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Jonathan Rea is back on track for the Superbike World Championship. The reigning champion has swept Assen, completing the triplet in this second long race of the weekend that has been marked by the accident at the first corner, in which Garrett Gerloff has beaten his brand partner, Toprak Razgatlioglu.
A very common stupid maneuver in Gerloff that leaves the title again near Rea. The Northern Irishman also lost some positions in the incident, but it was not difficult for him to recover, catch up with Andrea Locatelli and win the third race of the weekend. The current Supersport champion makes his debut on the Superbike podium.
Best result of the season for Álvaro Bautista, fifth
In the Superpole Race the victory was clear for Jonathan Rea, even though he had to fight in the first laps with Michael Ruben Rinaldi. The champion ended up taking down the Ducati and Toprak Razgatlioglu could only finish in third position due to a penalty, since he had reached the finish line second.
Incredible what happened at the start of the second race. Toprak Razgatlioglu started better than anyone and went first, but Garrett Gerloff again made a recklessness of his own and took him ahead. A fiasco for Yamaha that will surely give a touch to the newly renovated American rider.
Also Jonathan Rea lost some positions in this incident, going down to sixth, although he soon began to come back. Andrea Locatelli put first, ahead of Rinaldi and Alex Lowes. Rea was already overtaking Sykes, and was also aware of his teammate to get behind the Ducati. He didn't want Locatelli to get away.
Rea had it on a tray. It didn't take him long to overtake Scott Redding and Rinaldi, to go for Locatelli. I knew it was the opportunity to return to leave the World Cup finished. Gerloff got a 'Ride Through' penalty that he wasn't going to fix Razgatlioglu's career either, but the American's was a shambles.
Twelve laps from the end Rhea already had Locatelli hunted, and now everything foreshadowed what would happen to him. He did it at the chicane on the finish line with ten laps to go. Álvaro Bautista was doing his best race of the weekend, sixth but very close to Rinaldi and Chaz Davies.
Locatelli was definitely deflating, leaving the win in Rea's hands. Batusita had already managed to surpass RinaldiBut the gap with Davies was too great. The fifth position was his if there was no incident in the battles ahead. Lowes was also hounding Rinaldi, and a final downfall for Gerloff.
Redding reacted in the second half of the race, with better tires, and gave him time to hunt down Locatelli in the penultimate corner. The one of Ducati rose with the second position of the podium, whereas Bautista came pressing like crazy to catch Davies, whose rhythm began to unravel.
Victory for Jonathan Rea, who completes the treble in Assen, while Redding finished second and Locatelli made his debut on the Superbike podium. Álvaro Bautista achieved the best result of the year, a fifth place, while Sykes crashed on the penultimate lap. Tito Rabat was eleventh and Isaac Viñales fourteenth.
