki Ninja 400, 36.523, +0.143, 188
23, 18, OFFER Indy, Kawasaki Ninja 400, > 1′, 25.626, 188
24, 22, ROMERO Joel, Kawasaki Ninja 400, > 1′, +0.981, 190
25, 70, DUARTE Miguel Santiago, Yamaha YZF-R3, > 1′, 5.385, 188
26, 19, RODRIGUEZ NUNEZ Victor, Kawasaki Ninja 400, > 1′, 7.480, 190
27, 69, BOOTH-AMOS Tom, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 195
OT, 64, DE CANCELLIS Hugo, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 196
OT, 61, OKAYA Yuta, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 196
OT, 83, KAWAKAMI Meikon, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 192
OT, 58, IGLESIAS Inigo, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 194
OT, 77, BIJMAN Ruben, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 191
OT, 97, PALAZZI Filippo Maria, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 192
OT, 8, IERACI Bruno, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 191
OT, 80, MASTROLUCA Gabriele, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 195
OT, 11, CARRASCO Ana, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 195
OT, 73, PEREZ GONZALEZ Jose Luis, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 190
OT, 23, MARKARIAN Sylvain, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 194
OT, 21, PEREZ SELFA Vicente, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 195
OT, 48, BRIANTI Thomas, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 194
OT, 53, SVOBODA Petr, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 194
OT, 26, GENNAI Mirko, Yamaha YZF-R3, , , 193
OT, 44, STANGE Christian, Kawasaki Ninja 400, , , 193
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