Race 1 at Assen was a real corker that saw an all British podium with Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea winning his first World Superbike race.
The 23-year-old from Ulster took the lead from Troy Corser on lap 11 with a spectacular pass at the Hoge Heide and would give up the lead only briefly to James Toseland with three laps to go, but the Irish man would snatch it back and pushing hard would widen the gap and take home the victory.
James Toseland who took off from 10th place on the grid battled his way up the pack to take a stunning second place on the podium.
Third went to Leon Camier on the Aprilia, who took his first podium of the season and finishing ahead of his much more titled team mate Max Biaggi who made it to the sixth spot.
The battle for fourth saw Carlos Checa come out on top beating Troy Corser who after leading the race started to slowly fade due to his tires, but the Australian rider on the BMW put up a fantastic battle throughout the entire race to finally finish fifth under the chequered flag.
Jakub Smrz was another rider who fought it out in the beginning stages of the race for a podium spot before dropping to seventh.
Eighth and ninth went to Cal Crutchlow and Shane Byrne respectively and tenth went to Noriyuki Haga in a race that saw the factory Ducati’s get beat by the privateers again with his team mate Michel Fabrizio end up in 13th.
Points leader Leon Haslam had a torrid race with a bad start and several braking problems and would have to accept an11th place, his worst this season and give up 5 points in the standings to Max Biaggi.
Max Neukirchner and Ruben Xaus both suffered crashes, with the Spaniard back to his old ways falling twice in the race before deciding to retire as did Broc Parkes.
Assen Race 1 Results:1 65 Rea J.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 35′38.
483 (168,216 kph)2 52 Toseland J.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1.
1063 2 Camier L.
(GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
1.
2494 7 Checa C.
(ESP) Ducati 1098R 1.
5485 11 Corser T.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 2.
7386 3 Biaggi M.
(ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
2.
8137 96 Smrz J.
(CZE) Ducati 1098R 6.
2968 35 Crutchlow C.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 12.
0229 67 Byrne S.
(GBR) Ducati 1098R 12.
14610 41 Haga N.
(JPN) Ducati 1098R 19.
75311 91 Haslam L.
(GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 22.
20412 66 Sykes T.
(GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 22.
28213 84 Fabrizio M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 22.
78014 50 Guintoli S.
(FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 23.
36415 99 Scassa L.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 37.
09716 57 Lanzi L.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 39.
46717 77 Vermeulen C.
(AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 46.
46818 15 Baiocco M.
(ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 57.
17019 95 Hayden R.
(USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′01.
63420 76 Neukirchner M.
(GER) Honda CBR1000RR 1′04.
295RET 23 Parkes B.
(AUS) Honda CBR1000RRRET 111 Xaus R.
(ESP) BMW S1000 RR