Rea doubles up at Assen
It came after a war of words with Chaz Davies in qualifying, and two hard battlesJonathan Rea (Kawasaki) has extended his Assen winning streak to seven with a double victory in round four of the 2017 Superbike World Championship on April 29-30.
The Northern Irishman has now won eight races in 2017 and now leads the championship by 64 points (195 to 131) over teammate Tom Sykes, followed by Ducati's Chaz Davies (111) in third position.
In race one, Rea won after a long battle with Davies ended in a frustrating DNF for the Welshman who pulled up at the end of the penultimate lap. Sykes crossed the line in second place, ahead of Marco Melandri (Ducati).
Earlier that day, Rea set a superb pole time, initially putting him ahead of Sykes and Davies on the front row. But a penalty for Rea due to a late incident with Davies in the second Superpole session saw the KRT man given a three-place penalty and moved back to fourth on the grid. And there were some terse words in parc ferme between the two riders.
Davies led for most of the race before Rea took over in the final stages. But just before the start of the final lap, the Ducati rider pulled off track due to a technical issue giving a runaway victory to the defending world champion.
Davies’ misfortune saw Sykes take a lonely second, the Yorkshireman – who has been struggling with a stomach illness – crossing the finish line 4.5 seconds behind Rea and 13 seconds in front of Melandri. Xavi Fores (Ducati) was fourth from Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia).
In race two Rea, riding in his 200th WorldSBK race, scored a tight win over Davies, as Davies completed the podium ahead of Michael van der Mark (Yamaha) and Alex Lowes (Yamaha).
World supersport
World champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) produce a masterclass to dominate from pole, with the Turk joined on the podium by Lucas Mahias (Yamaha) and Jules Cluzel (Honda).
It was Sofuoglu’s first victory since his 2016 championship-clinching win at Jerez.
Anthony West (Yamaha) was 14th, while fellow Aussie Lachlan Epis (Kawaski) crashed out. During the weekend, Queenslander Aiden Wagner parted company with his Italian Honda squad, citing "irreconcilable differences".
The next round of the WorldSBK title will be held at Imola, Italy from May 12-14.
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