Carlos Checa brought home another important victory in today’s race 2 at Assen, bringing his booty after three rounds, up to four wins, two third places and continue his lead in the world standings.
The Spaniard after seeing that the asphalt temperature at the Dutch circuit had gone up, decided to mount soft tires on his Ducati and the risk paid off as the Spaniard duelled through the entire race with Max Biaggi, who was on hard tires.
Checa had led for most of the race with the Italian constantly sitting on his tail and looking ready to pounce at any moment, but never making a decisive move on the Althea rider.
With just three laps to go Biaggi decided it was time to put in the move and with a cool outside pass took the lead, but Checa wasn’t having any and on the penultimate lap, regained the measure of the Roman Emperor and got through in a tight overtaking manouever as Aprilia rider’s foot slipped off his foot peg (Biaggi would later say that there was some sort of liquid dripping onto the peg) but it was enough to break his concentration and let Checa go full out and finish first under the chequered flag with a half a second lead.
Castrol Honda’s Jonathan Rea completed the podium, but he was never really being able to challenge the two front runners, settling for a good third place after Marco Melandri crashed out of their two-way battle half way through the race.
Leon Camier finished in a distant fourth after his DNF in race 1, inheriting Melandri’s place on the field, while Leon Haslam finished in fifth ahead of an aggressive group of riders that included Eugene Laverty in sixth and Michel Fabrizio in seventh.
Noriyuki Haga who lead the race briefly, beat out Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli over the finish line in a last gasp to take the eighth spot.
WSBK Assen Race 2 results01- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – 22 laps in 35’38.
69302- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.
52403- Jonathan Rea – Castrol Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 3.
58404- Leon Camier – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 5.
91305- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 16.
91606- Eugene Laverty – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 17.
37507- Michel Fabrizio – Team Suzuki Alstare – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 17.
74008- Noriyuki Haga – PATA Racing Team Aprilia – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 18.
32909- Jakub Smrz – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 18.
37810- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 18.
40411- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 26.
28412- Joan Lascorz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 27.
05313- Maxime Berger – Supersonic Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 38.
61414- Ruben Xaus – Castrol Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 40.
82415- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 40.
95316- Roberto Rolfo – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 40.
98217- Barry Veneman – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 45.
42318- Mark Aitchison – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R