On a dry track in Superpole Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) demonstrated his pure pace once again to score his 33rd career Superpole win, and his third of the season.
His winning lap of 1m35.440s was fully 0.633s faster than second place qualifier Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and almost a second up on third place qualifier and fellow front row starter, Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).
After a fully wet first day only a short 15-minute third free practice session preceded Superpole on Saturday morning, leaving Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) fourth on the grid. Local hero Michael van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team) could not repeat his first career pole set in Thailand earlier this year and was fifth, with double Motorland Aragon race winner Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) completing the second row of the grid in sixth place.
Team-mates Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Jordi Torres made it out of Superpole 1 together, with Reiterberger going seventh after the end of Superpole 2 and Torres ninth. Eighth place on the Assen grid was secured by strong Motorland Aragon runner Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team Ducati).
Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team) was disappointed with tenth place on the grid while young Aprilia gun Lorenzo Savadori (IodaRacing Team Aprilia) was in the top rider mix in 11th.
A fall at a key point in Superpole 2 held Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) down in 12th place.
Race one takes place at 13.00 local time in the Netherlands.