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WSBK: Assen Opportunities
A long list of potential winners prepare to do battle at the historic Assen circuit this weekend.
BMW Motorrad Motorsport's Marco Melandri (Photo: BMW Motorrad)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Round 3 of the Superbike World Championship from Assen, Netherlands will air back-to-back on SPEED Sunday, April 22 starting at 5:00pm ET.
The eni FIM Superbike World Championship returns to the track this coming weekend at Assen in the Netherlands. It will be the third of 14 rounds this season and the 300th round overall for the production-based series that made its debut in 1988. In the previous round at Imola, Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) took his Ducati back to the top of the table at the Italian manufacturer’s home circuit, overhauling Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) who dominated the opener in Australia. The points gap at the top is tight, with six riders (representing five manufacturers: Ducati, Aprilia, Kawasaki, BMW and Honda) currently separated by 35 points.
The Assen TT Circuit, 180 kms north of Amsterdam, has been a Superbike venue since 1992. In the 40 races held so far Ducati have won 24 times but since the track was radically modified in 2006, Honda has had the lion’s share of the wins (four), three of which have come in the last four races with Jonathan Rea at the helm. For the talented northern Irishman and Honda it is an important race for a variety of reasons: Assen is the home circuit for Ten Kate, the technical structure that prepares the CBR1000RR machines, based just 50 kms away from the track, while Rea needs a couple of good results to put his difficult start to the season behind him and cut the gap to Checa. These two riders shared the victories in 2011 with Max Biaggi twice finishing second, the best Aprilia performances on this track.
At the Dutch circuit the rain could play a key role, with poor weather forecast for the weekend. The last wet race at Assen was in 2006 and it was dominated by Chris Walker and his Kawasaki. With Tom Sykes rapidly emerging as a contender the Akashi manufacturer’s bike will be a force to reckon with both in the dry (the British rider has been on the podium in the last three races and his worst result this year is a fourth) and in the wet. Sykes has a bit of a reputation as a wet weather expert and scored his only WSB win so far in these conditions last September in Germany. Kawasaki are also aiming to change history: if Sykes scores good results they could be back on the top of the table for the first time since Scott Russell in 1994. Sykes will be singleton KRT rider this weekend, following the injury to his Spanish teammate Joan Lascorz in Imola testing.
BMW are yet to take a WSBK win but they are getting closer all the time; Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri are always amongst the frontrunners and will be after some more good results at Assen. The German manufacturer has been on the podium three times out of four with its S 1000 RR machine, which now looks to be competitive in all conditions. At Assen Melandri won in 250GP in 2002 and has twice been on the podium in MotoGP. Last year, on his first Assen appearance in Superbike with Yamaha, he finished fourth in race 1 then crashed out in the second.
The final manufacturer representative on the grid, Suzuki, has had a tough time of things so far, but American John Hopkins has been back in America on an intensive training program to get him back up to full fitness and both he and Leon Camier will be aiming to make good use of a new-spec engine in order to capitalize on their Yoshimura-Suzuki’s positive form in the recent tests.
Points (after 2 of 14 rounds): 1. Checa 75; 2. Biaggi 71; 3. Sykes 69; 4. Haslam 47; 5. Melandri 46; 6. Rea 40; 7. Smrz 30; 8. Laverty 29; 9. Guintoli 21; 10. Berger 20; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 91; 2. Aprilia 71; 3. Kawasaki 69; 4. BMW 63; 5. Honda 40; 6. Suzuki 15.
The eni FIM Superbike World Championship returns to the track this coming weekend at Assen in the Netherlands. It will be the third of 14 rounds this season and the 300th round overall for the production-based series that made its debut in 1988. In the previous round at Imola, Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) took his Ducati back to the top of the table at the Italian manufacturer’s home circuit, overhauling Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) who dominated the opener in Australia. The points gap at the top is tight, with six riders (representing five manufacturers: Ducati, Aprilia, Kawasaki, BMW and Honda) currently separated by 35 points.
The Assen TT Circuit, 180 kms north of Amsterdam, has been a Superbike venue since 1992. In the 40 races held so far Ducati have won 24 times but since the track was radically modified in 2006, Honda has had the lion’s share of the wins (four), three of which have come in the last four races with Jonathan Rea at the helm. For the talented northern Irishman and Honda it is an important race for a variety of reasons: Assen is the home circuit for Ten Kate, the technical structure that prepares the CBR1000RR machines, based just 50 kms away from the track, while Rea needs a couple of good results to put his difficult start to the season behind him and cut the gap to Checa. These two riders shared the victories in 2011 with Max Biaggi twice finishing second, the best Aprilia performances on this track.
At the Dutch circuit the rain could play a key role, with poor weather forecast for the weekend. The last wet race at Assen was in 2006 and it was dominated by Chris Walker and his Kawasaki. With Tom Sykes rapidly emerging as a contender the Akashi manufacturer’s bike will be a force to reckon with both in the dry (the British rider has been on the podium in the last three races and his worst result this year is a fourth) and in the wet. Sykes has a bit of a reputation as a wet weather expert and scored his only WSB win so far in these conditions last September in Germany. Kawasaki are also aiming to change history: if Sykes scores good results they could be back on the top of the table for the first time since Scott Russell in 1994. Sykes will be singleton KRT rider this weekend, following the injury to his Spanish teammate Joan Lascorz in Imola testing.
BMW are yet to take a WSBK win but they are getting closer all the time; Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri are always amongst the frontrunners and will be after some more good results at Assen. The German manufacturer has been on the podium three times out of four with its S 1000 RR machine, which now looks to be competitive in all conditions. At Assen Melandri won in 250GP in 2002 and has twice been on the podium in MotoGP. Last year, on his first Assen appearance in Superbike with Yamaha, he finished fourth in race 1 then crashed out in the second.
The final manufacturer representative on the grid, Suzuki, has had a tough time of things so far, but American John Hopkins has been back in America on an intensive training program to get him back up to full fitness and both he and Leon Camier will be aiming to make good use of a new-spec engine in order to capitalize on their Yoshimura-Suzuki’s positive form in the recent tests.
Points (after 2 of 14 rounds): 1. Checa 75; 2. Biaggi 71; 3. Sykes 69; 4. Haslam 47; 5. Melandri 46; 6. Rea 40; 7. Smrz 30; 8. Laverty 29; 9. Guintoli 21; 10. Berger 20; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 91; 2. Aprilia 71; 3. Kawasaki 69; 4. BMW 63; 5. Honda 40; 6. Suzuki 15.
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